Player Earnings Special: World Cup Bonuses and Transfer Values, MLB Deferred Comp and Ohio State NIL

00-08: World Cup bonuses
08-22:  World Cup transfer values
22-39:  MLB deferred salaries 
39-48:  Ohio State NIL

#ohiostatefootball #ohiostate #mlb #worldcup #worldcup2026 #bobbybonilla 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

What's up, everybody? Welcome to yet another episode of the bottom line on sports. He's Jeremy Pink. I'm Jean-Jacques Taylor, and this is our show about the intersection of money and sports. And without further ado, happy World Cup, people. Uh you've got a World Cup number for us.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Yeah, it's great. It's been a great World Cup, and I've I think I have a really interesting World Cup number, which is $650,000, roughly. This is the Jeremy Pink estimate based on doing some reading and some calculating. $650,000, roughly, is my estimate. Is your estimate of $650,000 is what? That is what the winning player on the each each player on the winning team will likely get for appearing in the World Cup. Oh.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

So it's uh Yeah, and it depends.

SPEAKER_00 0:55

Now it depends on kind of country by country, because prize money is delivered by FIFA and then then it's delivered to the countries, and then the countries divvy up the prize money. But from what I can tell, it's going to be between six and seven hundred thousand US per player.

SPEAKER_02 1:07

It sounds like uh sofa couch money to soccer players.

SPEAKER_00 1:11

It's it's jump change. It's total jump change.

SPEAKER_02 1:15

So is it any different than any of those any of these other champions? Like Super Bowl champ gets a hundred thousand and these and their guys make yeah, you know, whatever they make, 27 million.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

What about the NBA Cup?

SPEAKER_02 1:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

But but it's but it's true. But it's true. Like the NBA Cup, the guys make, you know, your players make probably, I think, half a million if they're on the winning team, you know, which is you know, when you're when you're Luca or when you're, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:43

When you make $49 million a year, or how about this? Let's just take a regular player in the NBA. You make $21 million a year. Do you really get excited about $500,000, which after taxes is $225? That's like, hey, I guess I'll go buy me a watch.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

But but I think you know, so let's let's say the World Cup guys, uh World Cup player gets about $650,000. Um, but that's not the value of being in the World Cup. Because I I uh if you have a performance like Harry Kane had today, we're taping this show Wednesday, right before the US uh Bosnia uh round of 32 match, which so we don't know who who's won that. Um but if you had a day today like Harry Kane did, the value that he probably created by being the World Cup by being Mr. England is probably irmeasurable.

SPEAKER_02 2:33

Yeah. Well, I'm gonna take it a step further. If you're the goalie of Cape Verde and you had that shutout, and and you've led them to the second to the knockout round where they've never been in their first year, you you and your boys are national heroes, and so it doesn't even matter what you get from advancing to the knockout round of the tournament. When you go home, there's nothing you can ever buy.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

That's right, that's right, and also probably probably the endorsement deals alone that some of these players are gonna get are gonna be worth it. Uh, but it's which is which I think really speaks to how important the World Cup is actually perceived by the players, because it's it's not, I mean, everybody's in it for the money, and I think that's great if anybody's in it for the money, but you know, there isn't cash directly necessarily for a lot of these players, particularly with big names, it's it's chump change.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Yeah, I think this is also uh even if you even if you go past the money, and the money's always good, but even if you go past the money, you can just look at the crowd shots, man. Um, this is also, I think, you know, here's a good question, I think. Is competing for the World Cup for your national team, I almost think the US is it's not. Is it bigger deal to compete for your World Cup as a national player or for the Olympics?

SPEAKER_00 3:55

In whatever your sport in your respective sport. I think for certainly I think for most countries outside of the United States and maybe Canada, I think hockey's probably bigger in Canada. Um, but I would say for a European or South American country, yeah. Yeah, I think probably uh probably soccer is the biggest. Maybe some of the Asian countries, baseball might be bigger, but but let's say I think you're right.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

I think it's uh I think it's soccer because it's if you look at the way these countries have like stopped while the game, while they're while their team, while their national team is playing, and then even when you look at the uh the shots that the crowd, the crowd shots during the game, and I'm not I'm not talking about your standard 24 to 54 male, I'm talking about the little kids and the women, or all everybody's into it, everybody's invested 100%. And uh, dude, you know, we got uh we got it we got uh eight games or eight teams in Dallas when Argentina won the other day. Bro, they were at the stadium like four hours after the game. That's great, and it was all I mean, it was like a national party, and it was uh it was now. I was never going to be caught up in that, but from afar to watch it, it was really cool, right? It was uh I mean it was really exciting, and I'm like, that's what it's all about. So you kind of feel the uh the excitement and the money is uh they're not playing for money, but they're playing for that for that nationalistic pride. And I think you make a great point. What what comes after? I mean, it's like even if you win the Olympic gold medal, you get like sixteen thousand dollars or thirty thousand dollars, but what you can do endorsement-wise and what you can do with your career afterwards is what it's all about. The medal is just gives gives you uh validity, validation.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

It is the especially the top players are playing for legacy as much as anything else, you know, and and want to be known as, you know, so so Harry Kane, for example, today he uh he scored two goals. He probably now has positioned himself as the best international player in the history of England because of his performance today. Yeah, can't deny it. Yeah, and and that's and that is you know, that's something that you know, if you this is with David Beckham and Wayne Rooney and others, you know, over the years, that's a pretty remarkable accomplishment.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

Yeah. But the flip side of that is you're only playing for 650,000 per team per guy if you win it, right? But the pressure is just overwhelming because you really are have the weight of a nation on your back. Um, especially if you're England, you're Germany, you're Argentina, you're Brazil. You're one of those people, one of those teams that's supposed to make a deep run, like the Dutch lost the other day, and it's it's all because the pressure got to them, and they have penalty kicks like me, you know, six feet wide of the goal.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

No, the Dutch, the Dutch should have lost. I mean, they were they did they they were scared. They played, I mean, to me. That's what I'm saying. No, no, no, but they no no no, they played scared in the first 120 minutes. You know, the penalty kicks just confirmed that they were scared, but they but I think it's the weight of the thing, which is why they played scared. I don't. I didn't think they could play, I didn't they didn't think they could play with Morocco. I think they played anyway. We went off to dissect a uh a match that neither you or I probably can really dissect, but but if if you watch that match, they were they they were so afraid to make a mistake and let Morocco score that they didn't even they had no they had no attack in that.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

And that's the worst kind of soccer. That's the worst kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

It's brutal. It's brutal. And that's why, again, not to not to belabor this, but that's why the most of the international competitions, in fact, nearly all of them now got rid of the golden goal, which is whoever scored first won the game, because nobody wanted to make a mistake and nobody would score. So they got rid of it. That's why there's two 15-minute uh uh periods of extra time now.

SPEAKER_02 7:58

So right, and that's why the greatest what you want to see in every game is a two-nothing lead. Right. So as long as you have a team to play.

SPEAKER_00 8:04

So let's move move on. Well, let's keep let's keep with with the world cup. And the favorites in the world cup are really France and Spain. France, Argentina, and Spain are really the the really the favorites in in the World Cup this year. Uh Brazil also is up there. Um so what I what I did was I was just just I was just curious. I was wondering what the transfer value was for the top three players on each of the top teams that are out there. So I did it for France, Spain, England, Brazil, Argentina, and then your US men's national team. Right? And so the top, so the the top three players have a transfer value, which is essentially the market value of the player. Uh you know, the top three, France has a market value of just about 500 million US. Uh, England's a little bit below that. Brazil's about 400 million US. I'm sorry, England's about 400 million US. Spain, sorry, so France has about 500 million US, Spain is just below them, just a touch below them, England's at about 400 million US, Brazil is at about maybe 320, 330, Argentina is at about 300, and the US is at about 120. And so what it tells you is that the market value of all of France's top players, to give you an idea, so Killian Mbappe, the top argued with the top player in the world right now, his market value, transfer value is 180 million euro. The entire value of the United States team of all players is under 180 million.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Wow. Um, what does that tell you?

SPEAKER_00 9:52

And uh shockingly enough, France and Spain are the two, France, Spain, and Argentina are the two favorites, and they have three of the top five, you know, biggest payrolls, uh, their biggest transfer values in the market.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Yeah, and that's um, I mean, that's that's to be expected. What what it does is it's it's sobering about this is the best US team in a while, and it just shows you how far they have to go because the best the uh highest ranked player in terms of that uh is Christian Polisic, who you would think, and uh Fab Bulligan, who you would think after the after the way he's played for games. Yeah, and they're both at 40 million each, whereas Mbappe is 180. Yeah, this is this is euro.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

So he's the here's so Mbappe's four and a half times the transfer value, the market value of the U.S. top players. Or another way to look at it. The top two U.S. players, Polisic and Balogun, are their their market value is 80 million euro, and Mbappe's is 180 million euro.

SPEAKER_02 10:53

I mean, it's and it's insane. And then when you watch him play, you see why. Because there's no question outstanding. But you watch Mbappe play or uh Olise, who's been just I mean, he's been like the consummate point guard. Every pass has been sensational. That's creative, it's uh you know what it reminds me of?

SPEAKER_00 11:13

It's not this, it's not the same, and it's it's certainly not the same or not the same degree. It reminds me a little bit of the dream team, you know. You know, the dream team when they when they went out on the court that they were gonna win by 90. Now, I don't think France is like that, but the skill level and the talent is so many steps ahead of, I think, almost any other team, including the European teams. You know, and I think and it really shows you, at least to me, as I as I watch the World Cup, I think there's like three or four top teams, and then there's a huge drop-off to the next level.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

That's like college football.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

Yeah, it's it's that's true too. Yeah. And it's it, but it's you know what it's also like? It's also like most of the European soccer leagues, where there's three really, three to four really good teams, and then everybody else, there's a huge drop-up. And I think you're starting to see that here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Um, I would say, yeah, there's usually I'd say there's usually four or five teams. Then there's like uh 16 teams that are all lumped together, then there's the last four or five that are always facing relegation. But the difference between the top five and the bottom five is like Grand Canyon Gulf.

SPEAKER_00 12:19

Yeah, and and and I also think this year's World Cup is very different because it's 48 teams versus 32 uh, you know, in years past. So this is the first year they've had 48 teams.

SPEAKER_02 12:29

I like this. I like this increase.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah, and I think that's why the uh top players are scoring so many goals, is because they know they're gonna make it out of the uh group stage because it's almost impossible not to. They're playing teams that aren't very good, and the they're just much freer in terms of how they play, which means they're gonna score more. So I think that's been a I don't know if that was a planned uh uh goal of this, is to create all that action at the beginning, but I think that's the reason we're seeing all this kind of all this kind of activity and all these top players scoring.

SPEAKER_02 13:04

Now, see, I hadn't thought about it like that. I thought about it in terms of, and maybe it's all linked together. It just seems to me like they're playing much more aggressive, they're all attacking more. Yeah, and um, you know, I just like it that and and see, I hadn't thought about outside of um Messi and Ronaldo, all those guys might be in their athletic prime too. Um 24 to 27 years old, where they've played enough so that intellectually their their their their soccer IQ is caught up with their physical talents. Uh because I mean, just like I'm not sure. I think I'm sure somebody could remind, but it just feels like all the stars have shown up and highest level. I mean, even Lukaku came in and uh scored right away from Belgium when he got in the game. Um, so it's just uh Yeah, I mean it's wild.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

Senegal choked. I mean, we were watching that right before right before we we started recording this today. I mean, Senegal choked.

SPEAKER_02 14:05

I can see it coming. I didn't think they would lose, but I do remember thinking to myself, they they've dipped back into that defensive shell, and you know, you can't only give a team so many opportunities at crosses and stuff before, you know, whatever they get lucky, or you make a mistake. And uh they they got they earned the first goal, and then the goalie made a bad play on the second goal. You know, I played goalie for a long time, I didn't know that, and I was taught, Taylor, you can leave the net whenever you want to. You just better come out with the ball.

SPEAKER_00 14:45

Those are the rules, right? There you go.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

And what happened is the goalie came out on a cross and didn't get the ball. Like you you can't come out and not.

SPEAKER_00 14:56

Oh, I didn't I didn't actually I didn't actually see the goal. I we I I saw the I I saw when I I turned it on it, uh it was it was tied two apiece, and the Belgians had a penalty kick that they converted, which put them over the top.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Um now I will tell you this as we go very anal soccer. Is uh I've seen a lot of near post goals in this tournament. So have I. And I think it's because you're supposed to say, like, I got this, but I'm trying to give myself enough room to somehow get to the outside, but the but the strikers are like, I know you're leaning that way, so I'm gonna shoot it where you wouldn't, where you don't expect me to shoot it. Um, and I think that too is part of the reason why it's been such a fun tournament.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

Yeah, I think the goal scorers, the the Hollands and Mbappes and Messi and Kane, and I don't know, whoever else I'm missing. Um they're just a lot better than the goalies in the in the group stages. They just are.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

It's it's been great, man, because you know, soccer. I've loved soccer for a long time, and most of the time it's gotten a bad rap for you know a very boring one-nothing game. Nobody attacks. And uh, you know, I bet I bet we've seen, you know, most of these games have been two to one, two to two, three to two.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

Yeah, yeah. If you bet the over in terms of the goal scored, I bet you probably won the majority of the time.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Um Brazil. Uh, they too have a uh, you know, uh your boy uh what's that guy's name? Uh Junior Vincent Venesis or whatever. He had one of them funky goals the other day, too. Uh now I don't like Brazil. I mean, I like Brazil, but Brazil is I call them the biggest front-running team in the tournament.

SPEAKER_00 16:37

Yeah, I agree with that.

SPEAKER_02 16:38

If if they're up or it's even, you got a problem. They get down, they'll they'll lay it down faster than anyone's gonna be. Yeah, I agree. Amongst the good teams.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

I agree. I I really think there are only probably four teams that can win it, which is France for sure. France, Spain, Argentina, but I still think Brazil can win it. Because I think if Brazil Brazil is is the only team that I think can actually play with France, Spain, and Argentina.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Now, how about this? If you look at Argentina, Messi is not amongst the top three.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

In terms of transfer value, yeah, that's because he's so old. But if you look at who the highest value is, it's it's La Mineye Yamal from uh Spain, who's 18 years old. So I think a lot of the transfer value has to do with your age.

SPEAKER_02 17:26

No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Um I saw, and I was just curious the other day. Excuse me, because you heard so much about Messi. You know he's a great goal scorer. I actually looked up his stats the other day. They're insane.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

He's he's the best.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Like, yeah, and I I don't know off the top of my head, but it's something like he's played 572 games and scored like 540 goals in a in a sport where there's often one or two goals a game.

SPEAKER_00 18:01

It's it's he's remarkable. I mean, in terms of the the yeah, right, the sheer volume of scoring.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

It's um I was just like, you know, man, if I if you did that playing FIFA 26, I'd be like, Pink, change the settings, man. You're right. You got him on rookie settings, you need you need to challenge yourself.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:18

And uh, and really Ronaldo, I looked at his too, and he's really not much further behind. The only difference is that the biggest difference is that I wonder if this is true. I'm gonna say it reminds me, and I haven't looked this up at all. It reminds me like comparing Gretzky to Aveckin, meaning Gretzky's got goals and assists, and a Vetskin's just just a sniper.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Well, but but it reminds me of the old fantasy hockey fantasy sports leagues, which just shows you how much free time I had as when I was younger. You couldn't put Gretzky or Lemieux in the fantasy sports leagues because whoever had them won, because that's how much that's how much you know, yeah, it was such a difference. You just could you had to actually take them out of the you had to take them out of the route. Yeah. That'll just show you because it was such a huge difference for everybody else. Um and I think that that's and if you add in assists for Messi, it's it's uh it's a sort of that sort of gulf as well.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Well, yeah, that's what separates the two. Uh because he's got a ton of assists, and like I said, Ronaldo's got, I mean, his goal scoring is almost at the same level. Uh, but uh he's just a sniper, he doesn't have very many assists. Uh relative, I mean, doesn't have very many at all.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

But but Messi, you know, Messi and Gretzky, again, we talked about this a little bit. It's the anticipatory ability of both of them that's so much better than everybody else. They see the field better, they see the the ice better, they can anticipate other player movements, they can anticipate. It reminds me even of, you know, I used to play chess. It, you know, uh, if it reminds me of chess where you would play somebody who could see three or four, five, six moves ahead. I could see maybe if I was lucky, two to three moves ahead, but somebody else could see, you know, eight, nine, ten moves ahead. And that's sort of the gulf between those players and and everybody else.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Now I'm smiling because Jeremy's talking about playing chess and seeing three three moves ahead and competing against people who see six moves. And I'm sitting over here thinking, yeah, when I play Connect Four, I can see three moves ahead.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

Yeah, but but now listen, now if I now if I I haven't played chess at all at all for a long time, but but it used to be and you know what was interesting when I would play against people, I could tell within the first four. It's like playing basketball. When you get on a court basketball with somebody, and you know within 30 seconds to a minute, okay, they're gonna be better than me. You know, you know immediately. It's the same way in chess. After like three or four moves, I could tell, oh no, this guy's this guy's better than me. I could tell almost immediately, you know. Uh very exciting stuff we're discussing today. But so what's the what's the bottom line for you on the World Cup and on player compensation?

SPEAKER_02 21:09

Bottom line for me is uh the guys are not playing for the money, but they are playing for the money.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

But bottom bottom line for me, the team with the best and most expensive players, France, is gonna win pretty easily, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 21:26

Pretty easily.

SPEAKER_00 21:27

I don't think it's gonna be that. I don't think it's gonna be that competitive. The only challenge they might have, and I hope we see a rematch of Mbappe, Mbappe uh uh Messi that we talked about.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

Then they went 3 2 last year or the last time.

SPEAKER_00 21:41

Yeah, well, uh Argentina won, yeah. But it was it was uh one of the best football matches I've ever seen in my life.

SPEAKER_02 21:48

Yeah, no, it was uh sensational. Um next up is is uh, and I find this cool. It's uh they call it Bobby Bonia deferral day, and that's because A whole deal, and it's it's all because you know, years 30 years ago, Bobby Bonia signed a deal with the Mets and had five million deferred, and that five million turned into like 30 million, uh, because he had deferred at like 10 or something, right? So he gets a check every June 30th for I believe it's 1.9 million.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

One point one point uh one point one nine, almost one point one nine million.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

And this year he also picked up a check from the uh Baltimore Orioles for something for yeah, for another for other deferred comp of half a million. Yeah, now some people will say that well that that's that fixed the team because the team got to spread the money out and it didn't really affect them when they played. And somebody said the year, I just read this today, that the year that they did that deal with Bonilla is the year that they acquired Mike Hampton and you know made a deep run in the playoffs, and so to them it was worth the deal. And I always say, because there's several guys who had uh uh deals yesterday, uh that had deferral deals, and we'll talk about Otani, who's got the biggest one in just a second. And I always think, like, you know, today we see guys and we go, it's really hard to spend 300 million. But 20 years ago, when some of these deals got signed, the money was big, of course, but it wasn't like it is now, and a bad divorce, a bad restaurant, a bad real estate deal, or a tax problem, and you could find yourself in some in some financial straights. And so to me, yeah, the team got over on some of these deferral deals, but it's nice at at an advanced age at 50 or 55 or 60 to know that, oh, I still got 10 more years of uh $2 million checks rolling through.

SPEAKER_00 23:51

I didn't I didn't realize that Manny Ramirez is still getting paid. He's this is a final year where he gets $2 million in deferred comp. And you know, the the person who I want to be is Max Scherzer, who's getting $15 million in deferred comp through next year from the Nationals and another $15 million in deferred comp per year from the Dodgers. So for the next couple of years, Scherzer's getting $30 million in deferred comp alone. Yeah. The numbers are the numbers now, the the the salary numbers now are just uh they're they're preposterous now in terms of what is the difference between 40 million and 45 million. I mean, I obviously I know the difference, it's five million, but at a certain point, there's a diminishing return on what what salary you're gonna earn and what you can actually do with it.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

Yeah. Um, yeah, because it's not it's not life-changing. Um, you know, somebody said there's not much difference between 1 million and 5 million or 1 million and 8 million, but there's a difference between 1 million and 10 million, but not much different between 10 and 20. And after 20, you know, yeah, what can't you buy? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

Yeah, and and it's uh, you know, and once when you're right, and and also if you're if you handle your money or you invest it well, you hire someone to invest it for you, you know, you you can get a return on that every year, too. And so it's not like you know, you have to spend the money, it's not like you know, if you if you manage it properly, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Four or five percent of a 20 million nest egg or 50 million nest, I mean, yeah. You can live out of that without any problems.

SPEAKER_00 25:29

Forever, forever. But but what I what what you mentioned, Otani, Otani has about only nearly 700 million, I think it's 680 million of his salary deferred until like you know, with the next decade somehow. And you know, that is first of all, that's a insane amount of money, but I also think it is an indication of two things. One, I think it's an indication that uh the Dodgers do business in a very smart and different way than other organizations do it in baseball, which is why the Dodgers are winning every year. And number two is I think Otani uh understood the power of being on the Dodgers and how even if he deferred his salary that much, the value of him playing for the Dodgers and for in the World Series or being a World Series contender every year was was great. And he doesn't in even deferred salary, you don't really lose out on anything. You just have to wait to get the money at a later day.

SPEAKER_02 26:34

And so he has to wait to get the money, um, but he don't need the money.

SPEAKER_00 26:39

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 26:40

You know, we hear it all the time, like um, you know, Rob Bronkowski and other NFL guys, you know, Marshawn Lynch. I lived off my endorsement money.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 26:49

He can certainly live off his endorsement money from shoe deal or you know, whether he's got a Gatorade or some kind of four-string deal, let alone all the deals he's got going on in Japan that we have no idea about. So, you know, he doesn't need his baseball money. That and so um, you know, he's setting up, you know, I don't know how many general how many how many generations will uh will thrive off of this wealth, but uh it'll be quite a few.

SPEAKER_00 27:14

It's uh it reminds me, you know, it's like the old Jay Leno story where he only took money for his stand-up gigs and lived off of that, and he wouldn't live off of his tonight show money.

SPEAKER_02 27:24

Is that right?

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Same idea, right? Same idea.

SPEAKER_02 27:28

It's it's the same thing.

SPEAKER_00 27:30

Yeah, so so I look so but I think I think it's actually an indication of the Dodgers doing business in a very different way. So they can get the Freddie Freemans, they can get the you know uh Yamamoto's, they can get the Shohei Otanis, and they're gonna continue to build their roster. And it also allows them to it allows them to sort of bob and weave in the short term to to assemble a team like this.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

The Dodgers are trying to win. That's right. Winning's important to them. It's not important, like it ain't important to the Texas Rangers. If they win, that's cool, but winning is not all they're concerned about, they're concerned about the bottom line fiscal budget. And uh most teams are like that, which which is why I'm not a proponent of salary caps. If you want to spend all your money to try to win, more power to you, brother. And if you don't want to spend your money, Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers, whatever, um I mean that's okay. I just don't want to hear you, I don't want to hear any bitching and moaning when you don't win. Um and I put it more like uh there are everybody who owns a team is rich. So, you know, the Texas Rangers, Dallas Fort Worth is like the fourth, fifth largest metropolitan city in America. So they should have, to me, fourth or fifth payroll. Right, right. They shouldn't be down there at nine and ten, yeah, talking about, well, we've spent enough. And if you don't want to spend it, don't own the team.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

No, that makes that makes that makes perfect sense. I, you know, if you look at also, I'm I'm I'm in total agreement with you on salary caps. I think they should just be, I don't think they're necessary either. Uh and if you look at the success of some of the major sporting leagues around the world, the English Premier League, uh all the soccer leagues around the world, even Major League Baseball, you really only have a handful, four or five teams that can win every year. And those leagues are incredibly successful. Now, you can make the argument that the NFL is very successful and really started to you know drive the value of franchises, drive viewership, drive interest in it. Uh, in the 80s, when they went and they decided to move toward parity. That was the that was the stated goal of uh uh Pete Roselle. Pete Roselle. I was gonna say not Tag League, but yeah, Pete Roselle. And that was that was a really good move. And that's what the NBA is trying to do now by changing their salary gap around. And you now have, you know, I think you've had eight different winners in the last eight years for the NBA title, which if you looked at it before, there was only like something like six or seven teams that had won over like a 30 to 40 year period. And so you can make the argument either way. Uh, I just think people watch stars and they watch big brands and big names, and that's what they're gonna want to watch.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Yeah, I think so. I think uh I I I 100% believe they watch stars and they watch uh iconic franchises, you know, and and they like dynasties because it gives you somebody to love or hate.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 30:37

I mean, look like the Dodgers. You either love the Dodgers or you hate the Dodgers.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Right. Or look look at how much hate the Chiefs get, or the Chiefs had up until last year, because they were so dominant, you know. But but again, as a total aside, what it showed was how good the Chiefs were because the AFC last year was once the Chiefs uh were out, the AFC was wide open, and you realized there weren't any good teams. That's how much better the Chiefs had been than than every team. But but that's that's neither here nor there. Um, but yeah, so so a lot of these deferrals, like uh you know, Ryan Braun is getting money, uh Adam Wainwright, um who I saw who I saw pitch in St. Louis a couple years ago.

SPEAKER_02 31:15

But think about this, man. Chris, and I'm partially to Chris Davis because he started. Oh, Chris Davis, yeah, I missed him. Yeah. He started off in Texas, and he he became one of those guys who uh I think his best year, he he hit like I don't know, he was he I was I'm making two different points, but he became an all or nothing hitter. He was a home runner strikeout hitter. And as soon as he got traded to uh Baltimore, he had like a two-year two-year stretch where he was like everything you could dream of, meaning he hit like 240, but he hit like 50 homers and 130 ribies or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

And then he fell off a cliff, bro. And he was like a below 200 hitter, like the last four years of his career.

SPEAKER_01 31:58

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_02 31:59

Yeah, but what I like is from 2026 to 2032, he's getting a check for three and a half million dollars a year. And after that, from 2033 to 2037, he's getting a check for 1.5 million. And as we just discussed, if you'll just put that money away and invest it wisely, you can make three million a year turn into whatever you want it to be. That's right and live a great life, right? And you had three good years in the big leagues.

SPEAKER_00 32:31

And you you also protect yourself from yourself if the money's deferred every year.

SPEAKER_02 32:35

And that's that's the thing I think people overlook. Yeah, like why is like for real, why is Allen Iverson not homeless right now? Because he deferred his rebound deal till he was 50. And when in 50 can't like he was trying to borrow against it, they're like, nah, bro, you can't do that. And you know, finally he turned 50, he's a little more mature, and he got a second wave of money, and now you know, hopefully you won't make the same mistakes you made.

SPEAKER_00 33:01

Let's hope so. Let's hope so.

SPEAKER_02 33:04

Um, you know, uh, let me ask you this. Lean in. Do you think Floyd Mayweather's got any money deferred coming to him?

SPEAKER_00 33:14

The only money that Floyd Mayweather has is in his nickname. That's it.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

So we're gonna talk about money Mayweather at a later date. Just that story's gotten insane.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Oh my god, that's it's it is all it's it's it's become so absolutely absurd. Yes, there's also for for reasons that I can't comprehend, but it's it's just so absurd.

SPEAKER_02 33:41

No, and the way he talked and talked down to people and everything, he his he's going to get no public sympathy. And now that's you know what happens, uh, especially because you've been in the business world, you know, once sharks smell blood, lawyers smell blood, and they're like, Oh, we need to file our suit because we need to get our money, but there's only so much money that's gonna get paid out in these lawsuits, and we need to make sure that we're in line. If if there's a payout, then we're in line to get one.

SPEAKER_00 34:11

The the other thing, and this has nothing to do with his earnings, he's the most boring fighter in the world to watch. I mean, he's a great fighter, don't get me wrong, but his style is just brutal, you know. And I because I've I've been uh a home alone, my kids are in LA, my wife is overseas for the last couple of weeks. Uh I I really am doing a lot with my spare time. So I've been watching a lot of old Mike Tyson videos. Really? And yeah, and you know, like when he was like 18, 19, because that was that's a fighter. That's something to watch. Uh, he was he was amazing. You watched him as an 18-year-old. Well, he's got an incredible, he has such a recognizable style that you knew, even as an 18-year-old where his style wasn't fully developed, you knew that was Tyson.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

The worst thing ever happened to him was he and Kevin Rooney split. Uh, because Kevin Rooney was at Link to Cus D'Amato, and had he's and we can say this about a lot of things, Jimmy and Jerry, and all these other marriages. If he had stayed with Kevin Rooney, um, I think he'd have been the champion we thought he'd have been, because he'd have kept the head movement, the bobbin weave, and all the technical stuff, in addition to the raw power and the fury, um, that made him a great boxer for a minute.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

And then, you know, until he lost to Columbus, Ohio's Buster Douglas.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

Manage, I'll never forget.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Whose dad, who who a former colleague of ours, his dad used to be Buster Douglas's manager, was Buster Douglas's manager at the time.

SPEAKER_02 35:46

Yeah, we were uh we might as well go there. So we were uh JJ John Johnson.

SPEAKER_00 35:52

John Johnson.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

His dad was Buster Douglas's trainer. He worked with us as a low-level agate clerk at the down at the at the Columbus Dispatch.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

And uh he went to Tokyo for the fight. And so we're uh were you in the office that night?

SPEAKER_00 36:07

It was it was at night, yeah. Well, well, no, I well, you're gonna yeah, you can tell the story, right?

SPEAKER_02 36:12

No, I'm I can't remember. Were you in the office that night?

SPEAKER_00 36:14

I was not, I think you were in the office that night, not me.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

Yeah, so we're watching the fight on the TV in the office. Everybody's crowd around the TV, and I we can't believe Buster Douglas is about to knock out Mike Tyson. He knocks him out, and this is the truest story ever. About three minutes after the fight, the phone rings, we pick it up, and it's JJ calling from Tokyo screaming about how he's not coming back to work ever again, right? Because his dad bet like a hundred thousand, yeah, bet his purse on Buster Douglas winning the fight.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Right.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

And so you can imagine what the payoff was from that. Now, just so you know, we're a couple of schmucks here, and John Johnson is now a highly respected attorney in Columbus.

SPEAKER_00 36:59

I didn't, I didn't I didn't even know that. Is that right?

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Yeah, no, a highly respected family attorney uh handles divorces and child custody and all that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

I didn't I didn't know that, but that that was that was a crazy time because first of all, nobody picked up that fight. Did you know that um Buster Douglas couldn't even get a shoe deal to endorse him? So he wore pony shoes, which nobody wore at the time. Uh it was right, and you know, he was I won't say her name, but he was sort of connected indirectly to one of her other colleagues who was did the agate with us. Yeah, not not not that way, but he was he she knew him through some I think she knew his girlfriend at the time. Oh, Chopper? I think it was her well, I forget what her name was, Bertha, but she went by a different name, right? Yeah, and she was very I think she was close to Bertha, is what I remember. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

Wow, the things you find out on this show.

SPEAKER_00 37:56

I know, I know, I know.

SPEAKER_02 37:57

They I would love to run into Chopper these days. Yeah, I can't remember her last name.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

I I can't either.

SPEAKER_02 38:06

I can't either, but she's probably married, so her last name is not a bad one.

SPEAKER_00 38:09

She was great, she was great. I I liked her. She was she was great. She was I used to run into her on campus all the time, too.

SPEAKER_02 38:14

You know, so uh highly attractive young black woman.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

I didn't say anything, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Okay, we've gone off the rails now. Um bottom line for me, deferrals are great, and I wish I had one coming. Maybe that's what 401k is. Maybe that's what that is.

SPEAKER_00 38:33

Yeah, but bottom line for me is a lot of executives who have high pay packages have something built in into their pay packages for deferrals specifically. Really? Largely because, yeah, because could they help save with taxes, but I always think to help save themselves from themselves. So I think deferrals in sports and particularly in baseball, it's good business for the teams to spread their costs, and it's good, it's good for the players to uh manage their money. So I I love I love deferrals, I think they're good.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

And now let's go to our favorite part of the show each and every week, which is where we talk about Ohio State since we're both graduates. Um, Ohio State apparently, now we've been talking about this in a in a roundabout way, but apparently it's down to Ohio State and Tennessee for the services of a running back named David Gabriel George. And apparently the Buckeyes are willing to go past the $1 million mark to sign his high school freshman and bring him to Columbus. Now the guy he lives in he's a high school freshman right now.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

I thought he was a high scheni.

SPEAKER_02 39:40

No, he's a high school senior.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

Oh, high school senior, okay.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

Yeah, um, but uh he lives in Chattanooga, which is why Tennessee is high on the list. And if I'm not mistaken, and I could be, I think Peyton uh Manning lives in Chattanooga.

SPEAKER_00 39:57

I don't know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:58

Uh but anyway, uh obviously there's a lot of pressure and a lot of uh home home state trying to get into Tennessee. But if your goal is to get to the NFL, and I am biased, but if your goal is to get to the NFL and you'd like to compete for a national championship, and it's between Ohio State and Tennessee, and the money is even, you gotta be a bucket. Now, if you want to play at home where mama can come see you, that's fine. I wouldn't say anything about that. But what happens, Pink, when you're making these deals, what do you say? I'll sign for a million and you give my mom and dad a hundred. I was just gonna say that three first class tickets to every game.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Every right, every game, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 40:50

Cool.

SPEAKER_00 40:51

Now, the issue that I have is with his name, right? David Gabriel George. Would you trust anybody with three first names and no real last name? You know, it's the same problem I have with Paul George, who who, by the way, just got traded, or looks like he's gonna get traded uh as part of a package for Jalen Brown, uh, to the cell phone. But but David Gabriel George, three first names. I don't I don't like it at all.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

Okay, we're going to take a very quick exit ramp.

SPEAKER_00 41:16

Very, very quick. I don't like it at all. People with two first names, I don't trust.

SPEAKER_02 41:21

Yeah, I had a conversation this week on LinkedIn because I couldn't help myself. I pulled a pink move. Now, my name is Jean-Jacques Taylor. I had a conversation with a Harvard business grad whose name is Taylor Jean-Jacques. Oh, you're kidding. No, and I hit her up on LinkedIn and said, I only contacted you because I think it's funny you have my name in reverse. And she uh she she hit me back and she goes, Wow! And I go, uh she said something else, and I go, Well, I was named after Jean-Jacques Baseline, the Haitian Revolutionary. Well, that's my father's story, anyway. My mother was a French major, so her name is I just love the name. And she goes, Oh, well, we're I'm a descendant of his. And when we when uh when my family was emancipated, they took his first name and made it the last name. And so I said, Wow, what a great conversation! And she went to Princeton, which is only important because my sister teaches at Princeton. So we had a very good small talk about first names. Now, that was my quick exit grant.

SPEAKER_00 42:25

Wow back to No, and I I have I have I have like two, I have actually three quick stories to say. Number one, do you remember? You you may not, you may be too young. There's a baseball player for I think it was Milwaukee Brewers uh back in the late 70s and early 80s, named Gorman Thomas. Yeah, culminator. His his name should have been Thomas Gorman. His parents filled out his name wrong on his birth certificate. Okay, that's that's one. Right? That's good. The second thing is I one of my very good friends uh called me one day. He was so excited one day, and I uh it was like calling me out of the blue, and he said, I gotta tell you about my friend Allison. So, okay, my friend Allison is dating a guy named David Allison or Bob Allison or whatever. And I said, Oh, okay. He goes, No, no, no, no. They're getting married, and she's taking his last name. Her name's gonna be Allison Allison. He just called me only to tell me that, and then he like hung up on me.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

Well, dude, I was telling my friend this exact same story. I said, Imagine if we had met and married and she'd be Taylor Taylor.

SPEAKER_00 43:25

Right, right, exactly. I was thinking, that's exactly what I was thinking. The other thing is, and again, not to bore you, is my my oldest is named Aiden, A-I-D-A-N, and I really want to name our daughter Nadia because that's Aiden spelled backwards.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

And the wife wouldn't go for that?

SPEAKER_00 43:41

No, I talked to one of my friends about it, and he basically he said to me in so many words, he said, Look, your kids are gonna think you're weird anyway. He said that may just push them over the top. I would highly advise you not to do that. So we we we decided not to do that.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

Uh okay, back to our regular scheduled program. Uh the man. With three first names, rushed for 1,756 yards and 27 touchdowns as a junior, averaged 11 yards a carry. Oh my gosh. And in the state semifinals, he rushed for 431 yards and seven touchdowns on 32 carries. As a sophomore, he had a thousand, he had 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns on 114 carries.

SPEAKER_00 44:25

Is he playing in the you know whatever, like the 6A division?

SPEAKER_02 44:28

Well, see, that's what I don't know. But he is, but he is six foot, 205.

SPEAKER_00 44:34

Perfect size.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

Uh, and he runs a 438 40-yard dash.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

So he and I have three statistics almost exact, two of the three statistics almost exactly in common. I guess you can guess which of the three he does. I'm actually a little bit taller, but that's about it. Um but but you know what though? That's what Ohio State needs.

SPEAKER_02 44:53

That's what Ohio State needs.

SPEAKER_00 44:54

That is what Ohio State needs. So I I I even best teams, no doubt, we've always had elite running backs.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

Again, um, Bo Jackson to me is a really good running back. He's not an elite running back.

SPEAKER_00 45:06

He's a big plus running back.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

He can always improve and come back this year and show some wiggle and be like, oh wow, he's fantastic. But the standard is, you know, you know, I mean, y'all know what the standard is. It's Zeke Elliott, it's J.K. Dobbins, it's it's the guys we had two years ago, Judkins and it's our guy, the the the huge lefty Keith Byers.

SPEAKER_00 45:26

I went up and I again while I was watching Mike Tyson highlights, I looked up some Keith Byers highlights. It's uh taken to the house. He was he was a lot better than I remember. He was a great back.

unknown 45:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:37

Till he blew he had 17 yards.

SPEAKER_00 45:39

Yeah, till he broke his until he broke his foot. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:42

Till he broke that fifth metatarsal.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

Oh, the fifth metatarsal, that's right. Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 45:45

Uh a friend of mine played golf with him uh last week. Uh oh, is he in the Dallas area?

SPEAKER_00 45:50

He's in the Dallas area or not?

SPEAKER_02 45:51

No, my friend uh as I name dropped, he was a uh he played in the he played in the NFL for four years, and so there was some one of his boys at a golf tournament, and so uh uh Keith was there and Eddie George was there too. Uh so he was telling me about it. But uh, you know, so Ohio State, I say do what do what is required to get this young man on campus. Um Ohio State's best teams have always had a uh an elite running back, and for me, the bottom line is it ain't my money, so spend whatever it takes.

SPEAKER_00 46:24

Bottom line for me is Ohio State needs a uh punishing running back, but they also need a quarterback that can run. And I don't know they're gonna get either of those things this year.

SPEAKER_02 46:35

He takes a shot at Julian Sain.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

It's not a shot at Julian Saying. I just I just I'm concerned about Ohio State this year.

SPEAKER_02 46:43

I know you've been very consistent about that.

SPEAKER_00 46:44

So we'll I don't I don't uh they need unless I'm missing something, they need I'm worried about their offensive line and I'm worried about their ability for a you know uh quarterback or a power back to pick up a yard. I just am.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

Yeah, I think it's on that sad, depressing, sour note. We will bid you adieu, uh USA, USA. Uh let's see if uh how the lads fare in the uh knockout run, knockout round. Uh so until we chat again on uh from the bottom line of sports, he's Jeremy Pink, John Jacques Taylor. Have a great day.

SPEAKER_00 47:19

All right, we'll see you next week. And guys, remember rate and review us and subscribe and do all that kind of good stuff. It's really helpful to us. Anyway, have a good week, everybody.