SBR Roundtable: The Fall of FTX and Twitter

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love the deals, prices and selection vary by store. Mark Cuban, how you do anything is how you do everything. If you're not, you don't pay attention to detail on the little things, you're not gonna be an avid, a paying attention to detail for the big things. Can Griffey Jr. Hey, where's his hat, doctor? Well, where my hat, doctor? It's because my bad hat of throw and

I wonder where his hat, and if I put his hat on at 86 and you know, he's got a 8 and a half and I got like a little five. It's not going to really stay on my head. But a nice turnout, it's good to see everybody. John Smoltz, if you don't have the imagination and the willingness to fail or not being afraid to fail, I

don't think you can be truly great. Candace Parker. I have so much hope for this generation coming up that I've grown up with women in sports, in leadership roles, on television, speaking about sports, speaking knowledgeably about sports. To me, all the work that I've done, I look humanitarian work that I've done, has always given me great perspective. Has allowed me to keep my feet on the

ground and has really put and reminded me what's truly important. Damien Miller. That was for Seattle. Just to name a few. Welcome to sports business radio. Now here's Brian Burger. Thanks for joining us on this week's edition of sports business radio. Want to remind you to subscribe to the sports business radio podcast. We are podcasting OGs 18 years of conversations that can be found on iTunes

and Spotify recent conversations include actor, producer, director, Colin Hanks, US women's national team member, Carly Lloyd. She played for the US women's national team for 15 years. Ryan Leif, Matt liner, Channing Fry, Isaiah Austin, a great list of recent guests. And like I said, 18 years of conversation. So go on to our next week. iTunes or Spotify and subscribe to our award winning podcast. We'd like

it even more. If you rate and review us. I'm joined by executive producer Brian Griggs. Griggs. We're going guest list this week. And just we've got a few rants and some things to talk about going on in the sports business world. How are you? I'm doing good. And you know, we got a mention that I went to see over there and been this last weekend had

some snow and some ice skating and some good food and good drinks. So it was good to see you and catch up with. Brad Kinzer, our photographer. So a fun little weekend. Yes, it was. It was fun to have you guys visit. This is my first trip to Ben, Oregon. And it's a cool city. I like it. And it was fun to have you guys here.

Like you said, we did some ice skating. We posted a video on our Instagram page that sports business radio. If you want to see me and Greg's, Hey, we didn't fall. That came later. Greg's was falling. I tried to catch him and then I fell. So never let it be said that I am not a team. You are a football player. You took a fall for

Griggs. Literally. So. And then before you got here, it was really cool. Brad Kinzer, our photographer and I went to the last blockbuster on the planet. And it was like being in a time warp. I got to tell you. So some of the questions I got on social media. Are they still an active store like are they still writing videos? Yes. Walkbuster is still writing videos.

They get the DVD. They get the DVDs from a company out of Salem, Oregon. You still can rent the latest, like they had Maverick, Tom Cruise movie in there. It's not like, oh, they stopped making movies 10 years ago. They've got lots of t-shirts and movie posters and movie candy. Brad went to town on the movie candy. He definitely has a sweet. It was really cool

being in there. And the manager explained to me, so blockbuster went into bankruptcy. And then this was a franchisee, the Ben store. Basically, they pay royalties to the company that paid for the name, image and likeness for blockbuster. So, but this is the last store on the planet. And like I said, it was like stepping into a time warp. And it's crazy because wasn't that long

ago. We have kids. It was in our kids lifetime that you could go into a blockbuster, run a DVD or a Blu-ray and take it home and walk it. Obviously streaming is much easier. But this was an old school way. And there were lots of people coming in and out of the store. And I think the fact that there's a TV show called Blockbuster on Netflix

has put some more spotlight on this blockbuster store in bed. So, it was cool. It was a trip down memory lane. I had always heard about the store. And we were like, hey, while we're in town, let's go check out the last blockbuster on the planet. And anytime you can check out the last of anything, you know, like I'm a redhead. I tell people all the

time, like we're going to be extinct at some point. So, you know, anytime you can check out something that's the last. It's kind of cool. Yeah. And I hope, like you said, with the Netflix show that helps keep it going and keep it alive. I hope it's the around 50, 100 years from now because it's just iconic. And it is cool. I've driven past it a

couple of times. Never been in there. But you were, you brought back bottle cap candy and this popcorn and hot tamale. He's it felt like we're in the theater. I love it. It was really cool. So if you're ever in Bend, Oregon, stop by the last blockbuster on the planet. They did rendered out as an Airbnb. Three years ago, Griggs checked us out $3.99 per night

to stay in the blockbuster. I think we should do that sometimes. Record a bunch of episode to sports business radio. Yep. Stay in the blockbuster. If they do that again, they haven't done it in three years. But, you know, you just sit up all night and watch movies. Oh, because they've got all the different monitors in there. We could have like five movies going. I love

that. And we just yeah, you'd hear a snack in the background. And yeah, a bunch of, you know, back to the future on the screen and the old top gun on this one or whatever it is. That'd be awesome. Yeah, there were a bunch of movie posters in there. And the two that I was looking at. I considered getting one was back to the future. And

the other was war games with Matthew broader. Yes. I didn't get him. I may stop by before I leave town. But yeah, I love the old school movie posters too. Those are kind of fun to decorate the house with. Yeah, they don't make them like the used to. They had so much action and vibrant colors. And I swear they could encapsulate a whole movie in a

poster. They just don't make them like the used to. I love those little things. All right. Let's get to some sports business. Because there's a lot going on. In the sports business world, that's why we thought we'd go without a guest this week. We just discuss some of these topics. First of all, last night, the Philadelphia Eagles fell to the Washington commander. So the 1972 Miami

dolphins. They remain the NFL's only undefeated team in NFL history. So, you know, I'm sure they were popping champagne last night. The 72 dolphins. But there's other updates with the Washington commanders. John Henry is entered the chat now. And you may go, who's John Henry? Well, John Henry is part of the ownership group of Fenway sports group, which owns the Boston Red Sox. And he is

interested in the Washington commander. So we told you on the show last week, there's a group with Jeff Bezos, Jay Z, Matthew McConaughey. You've got John Henry, who's now interested in selling the team. And keep in mind, this is going to be a dance nighter decision. This isn't the NFL saying this is who you have to sell to. They just want them to sell it. They

want them to get maximum value for the team. But he's going to decide who he's going to sell the team to now. He hired Bank of America to explore. And he's going to have the options we told you that last week. But here's something, Griggs, that could expedite everything. Last Thursday, DC Attorney General Carl Racine sued the commanders, Snyder, the NFL, and even Roger Gidele, ledging

the defendants, deceived residents in his jurisdiction. Discovery. You think the NFL wants discovery? Do you think Daniel Snyder wants discovery? No, they don't. It's why so far we haven't seen the release of all of those documents that ended up getting John Druden fired with the Raiders. But the NFL does not want discovery on any of this. And I'm sure they're saying to dance Snyder, you better

sell this and you better sell it quickly. Because all these legal things and Attorney Generals and the bad PR that you're bringing to our league is not what we need. Now it was great to see the commanders win. That was the biggest win of the season. Ron Rivera is a class act is their coach. They've got players who were playing hard. They were able to tune

the noise out of the last week. But Griggs, people are saying this team could sell for seven to eight billion dollars. That would be the most expensive US sports franchise in any league ever. So however this turns out, Dan Snyder is going to walk away with a lot of money. It's just a matter of working with Bank of America, making sure you have the right owner

or ownership group. And getting this thing sold before the Attorney General drags you in and Roger Gidele is getting sued. And, you know, other team owners have to answer for Dan Snyder. I think they're getting tired of that. We kind of saw a hint of that with Colts owner Jim Ursay who kind of said, it wouldn't be the worst idea of Dan Snyder sells the commanders.

So we'll see how this plays out. But I think there's going to be some interesting groups that continue to surface who want to buy this team. You know, we told you. Kevin Durant has said, hey, I'm from the DMV area. Like I said, we're going to have some people that are thinking about, like, if you want to buy so many games that you might want to

use, I think they're going to have a lot of money. I'd love to be a part of an ownership group. Like, there's going to be a lot of interest in this team. They are going to need a new stadium most likely. So that's going to be a consideration for any ownership group. But it's a mess. And I'm sure the league would like to turn the page

on Dan Snyder as quick as possible. Yeah. And look, it's, we mentioned this last week too. It's an iconic brand. It's an iconic team. It's, you know, been around forever. It's got a good fan base. It's in a good market. So, you obviously as we're seeing more and more people kind of come up to the plate here to possibly buy this team, you see why? I

mean, it's something that's, that's, people want to see it. They want to have it. They want to own it. So I think that's going to continue to grow. And it's, uh, it's an interesting story to watch. Like you said, now with the attorney general and potentially some lawsuits going on to it just keeps, uh, keep building and building. So I can see why Snyder says, let's

get rid of it. He wants to get rid of it as quick as he can. Remember, nobody wants discovery. Yeah. That would be very bad news for Dan Snyder and NFL. And for likely owners of other teams. So we'll continue to follow this story as we have and, and bring you updates, uh, as we go along. Other news out of the NFL, they held their first

ever regular season game in Germany this past weekend. And it was a massive success. 67,000 people came to the game. A lot of them saying John Denver songs and other songs in unison. It was very impressive. Three million people requested access to the stadium to buy a ticket. So I mean, we're seeing what Taylor Swift is doing right now with her tour. She's basically crashing ticket

master. Three million people wanted to come to watch this game. The stadium only holds 67,000. Now here's a few little facts for you. Number one, drinks, check this out. Tom Brady becomes the first NFL player to buy tickets. Win games in four different countries. So he's one in the United States. Obviously. He's one in Mexico. He's one in England. And now he's one in Germany over

the course of his 23 year career, because his Tampa Bay box, the Seattle Seahawks 21 to 16 on Sunday. Another thing that Brady can say that he's done. Man, I tell you, it was fun seeing that crowd. I mean, the Euro crowds and they just know I love the singing and the chance. There's the masters of that. We see that with Euro cup and soccer and

World Cup. They know how to sing in unison. It's crazy. And I love the interview after the game with Brady. And all you hear is the crowd singing behind it. It was pretty cool. So I mean, what a great game to see for the Germany fans. You got Tom Brady, the iconic goat of football. So fun to see it. And the stadium turned out good. Look

good. Those games are great. I think Mexico City is the next one on the tour. So it'll be fun to see how that one looks. I mean, I'm impressed in Germany that they know about John Denver. I'm a John Denver fan for sure. And when you're singing John, Denver songs like that in complete unison, like that is some impressive stuff. That might have been the most

impressive part of the game. Yeah. All right. The other thing about Germany is they've become the NFL's top market in Europe. They have surpassed the UK. So we hear all about these London games and things like that. Germany is selling more products. They're selling more video games. They have more game past subscriptions than the UK. And, you know, again, you know, you had all these people

to try to get tickets to come to this 67,000 seat stadium. So, you know, there have been murmurs for a long time. Will we see a team in Europe from the NFL? And, you know, you've got these two markets that the league has done a nice job of cultivating Germany and London. So Germany in the UK. Munich and London. It's so far away to travel. It's,

you know, a long way to go. But, if you're making that kind of money and you're trying to gain that international footprint, I wouldn't be surprised if, I don't know, the next five to 10 years, we saw a team over there. What do you think? Yeah. I think obviously the NFL brand is growing worldwide more and more. You saw it when you went China, the NBA

in basketball has always been kind of the king of the world, you know, Kobe Bryant jerseys and whoever wherever you go. I think NFL wants that and is growing that. And obviously it's working because they're selling out these stadiums, you know, wherever they play. I think the big thing is the travel, you know, and trying to get teams back and forth and all that is kind

of probably the big issue. But again, money is always king. It wins. If they're, if they're selling stuff and tickets and film stadiums, they're going to find a way to get teams over there. All right. Let's look at World Cup. That's coming up. And Greg's, you know, everything I see in the news and people I talk to, like, I'm sure it's going to go off. Okay.

But there's going to be a lot of headaches before, during and after. Here's the latest. So Budweiser pays a reported $75 million every four years to sponsor the World Cup. In September, organizers finalized a policy to serve beer to fans around the arena, despite the strict laws. So, you know, again, if you're Budweiser, you're not paying that kind of money. If you can't serve beer in

the stadium. Now they've been told they need to move the beer concessions to less. Visible locations by Qatar's royal family. If you're Budweiser, aren't you pulling the plug on this? I mean, this is like, you know, I'm going to see Kevin Durant play. But instead of playing on the basketball court in the arena, he's going to be playing in the parking lot behind the garbage bin.

Like, this is, this is ridiculous. Like Budweiser is paying for that exposure. They're paying to be the beer of World Cup. $75 million is a lot of money. And it'll be interesting to see if they pull the plug. If I'm them, I do. I don't know if they can get out of the contract. I don't want to know what the language is. But I'm sure if

in September, they finalized a policy to serve the beer and serve it in visible locations. And now you're being told by the royal family over there that you can't do that. That's a problem. I find Budweiser. Well, yeah. And I think you saw this like when you went to London, how they sell beer and concessions. Different than over here, you know, certain times and certain places.

And I think we're seeing this now as you go to these different countries that have all these rules and religion and laws and things. It's different than here. But again, if you sign up to do it, you think that they would have that somewhere in the contract. Hey, we're going to be visible. We're going to be able to sell beer. But again, it's always a growing

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companies right now that every day you look at the headlines and you just say, Oh my God, these companies are crashing like the Hindenburg. And they're crashing quickly. Let's start with Twitter. And I'll say this, I have friends who until recently worked at Twitter. Sports PR summit, the event that we have done for many years. We've done that. Twitter headquarters in San Francisco. So I have

a unique insight to Twitter. Like I'm not just someone who doesn't know people who have worked there and has never been into both their San Francisco and their New York headquarters. I've been to both. And I will say over the years, the people that I've met are just quality people. You know, they do things the right way they treat people as people not just employees. Then

you have Elon Musk. Come in. And look, Elon Musk has been very successful with Tesla and with SpaceX. This is a completely different undertaking. And it's a media company. And Elon Musk completed his $44 billion buy out of Twitter on October 28th. And Greg since then, it's been a circus. Half of the company, 7500 employees were terminated, including many senior employees. They're basically the end of

the year. So when you do it then you have to do it on your Twitter executives. So, you know, usually when you have a takeover like this, you'll keep some of the senior execs on. So they'll help you with the transition. From what I've been told, this is basically like Elon Musk. And five of his closest advisors from his other companies that are huddling in a

conference room at Twitter. And they're running the company. Blown out people who were in charge of misinformation and making sure that misinformation isn't spreading. But this is like a handful of people now who are the brain trust of this company and are basically puppets under Elon Musk. Brands including Volkswagen, General Motors and United Airlines who have advertised for many years on Twitter have said we're pausing

our advertising. So that's never a good sign either when you have some of your biggest advertisers that are going to pause. Now here's the thing that I think is the most dangerous thing of all. Anyone now can pay $8 a month and get a blue verified check mark. So we have people posing as Adrian Woodjornowski from ESPN putting out fake news. We have people posing as

LeBron James saying he's demanding a trade. We have companies who are healthcare companies saying we're handing out free insulin to those who need it. You have journalists being impersonated. There was a woman reporter for the Washington Post and in the last few days she with the permission of a politician and a comedian impersonated both of them and was granted a blue check mark in 15 minutes.

15 minutes. So Elon Musk seems to think that, you know, let's make everyone verified. Let's put another four. There's a lot of people putting misinformation out there. It's confusing. Luckily, it didn't seem to lead to anything crazy around the elections. But, you know, there's a reason that there were blue check marks before is basically it said and sports business radio, by the way, is verified on

Twitter. This is a trusted source of information. If you're allowing anyone to buy an $8 check mark, I mean, again, let's use the Kevin Durant example. This is like me paying $8 and saying, hey, I want to play in the Lakers Nets game tonight. I want to start a point guard since Kai reads out and play next to KD. Can I buy my way onto the

court? Like you shouldn't be able to buy your way into being a journalist, a celebrity, an athlete, a comedian. So, I'm not going to say that I'm not going to be a politician. That's not how this should work. So, one of the things that's interesting, Greg, is that a lot of people have left Twitter in the last two weeks. And Twitter is now right for competition.

Will another platform rise up to take them on during this time of uncertainty. You look at who could do that. LinkedIn could become a replacement newsfeed because they've got millions of people already on the platform. And there's a lot of people who are not going to be able to buy their way into the platform. There's even platforms called Mastodon. And there's others that are popping up.

People are saying to Mark Zuckerberg, hey, Mark, you already have Facebook and Instagram. You could invent something pretty quickly that could replace Twitter. So Twitter is like the boxer who has been knocked down and they're getting a standing eight count. Are they going to be able to continue or are they out? And Elon Musk, because even said, and I don't know if this is a smart

thing, he buys the company and then he's like, well, bankruptcy is on the table. We may not be able to continue to exist. I mean, do you think advertisers and users want to hear that? Is he saying that because he just wants an excuse to be able to fire all these people. I've talked to people, you know, who until recently worked at Twitter, you know, they're

confused about their severance packages. Some people were just outright fired. It's a mess. But to people who get their news from Twitter, like you and I and many others, this is a confusing time. And it's a dangerous time because you have people going on the platform who have paid $8 to get the blue check mark next to them. And they're putting out misinformation. Well, the thing

that's frustrating is in a world full of so much scam now and so much fake news. And you go to a source like Twitter like we have until now where we trust it. You know, you follow these guys. You follow these people. They have the blue check mark. They're your news source. You understand that what they say is, you know, checked and been checked. But now

it's like, you don't know what to believe. You don't know what you're seeing on there. You don't know if it's actually them typing it or not them typing it. And it's just it's a disaster. And it kind of reminded me when you were talking the movie, the social network. It's like Elon Musk is the guy with his buddies in the dorm room. You know, there's like

three or four of them in there just, you know, doing their little magic tricks on Twitter. And it's just like, well, where's this going? And obviously, social network worked out. But Twitter doesn't seem to be heading that right direction right now. Yeah, it's a mess. It's just, you know, you wonder like, okay, did you buy this as an ego play or did you have a plan

when you bought the platform? And the plan that we're seeing right now is basically a few essential things. One, they're cutting costs, right? So you get rid of half of your workforce. You are, you know, telling advertisers, you know, we're going to be doing this, this, this and this. But they're, you know, not buying what we're doing. You're selling. You think $8 a month is going

to sustain you because, you know, oh, people weren't paying for this platform before, but now they're going to pay for it. Like honestly, you know, Twitter's been a good platform for sports business radio. But if we have to pay for it, I don't know that we're going to stick around on the platform. And, you know, then again, you double down on Instagram and you double down

on TikTok and you double down on LinkedIn and some of these other platforms. Where we also have followers. So, you know, is the New York Times going to pay to be on Twitter? Is ESPN going to pay to be on Twitter? Is LeBron James going to pay to be on Twitter? Probably not. And again, the most dangerous thing is that Elon Musk has given license to

anyone to impersonate those entities that I just named. And again, we're seeing it. Yeah. So, you know, one of the pieces of advice I would tell you, and I would say this, about any social media platform is pause and look to see who is tweeting this out or who is posting this news. Because if you take a close look, it may not be Adrian Wojdernaowski or

it may not be LeBron James. It might have their picture. It might have the blue checkmark and that's confusing. But look at their handle. Look at some of their past tweets. Look at how many followers they have. And, you know, if it's Oh, I'm Adrian Wojdernaowski, but I have eight followers. But, you know, there's a blue checkmark and it's my picture. That's not really Adrian Wojdernaowski.

And if I'm these media outlets, I'm very concerned about, you know, my reporters being duped. So to speak. Yeah. And people pretending to be them and putting out news. Because if you're a news outlet, like we are credibility and trust is what you have with your audience. And if you lose that, then, you know, that's a big hit on your brand. Well, I think one of

the main things that makes social media work too is not having to pay for it. You know, everybody can use it. Everybody can get an account on there. And, you know, once you get to certain age, you're, you're in. And I think that's kind of a key. Cause then it's, it's, you know, it's free for everybody. Everybody can use it. I mean, you start charging for

people or charging for something that they always had for free. That gets messy. And I agree. It's like, you know, you get an email from your bank and it looks like it's from your bank. Well, you always got to check that it's from your bank. Well, you shouldn't have to do that on Twitter. But now we're going to be able to do that. We're doing that

on Twitter. So it's, that doesn't look good. So we'll see what happens. You know, do the senior executives get replaced. Do the advertisers come back. Does Elon Musk come do his senses and stop this craziness with anyone can buy it $8 blue check mark. And, you know, let the blue check marks be associated with trusted sources of information and not anyone who just paid to get

the blue check mark. And, I mean, it could put out any kind of information. Um, just Twitter go bankrupt. I mean, I think all of these things are on the table. And I'm going to be watching it closely. Cause again, we use it. I use it as a source of information. Um, there's a lot of great reporters and news associations and outlets from around the world

that are on there. And, uh, you know, we'll see. But like I said, I think Twitter is as ripe as it's ever been. Hey, you know, I've got an NIL deal. A large part of these athletes getting the NIL deal is their social media following. So if you've got thousands or millions of followers on Twitter, that means something to you. So are you willing to just

let them go away if Twitter goes away? It's going to hurt some people because there are people who have large followings and they've been able to monetize their following, whether you're a college athlete, whether you're Kim Kardashian, whether you're, you know, a news outlet, part of your currency that you have is your social media following. So if Twitter goes away, there will be people that take

a hit because of it because it's millions less people or thousands less people that you are potentially reaching with what you're trying to promote for your sponsor or whatever you're doing. Don't you agree with that? I do. Yeah. And I think what you mentioned to earlier about a big sign of, you know, probably Hey, everyone. Brian Burger here. Ron is the new official menswear partner of

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holes in your hands. You know, it's so important. All right, let's see. Real estate deals that are out there. Look at the internet and tech boom when, you know, all these social media companies started. Um, and when technology started advancing. Usually if something's too good to be true, it is. Well, I was never really buying the whole cryptocurrency thing. And, you know, we had people on

this show to try and explain cryptocurrency. And, some of my friends invested in cryptocurrency. And this is at an old time high. And this is going to make me rich. It's really hard to get rich quickly. Sometimes you win the lottery, like the person who won the 1.2 billion dollars. Recently, I wish that was us. But most of the time things wealth has to accumulate over

time. Cryptocurrency is the latest thing that people have bought into over the last couple of years. And thought they were going to make a lot of money. And it is now crashing. And the latest company to crash, Griggs, who has lots of tentacles into the sports world is FTX FTX has filed for bankruptcy. And Griggs, they have left a. Littered road of sports partnerships behind them

in filing for the bankruptcy. The one that may be the most remarkable is Miami data officials negotiated a 19 year 135 million dollar contract with FTX for the naming rights to the Miami Heats home arena. Well, guess what? There's 17 years left on the deal. And that money's never going to get paid. And if you recall, I don't know what the data the show is, but

if you go back and find the show when we talked about this deal being signed in the first place, my comment was 19 years. Yeah. I mean, usually you may see a naming rights deal of five years, maybe 10 years. 19 years. And I think I even said 19 is even a weird number. Why isn't it 20? Why isn't it 15? Why 19? And I'm not

sure who at Miami Dade did their due diligence on FTX. And who thought it was a good idea to sign a 19 year deal. Like if I'm doing business with someone and they're an unproven company, five years is probably as long as I'm going to go. I'm not going to go 19 years and lock myself in. I mean, think about this. And I don't care if

this is Aaron Judge's contract coming up or this is the naming rights deal. Think about how many things are going to change over the course of 19 years. Don't you want the ability to renegotiate if things get better and the climate gets better for you? Why would you lock yourself into 2020 prices when in 2039 the world might look much more favorable or 2030, the world

might look much more favorable. You are, I'm all for a burden the hand. Yeah. But I also think you hamstring yourself. If you tie yourself into long term deal. So, again, I'll use Aaron Judge, he's a free agent. He's a young player. If I can't do anything, I think I'm not going to do anything wrong. I'm him. I'm probably not signing a 10 year deal with

someone. I'm signing maybe a 10 year deal, but I can opt out after five years or I'm giving myself flexibility in that deal. You know, you've seen LeBron James has done this masterfully. Now you are banking on yourself that you're going to stay healthy and he has for the most part, but he's done one year deals. And he's holding the club accountable. He's giving himself maximum

flexibility. If the climate change deals and for Miami data officials to lock the Miami Heat Arena into a 19 year deal, I think is is borderline ludicrous. And now they've got this deal that they've got to figure out. And again, can they get any money out of the deal. If not, then they're going to have to scramble to find a naming rights partner quickly. Other entities

that are tied to FTS. FTS Formula One has already dropped FTS. They're like, you know what? You've gone bankrupt. We're not keeping you on our car anymore. Like you're out. Like if you look at the Miami Heat Games, there's still FTS on the basketball court. They haven't, you know, figured out how to get that off the court yet. With Mercedes Formula One team, they've already removed

FTS and all of their branding from the cars. And this isn't another thing. Griggs. If you're going to get a $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000, you know, you're old enough like me to listen to this. You remember Anron? Anron was the home field of the Houston Astros. When they went $29 billion in debt, they had to scrap Anron from the field, from, you know, the windows, from the scoreboard, like

everything is branded with the sponsor logo. That's part of the Union Army Rights Partner. Well, when it goes south like this, it costs a lot of money to remove the branding from all of those areas. Greeks check this out. This is remarkable. So in our lifetime, one of the biggest business scandals, like people use it as case studies in business school, Anron, Anron, and Ron. Like

I just told you, $29 billion. FTX, $50 billion. It's almost $1 billion. as bad as Anron with the wake of debt and financial destruction that has been left in their wake. So here are other. We just told you the Miami Heat Arena, the Mercedes Formula One team, Major League Baseball, the Golden State Warriors, UC Berkeley, Tom Brady, Steph Curry, Shohei O'Connie. These are all entities and

individuals that had deals with FTX. And I'm sure if you're Steph Curry, Tom Brady, Shohei O'Connie, they probably gave you as part of your deal. We're going to give you cryptocurrency. So, you know, we've seen players like Odo back in junior, say, oh, I'm getting part of my contract in cryptocurrency. Not a good idea. Because now if that was part of your payment, what is that

cryptocurrency worth? Zilch. So again, in my lifetime, if things are too good to be true, usually they are. Yeah. And I don't care if that's a person, if that's an investment. If it's, you know, something else like unless you are one of those, you know, you know, if you're a person who's not a person, you know, you're not going to be a person, you know, you're

not going to be a person. So lucky for you and you win the lottery and even that comes with problems. If it's too good to be true, it's usually too good to be true. And FTX and this cryptocurrency craze, it's been too good to be true. And all of these entities, you have to wonder how much did they vet FTX and, you know, I have something,

it's not mine, but I call it the snowball effect. So if you're, let's say Mercedes and you go, oh, look, FTX has deals with Tom Brady and Steph Curry and Shohei O'Connor and Major League Baseball, they must have done their due diligence. It's okay for me to do a deal with them because all of those companies would never do a deal like this without doing their

due diligence and end of vetting FTX. Well, either everyone failed on their vetting FTX lied in what they turned over as part of the vetting or everyone got snow job here. And, and, you know, thought FTX was one thing and it turned into something else. So the moral of the story here is do your own vetting. Don't rely on, oh, you know, these five other companies

did a deal with that company. So we'll just say if it's good enough for them, it's good. It's good enough for us. No, do your own vetting. Never lock yourself into a long term deal with a company who's not established and I would say FTX popped out of the blue. And, you know, all of a sudden with Santa Claus on Christmas handing out, you know, billion

dollar deals. And, you know, now they're 50 billion dollars in debt. They'll never repay that. It's why they've, you know, declared bankruptcy. And you've got Tom Brady. Steph Curry, Shohei O'Connor. I mean, if you're the agent for those players, how are you explaining this to them? Hey, guess what? They're going to put you in commercials. They're going to make you the face of this. So that's

the last thing is you're the face of failure. You're associated with failure. Old deals are risky. You know, we've had Andre Igodola on the show and he said it's like baseball. If you go three out of 10 on business investments, then, you know, that's a good percentage. But when you have a deal like this, this is the kind of deal, especially if you have to put

up your own money. And I'd be pretty surprised at Tom Brady and Steph Curry and Shohei O'Connor were putting up any of their own money. I'm sure it was part of the deal. They may have lost money because cryptocurrency was offered to them as part of the value. Again, instead of paying you in dollars, we're going to pay you part of your deal in cryptocurrency. And,

you know, as it turns out, the only person who was right, and all of this and maybe should have been doing the vatting all along, is if you remember the Super Bowl commercial, where Larry David said, I'm not sure. Larry David was not buying this in the commercial. I mean, ironically, the commercial was for F.T.X. But he wasn't so sure. And it turns out Larry David

was the only person who was right. So if you're a Corb fan like I am good on you, Larry David, because you were got this right. But Griggs, it's sad because a lot of people are losing their jobs as part of this. F.T.X. is now in the business school books with Enron is one of the greatest business failures ever. Like I said, they have lost far

more money than Enron did. Granted, we're in a time of, you know, inflation and things cost more now than they did back then. But I mean, you're, you're looking at 50 billion compared to 29 billion. And you know, now all of these leagues, teams and individual athletes are going to have to find a way to scrap this partnership, replace the partnership, and do it with someone

who's much safer than F.T.X. Like if I'm them, I'm not going out and going, hey, we need a new cryptocurrency partner. F.T.X. isn't around anymore. But let's go find another cryptocurrency partner. Now I'm probably scrapping the crypto current. I'm going to go find a company that's a little bit more stable than even cryptocurrency.com, which replace staples as the, you know, you know, I'm going to go

find a company that's a little bit more stable than even cryptocurrency.com, which replace staples as the, you know, brand that's on the naming rights of the Lakers and Clippers are going to. So. This is the risk you take. When you do deals with companies who haven't been around for a long time don't have a track record ethe he catalog you did, you know, I don't know

what's on that market world. You know, catered brand a lot of tools, that's cool, a long time for the real sales, and you know, we're going to talk about Dallas's premium business, the interest of doing something that's like brand commercial and a block, you know, how to do that, and then go look at settings. Like I said, we've, you know, with. Even a manager does some

kind of things like somewhere else. PR O U T C F is a place that has brands and, you know, always seem to be the one who'd support a profits seller. It's always another kind of business to do that for a company. You know, you should get the prof Looks like if you would buy and the science and money, like Santa Claus on Christmas morning, this

is a disaster. Yeah, I think the biggest red flag for me is just the non vetting, apparently, or these guys are Really Good sales people. Because to get those deals, done with something that's so new, like literally nobody even knew what this was, you know, two years ago, and how it's like 50 $ billion later, and all these athletes of Los Endors was now in the

Reen is they got a cover it and F1. It's just that's the part that's just kind of surprising being it's not like you do a deal with Nike. You're like, OK, they're a good company. We can follow them. We can sign the on the line here. We get it. Adidas, you know, even though Odell back in junior, assuming Nike, but you know what I'm like, yes,

I know it. You mean it's a lifelong. We all know it. And in all of a sudden, FTX comes up and it's like everybody jumps on board and nobody even knows really what crypto is. I mean, it's that confusing world and man, there's just a fallout. My dad worked for Portland General Electric here in Oregon. That was an in-run company and he had to work five

years longer because he lost his retirement. I mean, it's just like, I saw it affect that side of it. So I can't imagine these people that are going to fall out from this. So it's rough. Yeah. And I mean, you know, to take it another step further, let's say you work for FTX and you did one of these sports partnerships and you go work for another

company. Hmm. I'll take the meeting. But I'm not sure I'm going to make a deal with. Yeah. And even if it's not your fault, if it was FTX's fault and it's not your fault, I'm still going to be like, you know, if I have three deals in front of me, I'm probably going to make the deal with the person who didn't use the FTX. Like, there's

a trust that has been lost here. Just like we talked about with Twitter. And the fact that anyone can have a blue checkmark now and you don't know if you can trust where the information is coming from. It's the same thing here with FTX. And I would say, this is destroyed the entire cryptocurrency industry. So even if you're crypto.com or you're any of these other companies,

it's kind of like, you know, how people just say, oh, I want to cope. I want to clean X. Right. Well, those are brands and you may be saying, I want to tissue or I want to soda, but you're, you're kind of saying, I want to cope or I want to clean X. This is FTX is going to drag down the rest of the industry or

at least his breach the trust. Because if you're any cryptocurrency company right now. And you're trying to go sell a partnership exhibit A is, oh, FTX failed to the tune of 50 billion dollars. I'm probably not going to be buying cryptocurrency or doing any deals with anyone who's trying to do a deal with me. Even if you're not FTX, even if you're a different company. And

you may have a better track record. I'm going to be very leery about doing a deal with you because you're in the same industry. Yeah. And that may not be fair, but it's just how it is. It is. And it's so new still that there's not much you can look back on and say, oh, crypto's been around 20 years. So we know it's still going to

be around. No, it's all still so new that even a different company. Other than FTX, there's not much track record to look at because no one's been around long enough to really show, hey, we can deliver on our promises. So it's just it's a fallout. And it's really going to hurt. Like you said, the whole crypto world, I think. Yeah. All right. Next week, we are

going to be enjoying the holidays. So we're going to bring you a sports business radio vault edition. And we're going to look back on conversations with two of the most charitable people that I think have ever been on. The first is the late Dick Hoite. And if you've never Googled team Hoite and seen the adventures of Dick while he was alive and his son Rick, please

do so. They've been featured on the today show. But my conversation with Dick. And this was, you know, gosh, I think 2009. Yeah. It's just a remarkable conversation because he is a remarkable person. This is someone who son is a wonderful guy. And he was probably his greatest millionaire. He's a world writer, you know, that's called a peeled epic nuestros. I'm happy that you compliment him.

Interesting man. I think too much work was helpful. I've ever seen. And if the interview doesn't bring a tear to your eye, then you might be a robot. But he's a remarkable human being. He's no longer with us, but team Hoyt is still doing some great things. So I urge you to listen to that interview. I mean, when I think of people who think beyond themselves

and we're thankful for life, Dick Hoyt is always going to be, you know, one of those people that I think of. The other conversation that will be air is work done who played many years in that. And I felt great running back. His nonprofit organization has helped so many families, low income families, afford houses and get into houses. And the legacy that he's left for all

of these families by helping them get into houses is incredible. So those are the two conversations that will bring you next week during Thanksgiving week. You know, Greg's, I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for our listeners. I'm thankful for CD Sports and the team there for all that they do for us. I'm thankful for our sponsors. Like I'm thankful for lots and lots of things. Family

almost lost my mom this year. So, you know, it's a year to be thankful. I feel like it's the first year in a couple years that, you know, people can go all out on Thanksgiving again and get together with family and you don't have to worry about it. Or people worry masks and our people, you know, I can only have four people in the house. And,

you know, I think the travel industry is going to be in full swing for the holiday season for Thanksgiving and Christmas and Hanukkah. So, you know, I just wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Yeah, I think both these interviews for next week. Can't put stuff in perspective life and perspective and how much we can help people and be thankful for the people that help us. So, I

think that's a great thing. So, it's a good reminder to step back and just really, like you said, just be thankful for everything we have in this country and everything that we opportunities we get and people we get to meet and things we get to do. So, I'm thankful for you. I'm thankful for our weekend and Ben last weekend. It's just, you got to get together.

Take those opportunities, man. If you can see somebody or be with somebody, be with them. You know, have fun with them. Be thankful and enjoy life together. So. Yeah. Life is short. Life is short. So, take every opportunity to, you know, tell the people that you, you know, are friends with, are family with, that you love them and spend time with them and I hope everyone

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Amarlin, Nicole Wardle, and Calvin Wurz. I'm Brian Burger. Have a great week and we'll talk to you soon right here on Sports Business Radio. SPR Podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and your favorite listening app. Follow Sports Business Radio on Facebook, Twitter, at SB Radio, Instagram, at Sports Business Radio. And online at SportsBusinessRadio.com. Sports Business Radio is produced by Brian Griggs and GriggsProductions. GriggsProductions.com.