🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on College Football/Basketball, NBA/NHL Season Preview, MLB, WNBA Playoffs, Caitlin Clark, MLS, NFL & More

This week we had the honor to interview again Dr. Ron Dick, associate professor of sports marketing at Duquesne University in the school of business. Ron also worked for 20 years in sports, including 15 years in the NBA with the Sixers and the Nets, and then five years in the NCAA.

You can watch the video interview below or you can listen to the audio interview above:

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on:

• College basketball & Football

• NBA season preview,

• WNBA playoffs,

• MLB playoffs,

• NFL’s fourth quarter of the way through the season,

• MLS season (2nd half)

• NHL season debut

You can read the full transcript of the podcast interview with Ron located at the top of this blog post.

Here are some of the best quotes of our conversation with Ron:

1. College Basketball — Player Compensation, Arkansas and the SEC

On Arkansas players earning more than assistant coaches:

“John Calipari had a lot to say that’s gotten a lot of publicity through social media and the news and ESPN. He said currently right now on the Razorbacks roster of basketball players, nine of the 12 or 15 make more money than all the assistant coaches.”

On escalating compensation in college sports:

“There are schools in the SEC and the Big 10 that are paying even bigger money. Well, there’s a couple things to unpack there. First of all, John, let’s talk about the $8 million-plus a year that you make.”

On the business model of college athletics:

“In most cases that I know of, football drives the bus. But in a conference like the Atlantic 10 and maybe even the Big East, it’s basketball. It’s really interesting how people look at how the two sports complement each other, or how we use each other to help the situation.”

2. NBA — Preview of the 2026–27 Season

On the leading championship contenders:

“I did a little research on who the favorites are as far as Vegas is concerned. OKC, the Spurs, the Knicks, the Sixers, Celtics and Cavs, in that order. I think it’s gonna be a lot of buzz about the NBA to start the season because of LeBron. They are the teams that are most likely gonna win, but it’s really early.”

On the importance of preseason games:

“The pre-season games, nobody’s gonna play in those. That’s for the last three to five roster spots, two to three roster spots. A lot of the guys that don’t have the guaranteed money. The ones they’ve already locked up are gonna make the team.”

3. WNBA — Playoffs and Caitlin Clark

On the WNBA playoff picture:

“We are down to the final four. The Indiana Fever are gone. We have the Liberty, which used to play where Madison Square Garden is, but of course now they play where the Brooklyn Nets play. We have the Atlanta Dream, we’ve got Golden State, and we got the Aces.”

On Caitlin Clark’s commercial impact:

“She signed an eight-year, $28 million contract just for her sneaker. And now this is the first Caitlin One. It sells for $140. Nike thinks that’s gonna help propel their stock to bigger and better things.”

On the challenges of marketing the WNBA:

“We’re always talking about how can we market it better and market it to women’s, maybe girls seven to 17, or somehow come up with a formula. Now you’ve got people coming, paying good money for tickets.”

4. MLB — Playoffs, Small-Market Teams and Potential Lockout

On why smaller-market teams can compete with larger franchises:

“Everybody talks about small markets can’t win. Well, how do you explain the Brewers and the Rays? They draft better than you. They develop players better than you. They make better trades than you. And they sign free agents better than you. So how do the Rays do it and the rest of us can’t do it in MLB?”

On the possibility of an MLB lockout:

“You don’t think the lockout is looming? You don’t think the strike is real? I got news for you. I heard it’s coming. The Mets just laid off, two weeks before their last home game against the Phillies, September 20th, 80% of their sales and marketing department.”

On the potential impact on spring training:

“That’s how certain we’re gonna have a work stoppage. Pitchers and catchers will not be going to Florida and Arizona on February 1st. Write that down. I’ve heard it. It’s coming.”

On his World Series prediction:

“I would love to see the Brewers versus the Rays. That would just smack of how come the other smaller-market teams can’t do it? That would just be incredible. But it’s probably gonna be Dodgers and... it’s really hard to tell. I think Dodgers-Rays final, a rematch from 2020. That would be my guess. I think the Rays might win it this time.”

5. NFL — First Quarter of the Season and International Expansion

On the success of the NFL’s international games:

“All the foreign games that are being played and continue to play, they’ve gone overwhelmingly well. Their attendance is through the roof. They’re just trying to expand their brand, is what the NFL’s doing, and they’re doing it very well.”

On the possibility of NFL and NBA franchises in Europe:

“Yes, absolutely. You’ll see NFL teams in Europe. You’ll see NBA teams in Europe. You may see Major League Baseball teams in Japan. I think we’ve saturated the United States, like all 50 states. Florida was one of the last frontiers to complete, and that’s been done for a while.”

On the timing of international expansion:

“I do believe one day you’ll see that. I don’t know when. I don’t think it’s happening next year, but down the road, they’re gonna expand.”

6. College Football — Rankings and Early-Season Contenders

On the early-season leaders:

“College football, Texas 4-0, Georgia 5-0. Notre Dame, wow, Notre Dame getting it done, 5-0. Michigan is doing real well, too. Ohio State comes in at five because they lost to Texas. So if you lose to other teams in the top 10, you don’t get hurt as much.”

On Indiana, Alabama and the emerging contenders:

“Alabama 5-0. How about Indiana, reigning champions? All they do is win, too. They’re up 5-0 in the Big 10. BYU’s got a nice team, 4-0. Ole Miss, 3-1. LSU is 4-1. Their only loss was Mississippi, so they’re still in the top 10. It’s starting to really heat up, and it’s getting really interesting now.”

7. MLS — Playoffs, Sports Science and Player Health

On the upcoming MLS playoffs and attendance:

“They’re getting ready to start the playoffs real soon, and then that’ll show us who’s the best in the MLS. But I think they had a pretty good year with attendance.”

On the importance of injury prevention:

“Hopefully all the pro teams have a level of training, a level of medicine that we eliminate as many injuries as possible. Injuries are just a misfortunate situation. That’s the only way it should be. It shouldn’t be chronic, right?”

Additional quote from Julien Blin on technology in MLS:

“I can tell you that the MLS are doing phenomenal jobs as far as bringing technologies, like anywhere from hyperbaric chambers, shockwave therapy, cryo chambers. They have a lot of technologies that allow them to really get some guys back early, back for the playoffs.”

Additional quote shared by Julien Blin, attributed to Gavin Banfield:

“It’s not always the team that have the best players, it’s the team that have, that do the best job as keeping the players healthy.”

8. NHL — Season Opening, Penguins and Ovechkin

On the historic longevity of the Penguins’ core players:

“We had something big here happen in Pittsburgh. First time in North American history that three players have all played together for 21 years or more. And that, of course, is Kris Letang with the Penguins, Geno Malkin, and Sidney Crosby. No one has ever done that. Twenty-one straight years, three guys with the same franchise.”

On Ovechkin and the Penguins–Capitals rivalry:

“We had an announcement today in Washington that Ovechkin has announced his retirement at the end of the year. Tonight the Penguins play in Washington, and God, they’ve had some great battles over the years. Malkin, fellow Russian, Letang, Crosby against Ovechkin, the greatest scorer of all time.”

On the NHL championship contenders:

“Other favorites, Hurricanes. The two Florida teams are always good in the NHL. The Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning are good. Oilers, Avalanche, Vegas. They are the six teams that I’m hearing a lot about.”

9. Tennis — New Generation, Rivalries and Djokovic’s Legacy

On the emergence of a new generation of tennis stars:

“We finally have a young influx of different countries, different players. And the old, the three original guys that had spent so much time dominating, you know, their time has come and gone. And it’s exciting. Exciting to get some new blood in there.”

— Dr. Ron Dick

On the changing landscape of men’s tennis:

“I think everything is gonna change again when Zverev is back because he’s... I think to me he’s like the world number one. And then Alcaraz, when he becomes healthy, I think those two should dominate again the tour.”

— Julien Blin

On Novak Djokovic’s longevity and legacy:

“The Tom Brady of tennis?”

— Dr. Ron Dick

“People say he’s the GOAT ‘cause he won 24 Grand Slams. Nobody else has won that many Grand Slams, so you can’t really argue with that. And he did it playing against two of the greatest players of all time.”

— Julien Blin

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