🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the MLB All Star Game, NBA Draft, NFL training camps, College Football, 2026 Soccer World Cup & Controversies.

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:

1. MLB All Star game,

2. MLB: second half of season, who win, why a lock out. Looming strike.

3. NFL training camps open.

4. College football: who is favorite, what is 5 in 5 years rule.

5. NBA draft and trades, NBA Summer League.

6. 2026 Soccer World Cup: FIFA to make $13B from the 2026 World Cup. Controversies

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:

Q1. MLB All-Star Game

“Philadelphia did a great job handling the draft and also handling the All-Star Game, the Home Run Contest, the Future Game—everything they did.

Philadelphia really showcased itself well.” He also highlighted one of the biggest stories from the festivities: “Jordan Walker won the Home Run Contest and the $1 million prize. His salary this year is just under $800,000, so he actually made more money winning the Home Run Contest than he’ll make playing potentially 162 games this season.”

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Q2. MLB: Second Half of the Season, Playoff Race & Looming Lockout

“As we turn the page to the second half, it’s really hard to make the playoffs in the National League. We have eight teams at .500 or better, with the Dodgers, Brewers and Atlanta leading, while the Cubs, Phillies, Miami, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Arizona, San Diego and Washington are all fighting for those final playoff spots.”

Looking beyond this season, Dr. Dick warned of major labor issues: “We have a lockout looming. The players do not want a salary cap—they will not sign anything that has one. The owners will not sign anything that doesn’t have one. I don’t know that we’re going to have a season come spring training.”

He added, “The owners also want to reduce the draft from 20 rounds to 12 and eliminate drafting high school players. The players want a salary floor but they do not want a salary ceiling. Player service-time manipulation continues to frustrate players, so we’ve definitely got a major problem looming.”

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Q3. NFL Training Camps Open

“Training camps begin July 28 for most NFL teams.”

Dr. Dick also pointed to the NFL’s growing global footprint: “We now have 10 countries hosting NFL regular-season games. Germany gets its first regular-season game, Australia gets its first, and for the first time the Steelers and Saints will play a regular-season game in Paris. The Eagles will also play Jacksonville in London. The NFL continues expanding internationally in a very significant way.”

He also noted the league’s soaring franchise values: “The Seattle Seahawks just sold for nearly $9.7 billion. It’s safe to say virtually every NFL franchise is worth $10 billion or will be shortly.”

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Q4. College Football: Favorites & the New “5-in-5” Rule

“Ohio State is my preseason No. 1, followed by Texas, Notre Dame, Oregon and Georgia.”

Beyond the rankings, Dr. Dick believes the sport’s biggest development is the new eligibility rule: “The ‘five-and-five’ rule is a wonderful new rule. From graduation—or your 19th birthday—you have five years to play. There’s no more redshirting. If you get injured, you lose that year. I think it’s a wonderful idea. No more 27- or 28-year-old quarterbacks playing against 18-year-olds. It just doesn’t make sense.” He also observed the continued financial arms race in college athletics: “The money just keeps growing.”

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Q5. NBA Draft, Trades & Summer League

“For LeBron, I’d narrow it down to four destinations: Golden State, Cleveland, Miami and Philadelphia. He wants to get on a dream team, and I think the Sixers might be the way to go.”

On Victor Wembanyama, Dr. Dick praised his decision to prioritize winning: “Wemby didn’t sign the Supermax. He saved the Spurs about $50 million by taking the max instead. It reminds me of Tom Brady taking less so the Patriots could build a better roster around him.”

He also contrasted the NBA’s labor relations with MLB’s: “The NBA has Basketball Related Income (BRI), where 51% of league revenues go to player salaries. Grow the revenues and the players get paid. MLB could learn a lot from the NBA because they seem to have much better harmony with their players.”

Regarding the surprising Jaylen Brown trade, he added: “It hasn’t bled out yet, but there has to be something personal between the coach, GM or owner. Hall of Fame-caliber players don’t usually get moved unless something significant is happening behind the scenes.”

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Q6. 2026 FIFA World Cup: Record Revenue & Controversies

“FIFA has been a huge success. Stadiums have been running at about 98% capacity. Everyone talked beforehand about expensive ticket prices, but the market found its level, prices adjusted and fans showed up.”

He added that the commercial performance has been unprecedented: “The television ratings were through the roof, especially in Spain, and they shattered U.S. television records as well. The tournament generated more television and ticket revenue than ever before, surpassing even the 1994 World Cup.”

On controversies, Dr. Dick noted FIFA’s strict commercial policies: “If you don’t pay FIFA, they don’t acknowledge you. They wouldn’t call it AT&T Stadium—they simply called it Dallas Stadium.”

Addressing the political controversy involving the U.S. team, he said, “Any time politics collide with sports, we have a problem.” Referring to the overturned red card against the United States, he added, “I thought the red card was a little harsh, but once it was reversed, it got everybody fired up. In the end, Belgium won fair and square, 4-1.”

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