🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the NFL Training Camps, the NBA Free Agency, Mbappe, Magic Johnson, Jason Tatum, Messi, Shohei Ohtani & the MLB Draft.

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🔥Upside Chat: Dr Ron Dick, Duquesne University, Ex NBA/NCAA Exec on the NFL Training Camps, the NBA Free Agency, Mbappe, Magic Johnson, Jason Tatum, Messi, Shohei Ohtani & the MLB Draft.

Julien Blin

Jul 31, 2023

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.

📝Show Notes: Through this interview, we touched on the new Netflix TV show called the Quarterback, the NFL training camp, Shohei Ohtani & the MLB draft. We also discussed the NBA Summer league, Wemby, and the NBA free agency. We also touched on the college campus coming alive early august with fall sports starting. Lastly we talked about Messi's arrival to the MLS at Inter Miami fc, Mbappe’s situation at PSG, and Magic Johnson’s new ownership into the Washington Commanders (NFL).

🚀Best Quotes: Here’s some of the key discussion points and best quotes from our conversation with Ron:

On the new Netflix TV show called the Quarterback:
- “It fundamentally looks at three quarterbacks from starting a training camp of 2022. And then it climaxes with Patrick Mahomes winning the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs. Then they featured Marcus Mariota with Atlanta as well as Kirk Cousins with the Vikings”.
- “You get access to behind the scenes footages when they are dealing with their trainers. etc. They somehow had some really great audio on the actual field. If you've never worked for a team or you've never played football, you really feel like you're on the inside looking out, and I think if you walk away with a little more sensitivity”.
- “It's fabulous to make that kind of money in a short amount of time. But you have an understanding that these guys also have families and the ebb and flow of the big wins and the big losses. Kurt Cousins seems like he's getting hit all the time. Patrick Mahomes’ greatness seems to be very apparent, and I didn't realize this at the time, but Marcus Mariota, he just basically quit the team once he was demoted, but it happened simultaneously as his wife was giving birth to the first child”.
On the NBA free agency:
- “I did notice a trend that a lot of the free agents are staying home. For example, the Mavericks resigned Kyrie Irving. Golden State resigned Draymond Green. The Milwaukee Bucks also resigned Chris Middleton. Same thing with the Hornets and Mello Ball, and Portland with Jerami Grant. They all stayed home and resigned with their teams”.
- “We also recently saw the new contract of Anthony Edwards, and you might remember him from Adam Sandlers’ movie called Hustle. He also resigned with Minnesota for five years. That lasted all about 24 hours. And then just recently, Jaylen Brown with the Celtics resigned with the Celtics for a record 5-year, $303.7M supermax extension at $61M a year. He will be a free agent when he's 31. So this isn't his last contract”.
- “So his agent, Jason Glushon, represents Trevor Booker as well as Al Horford and he got some big money for Joe Johnson. In fact he got some big money for all those guys. So, man, I wish that guy would represent me. I have a feeling that some players are going to flock to this guy and his management company for handling his contract”.
On Jason Tatum (Boston Celtics)’s potential future new super max contract:
- “I think he's up in one more year. So he'll be a free agent next year and he certainly wants more than $304M over five years. As we mentioned before in previous podcasts, it's all about the basketball related income. And the NBA teams have to spend upwards to 53% of the BRI”.
- “So again what goes in the BRI? Well first television ticket sales and NBA properties which are the growth area. I don't believe most of the growth is in the United States. It's in Europe and Asia in particular. So the NBA home office keeps growing that revenue stream, and that's why the salaries are going up. But make no mistake, the owners are still turning their profit. They're not in the red. They're in the black and they're doing well, so I'm happy for the players, but that was negotiated way in advance due to the whole BRI thing. ”.
On Wemby’s first 2 games at the NBA Summer League:
- “It's too early to tell obviously. Physically he's very thin, but, boy, his talent, and the way he moves for a man that size, is amazing”.
On Messi’s debut in the MLS with Inter Miami fc:
- “He's as advertised. And I'm sure your TV ratings are going crazy in the MLS. You also mentioned in the green room that people are now moving to Miami because Messi plays there”.
On Shohei Ohtani (Angels/MLB)’s potential future destination:
- “Shohei Ohtani is the new Babe Ruth. He hits, he pitches, he does it all. Well, he's a free agent comes November 5th. He's free. He can go anywhere he wants. A lot of people are speculating that he is going to go to Seattle where Ichiro Suzuki went. So should they trade him so that they can get something for him?”.
- “But then what complicates it is that they're almost in the playoffs right now. And of course, Mike Trout got injured, which seems to be common unfortunately for him. Should they just try to make the playoffs? And then, and if they get into the playoffs, why can't they win the World Series? Or should they trade him now? And Arturo Moreno, the owner who spent a lot of money out there with the Angels, he and the GM are going back and forth, on what they should do with him”.
- “So if they don't make the playoffs and they just let his contract expire, I think they'll look backwards and say, wow, we could have got this top prospect and this top prospect that could really help us into the future”.
- “Imagine the Yankees getting Ohtani or some of these other top free agents, that are trying to make the playoffs. So they are really in between and they're vacillating back and forth what to do with Ohtani. So this situation with Mbappe at PSG seems very similar to that”.
On Magic Johnson’s legacy and new ownership into the Washington Commanders (NFL).
- ”Magic seems to be a crossover into different markets. He is probably one of. the best businessmen after the players’ playing days are over. I remember when he signed a couple of years into the league, and of course there's all those LA primetime and showtime and all that, that those where we break it down from a magic gets drafted in “79 and they go on to beat the Sixers his rookie year when Larry Bird got the rookie of the year”.
- “But Magic won the trophy for the NBA championship. He signed $25 million for 25 years or $1 million per year. And it really alienated his teammates. That was more than what Kareem was making at the time. And that set some bad feelings”.
- “But as far as being a businessman, I would put him alongside junior Bridgeman, who played with the Bucks. He is very good at understanding how business works. And he did a lot of what Junior Bridgeman did with QSR (Quick Service Restaurants), McDonald's, Wendy's, et cetera. So yeah I think it's wonderful that Magic got a piece of the Commanders and he's got in all the other places, I mean, he seems like he does have the magic touch. Everything he touches turns to gold”.
- “Magic had connections to all the stars that were courtside. And everybody benefited from it (His business ventures). So Magic is definitely a model of how to handle your post playing career (…) And of course, let's not forget Michael Jordan. I mean Michael Jordan, post plane days, post-divorce, he definitely took it to a whole new level too, as far as business is concerned”.