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00:00But let's get started right now with another decision at quarterback.
00:06Yesterday, we had the Raiders.
00:07Today, we have the Washington Commanders.
00:10I'm getting used to saying Commanders by now.
00:12The rookie, Jayden Daniels, gets the call.
00:14He is going to start the season opener for Washington.
00:18Not a huge surprise when you're taking this high in the NFL draft,
00:22but it is now official as we're going to see a number of rookie quarterbacks,
00:26I would imagine, over the first couple of weeks of the season.
00:28And Daniels right there at the top.
00:30It's had a pretty good preseason.
00:32Dan Quinn made the announcement official yesterday,
00:34but before we get to that,
00:36they've had week one starting quarterbacks in various talent degrees,
00:42is putting it mildly.
00:43Daniels in 24.
00:45Howell, Sam Howell, opened up in 23.
00:48Carson Wentz in 22.
00:50Fitzpatrick in 21.
00:52My gosh, they have really gone through.
00:54I didn't realize how many different quarterbacks they've had.
00:56It's the eighth straight year a new starting quarterback opens up for Washington.
01:00But Dan Quinn basically made the announcement yesterday
01:02and said the reporters can now stop bugging him as he names the quarterback.
01:07But Jayden Daniels is our starting quarterback.
01:11Drop the mic, Chick.
01:13I didn't see that coming.
01:14Yeah, of course you didn't.
01:15Yeah.
01:18You're pressuring me so much over the last few weeks.
01:20I felt it was time to promptly tell you I'd know, you'd know, he'd know.
01:26I think the practice before we left to go down to Miami
01:30was the best one I had seen from him on the Tuesday prior to us leaving that Wednesday.
01:37The command of it, the accuracy, the details of it,
01:40that was one of the best practices I'd seen him have,
01:44was the best practice I'd seen him have.
01:46And so I think that was more in line with, you know, who he is, what he does,
01:51the checks, the calls, the communication, the delivery of the ball.
01:55He's just really on point.
01:56So it was just cool to see all of that, you know, come to life.
02:01All right.
02:01So Daniels gets the call.
02:02Now, guess who gets the bag?
02:04It's a general manager for the Alabama Crimson Tide.
02:08That's right.
02:08Like, teams now have general managers in college football
02:11to make sure that they get the proper players and NIL deals.
02:14Courtney Morgan has a new precedent-setting contract with Alabama.
02:19And right now, it looks like the fee is $825,000 under a three-year contract.
02:27General manager behind Washington's runner-up finish.
02:30And this is a new day in age in college football, folks.
02:32The players are getting paid.
02:34Coaches are even going to get paid more.
02:36And even you need a GM to get this done.
02:38Well, speaking of getting paid, how much money are you willing to pay
02:42for Sunday NFL ticket this season?
02:44Once upon a time, I remember this thing was $200.
02:47It was 200 bucks.
02:48Then they went to max up and all kinds of crazy stuff, like 3,400.
02:52I thought 3,400 was insane.
02:54How about this?
02:55There are reports right now circulating that when it is launched in the App Store,
02:58and again, it's on YouTube TV, that NFL Sunday ticket will be available for $700 this season.
03:06Now, I guess over the course of 12, 15 weeks, 16, 17 weeks.
03:10I mean, are you going to sit there and watch it every week?
03:12I guess so, if you have time.
03:13But $700 for Sunday NFL ticket.
03:16I guess they're getting paid this.
03:17I don't know.
03:18Also, by the way, the NFL made an announcement yesterday,
03:21or at least there has been some rumors,
03:23that the starting position for the kickoffs are going to remain the same.
03:28So the touchback rule is not going to go back to the 35-yard line.
03:33They're happy with the way the exhibition has gone,
03:35averaging approximately a start of the 28.3-yard line up 4.4 from last season.
03:41And that's what they were looking for.
03:42So don't look for that to change when the season begins.
03:44I know some people have been clamoring for that.
03:46Justin Herbert back at practice.
03:48Their Chargers are hoping they'll have him for week one.
03:50I would not anticipate seeing him this week on the NFL field.
03:53And of course, with the third preseason coming this week,
03:57Buffalo Bills are in search of a quarterback.
03:59Mitchell Chubisky and Marquez Valdez-Scanling and Quinton Morris
04:04are all going to be out multiple weeks.
04:06So Buffalo's going to need, at the very least,
04:08another backup quarterback going into the season.
04:10And by the way, they have a quick turnaround after week one.
04:12They play on Thursday night football in week two.
04:14Preseason, all Americans are out.
04:17Number one, Georgia.
04:18Number nine, Michigan.
04:19Each have three players picked for the first team.
04:21No surprise.
04:22Carson Beck is on the list.
04:24Also Tate Ratledge.
04:25He's on Georgia, too.
04:26Defensive back Malachi Starks, also a first-team all-American going into the season.
04:33Number five, Alabama has two transfers on the first team in their center.
04:38And kicker at Notre Dame and LSU also have a couple of first-team selections.
04:44Miller Moss is ready to take the starting quarterback job
04:47for the University of Southern California.
04:50Lincoln Riley names him the guy.
04:52Caleb Williams to the NFL.
04:54Moss played well in their bowl game last year.
04:56They have seen enough.
04:58And it looks like he's going to be, at least for the time being,
05:01their starter going into the season.
05:03Also Duke quarterback Malik Murphy has won the Blue Devils starting job.
05:07He's going to start the opener against Elon, as Manny Diaz is their new head coach.
05:12They made that announcement yesterday.
05:13Murphy transferred from Texas, which, by the way,
05:16is where Manny Diaz was in a previous career.
05:19Ole Miss' defensive lineman Zavian Harris was arrested Sunday on domestic violence
05:24and obstructing arrest charges.
05:27He lives in Mississippi.
05:28He was booked on Sunday night.
05:29Lane Kiffin, the head coach, said that on Monday the program is aware of Harris' arrest,
05:34but there's going to be no comment further on him.
05:38Over to Major League Baseball.
05:39A month and a half left of the season.
05:42And we got the news yesterday that Austin Riley,
05:44the great third baseman and all-star for the Braves,
05:47is going to be out for the rest of the regular season.
05:50Six- to eight-week issue injury with his wrist, which was broken.
05:55They're saying that he could potentially be back for the postseason,
05:58but the Braves are not waiting around.
05:59They signed Gio Urshela, who was waived by the Tigers last week, cleared waivers.
06:04Tigers pay the contract, but Urshela goes to the Braves.
06:09Meanwhile, the New York Mets with a monumental home run last night
06:12from Francisco Alvarez.
06:14Right off the bat, he knew it was gone.
06:16Didn't even watch it land.
06:18As they beat the Mets by a final – or they beat the Orioles by a final score of 4-3.
06:23Mets still very much in the thick of it for the postseason,
06:26says their manager, Carlos Mendoza.
06:29Yeah, 100%.
06:30It's been hard for him.
06:3222 years old, struggling, had the big league label.
06:35And I've been saying it.
06:37He cares so much, and he wants to win.
06:39And at times when we're struggling offensively as a team,
06:42like he feels like he's responsible.
06:44And he's got a lot on his plate, you know,
06:47with taking care of pitching staff and things like that.
06:50But the homer, you know, the impact.
06:54I like they had bats as of late,
06:56but for him to finally hit one out of the ballpark, it's been a while.
07:01And, you know, in that situation to give us a win, happy for him.
07:07Mets are hanging in there.
07:08Maybe Alvarez will get hot.
07:10Meanwhile, the Astros, no hot.
07:12They are 10 out of their last 11.
07:14They know all about it.
07:15They've been one of the best teams in baseball in the second half of the season.
07:185-4 the final.
07:19Yanir Diaz's walk-off home runoff.
07:21Kenley Jansen gives them the win.
07:23They're very much in control of their destiny with the Mariners falling apart.
07:28My gosh, they lose again last night.
07:30The Dodgers blanked them 3-0.
07:33Gavin Stone, through seven shutout innings, struck out 10.
07:36Max Muncy homered and studded Gavin Lux.
07:39Seattle is under 500 since the All-Star break.
07:42Meanwhile, tonight in the WNBA, we have three games to talk about.
07:45We'll preview them with Gilbert McGregor.
07:47Among them, the Wings and Liberty, Sparks and Sun, and Storm and Mystics.
07:52Meanwhile, Arena Sabalenka and Yannick Sinner have claimed the Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati.
08:00That is the warm-up for the U.S. Open.
08:03But even bigger news this morning, that Sinner has tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid in March
08:10and was stripped of prize money and points earned at a tournament in Indian Wells.
08:14The ITA, Integrity Agency for Tennis, made the case and announced it this morning.
08:19He won the Cincinnati Open on Monday.
08:21He'll be among the favorites at the U.S. Open, and as of now,
08:24he'll be able to continue to play as a result of contamination from an over-the-counter spray containing cholesterol.
08:33That's the latest on Sinner.
08:35Don't go away.
08:36Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:38Today, we have Matthew Waters from Legal Sports Report.
08:40We're going to touch on a couple of different sports betting operators.
08:44In fact, we're going to go all around.
08:45We're going to hit on DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM here on the show today.
08:48Matt, great to have you back here on Newswire.
08:49Thanks for coming on.
08:51Always happy to be here.
08:52Hey, I can only notice Mike Gundy sounds a whole lot different about the player than he did back when his, you know, what was it, 2007?
09:00I'm a man.
09:01I'm 40, Rand.
09:02Things have changed a lot since then.
09:05And so has college football in a big way this year, too, although his hair looks the same.
09:10Anyway, all right, Matt, so let's touch on DraftKings here, and let's kind of review the last couple of weeks here.
09:16They just had their stock update here, and, you know, initially, for people who are unfamiliar,
09:21DraftKings made an announcement that they were going to add a surcharge to sports betting winnings.
09:25They walked that back, and I'm sure investors, especially large investors or DraftKings,
09:31are watching these numbers just go up and down and up and down, sort of a roller coaster ride for them, I would imagine.
09:37Craig, it was really interesting the way that DraftKings did this.
09:42DraftKings announced their earnings, and they announced it the night before they had the call.
09:46And hidden in the investor letter that they had was an explanation as to why they were implementing this surcharge in states that had higher than a 20% tax rate.
09:58And it kind of went crazy on social media because people were just saying,
10:05why would anyone bet with DraftKings in those states then?
10:08All things being equal, why would you go to an operator who is going to take more money from your winnings than someone else?
10:18It's even more clear-cut than just price shopping and line shopping at that point, right?
10:22You see it on your bet slip that this is what's going to be deducted from your winnings.
10:29So the stock didn't do too well after that.
10:31And you know what? The stock market was shaky on those days.
10:38DraftKings also announced that they expect higher losses than expected in some areas.
10:44So it was muddled, but obviously this had a lot to do with it because naturally everybody said, okay, what's FanDuel going to do?
10:51Well, FanDuel did not match it.
10:54And shortly after that, it was only 12 days after DraftKings said they were doing it,
11:00and 11 days after DraftKings CEO Jason Robbins said it would take quite a lot for DraftKings to decide not to do this,
11:08DraftKings announced shortly after FanDuel said no that they would be scrapping the idea as well.
11:15Can't really give you a good reason as to why they did it this way, Craig, and why they tried.
11:20But you know what? As far as the investors are concerned, they're just happy that it's over.
11:27The stock dipped below $29 for a little bit.
11:30It was a big dip. It was down 15% on Monday morning after the Friday conference call.
11:39But they've made all that back and more since just last week when FanDuel said no and then DraftKings said no too.
11:48Look, I thought DraftKings would be dragged for longer than this than they have been.
11:53I didn't actually see the surcharge ever coming into effect because, again,
11:59they were getting left out on an island left and right by operators saying, no, we're not going to do this.
12:05But really, DraftKings is doing OK now.
12:09They have not taken a black eye from this and kind of just putting it in the rearview mirror, you know.
12:18So investors are happy. You know, the stock over those 12 days, more than half those days, it traded at higher than the average volume.
12:25So it was really on the minds of a lot of people throughout that whole time.
12:29But now we know that DraftKings, after no one else joined them, will not be adding this surcharge.
12:36And I think it's I think it's pretty clear that everybody is happier this way.
12:42Yeah, no, I would agree with the whole strange appearance, I think, for DraftKings is what everyone is really talking about.
12:47Why even put this out if you're going to walk it back? Was it just to see the reaction from people?
12:51That was part of it. All right. So football season is basically here.
12:54Week zero is here. Sports betters, Matt. You know, maybe they don't jump all in on this week.
12:59But by the time Labor Day comes and then you have the NFL, they're back in.
13:02And I think we're going to start hearing stories from, you know, FanDuel, DraftKings, MGM, a lot of promos,
13:07different things happening with the launch of football season.
13:10So I'm not surprised to see that BetMGM is one of those companies doing so.
13:15Yeah, BetMGM has been working on their technology for a long time, Craig.
13:19And they finally, I believe it's tomorrow, they finally will have their single wallet,
13:25single account live across all of their BetMGM online states.
13:30Nevada is the last one to go live. And that's huge for BetMGM and its parent companies,
13:36MGM Resorts and Entain. Because when you think about Vegas,
13:40Vegas, first of all, doesn't have the DraftKings and the FanDuels.
13:43So you're already looking at when you go to Vegas, a lot of these betters,
13:48a majority of these betters do not have access to their online sportsbook when they go out there.
13:53Then you're also hit with the fact that Las Vegas and Nevada, you still have to sign up in person.
14:01That's not the easiest thing to do on a football Sunday in Vegas, Craig.
14:05It's hard enough to get a seat at a sportsbook, let alone walk up to a window and open an account.
14:11So now BetMGM has it where if you live in Colorado, you live in Pennsylvania, you live in New Jersey,
14:19when you travel to Las Vegas, you don't have to do any of that.
14:22Now your account's already funded, your account's already live, and you can be betting with BetMGM.
14:27On the flip side, if you're someone that goes to Vegas a lot and you use BetMGM a lot,
14:34now that account is now available in all the other states, including whatever home state you may be returning to.
14:41And so BetMGM thinks that this is going to be a way for them to hang on to customers for longer
14:46and bring more customers, more bettors into their ecosystem if those bettors care about MGM Rewards, right?
14:54You know, you talk about the BetMGM Rewards program, and you talk about Caesars and all these other companies
15:01that have their loyalty programs.
15:03And when we get to the point of all other things being equal between these sportsbooks, that will come into play.
15:10People are always looking to add value where they can.
15:13And so BetMGM thinks this is huge.
15:17MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle said, I think it finally unlocks our database, enables people to take their wallets
15:23and go home to places like Colorado, still have funds that they can share.
15:27It was something that happened early in the sports betting launches, Craig.
15:30A lot of states had individual apps for their sportsbooks so they could get it up faster.
15:35It takes more time, obviously, to integrate all these things and have it working at scale.
15:40And now that pretty much is an issue of the past.
15:44Yeah. And look, I think definitely this individual wallet will definitely be something that other companies try and emulate and follow as well.
15:53Let's get to FanDuel now. I saw this story that you have posted, a legal sports report.
15:58I would encourage people to read this and certainly can make your own judgment from it, but it involves a lawsuit.
16:04I see Nigel Eccles' name mentioned in here for some of the things that he posted on social media.
16:08Actually, I met Nigel many years ago when FanDuel launched their Daily Fantasy product.
16:12In fact, I had him on shows and things like that. What exactly happened yesterday?
16:16What is this lawsuit all about?
16:18So here's what we have going on, Craig.
16:20When Patty Power Betfair merged with FanDuel to become this Flutter company, this larger company,
16:29FanDuel shareholders got 40% of the company.
16:33The problem is that allegedly, the valuation of FanDuel was, you could say, maybe messed with a little bit.
16:46So the valuation didn't hit the point where all shareholders got paid out.
16:51Only preferred shareholders would get paid out in this, which winds up giving them a bigger stake.
16:58It was finally ruled a couple months ago that this lawsuit can go forward with co-founder Nigel Eccles
17:04and others who are still looking to be paid from that transaction.
17:08So yeah, I would also encourage anyone to go read this, Craig.
17:12Have fun reading the 216-page file that details exactly how all this went down.
17:19But yeah, really interesting story there, Craig.
17:22Yeah, I mean, 200 pages in a lawsuit? That seems low these days for a lawsuit.
17:27LegalSportsReport.com is the website. You can read all about it.
17:30Matthew Waters has his column up there.
17:31Matt, great to see you again. We'll talk again soon.
17:34Thanks, sir. Appreciate it.