NCAA Considers Transfer Portal Changes & NFL Updates
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00:00First, let's begin with a little college football news and notes.
00:07And this does feel like a pretty shrewd idea by the NCAA and maybe improves the idea of
00:12all these kids constantly leaving school to go to other schools.
00:15Now that's not going to change completely, but would it change if the transfer portal
00:20was only a specific period of time?
00:23Well, that is what college football is looking into right now as the oversight committee
00:27is recommending the sport move to a single notification of transfer window.
00:33What does that mean?
00:3430 day transfer window only in December would be the opportunity for all players to enter
00:39their name into the portal and seek a new school.
00:42For the last couple of years, the portal has been opened in April as well.
00:46So this will be a meeting in October to determine.
00:50And if it works, the portal will open in December, it will close in early January, and then kids
00:55will have to decide which team they play for.
00:58Maybe this will curb some of the late movement in college football, not going to stop kids
01:04from leaving and getting paid that I can assure you.
01:07But maybe it will at least deter some from leaving before they really needed to.
01:11Meanwhile, the private equity group, which is a possibility of entering the National
01:16Football League is now official 31 to 1 as teams now can essentially sell 10% of their
01:23franchise.
01:24It's the minimum investment is 3%.
01:26If a fund buys into any team, that's a public investment fund must be a minimum of $2 billion
01:32committed.
01:33And a maximum of 20% can go into one team.
01:37Kind of crazy to think that teams are sort of selling to private equity firms.
01:42Those are all the owners of the NFL.
01:43How many owners pictures do we have there?
01:45That's Lurie.
01:46That's Arthur Blank, right?
01:47I wonder how many owners I can name in the NFL if we just keep showing pictures of them.
01:51Jerry Jones, right?
01:52Who is that?
01:54That's not Jerry Jones.
01:56Who's that guy?
01:57Who's that guy?
01:58I have no idea.
01:59Who's that?
02:00Do you guys even know?
02:01All right.
02:02All right.
02:03Waiver wire in the National Football League, of course, underway, lots of players changing
02:08different locations.
02:09You know, certainly this is the day and age of the National Football League.
02:12We had a ton of players cut yesterday.
02:15And you know, certainly speaking that the bottom line is if you did not pay attention
02:20a couple days ago to your favorite NFL team, it's going to look a lot better now.
02:24Now the Dallas Cowboys, did they look a lot better?
02:26Our producer, Frank, does not think so.
02:28But Dalvin Cook has signed officially, according to reports, with the Dallas Cowboys, a one-year
02:33deal he is in.
02:35And now he'll back up Zeke.
02:36So a lot of Pro Bowls there, by the way, between Zeke and Dalvin Cook, but a lot of Pro Bowls
02:40from like eight, nine years ago.
02:42So we'll see if this works for Dallas.
02:43Jamar Chase, his holdout or hold in, whatever you want to call it, officially over.
02:48He's going to play in the season opener, said Zach Taylor, the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals.
02:53He missed all of training camp looking for a new contract.
02:56He did not get one, but Taylor said it was good to see Chase practicing with the team
03:00since 2021.
03:02He is seventh in total receiving yards in that span, 3,171.
03:08Maybe one of the bigger surprises yesterday in the NFL was the San Francisco 49ers placing
03:14Elijah Mitchell on the injured list.
03:16So certainly the backup to Christian McCaffrey right now looks like it could be Jordan Mason.
03:21More maybe a fantasy issue than anything else, but naturally speaking, we'll keep an eye
03:25on whoever backs up for the San Francisco 49ers.
03:28That's a valuable player in fantasy football.
03:29Kadarius Toney, not valuable at all, hurt a lot, making mistakes a lot.
03:33He was cut by the Kansas City Chiefs, former first round pick of the New York Giants.
03:36He did win a couple of Super Bowls, so he's got those rings no matter what.
03:40And also Odell Beckham Jr., who was signed in the off season by the Miami Dolphins to
03:43add to their wide receiving core, maybe as their two or their three or their four, depending
03:48on how you look at it, not available for the first four games of the season.
03:51He was placed on the physically unable to perform list.
03:54As many of you know, Beckham has played on several teams over the last several years,
03:58including the Ravens and the Rams and the Dolphins and the Giants.
04:01And it just seems like wherever he ends up, he ends up missing a few games.
04:04And so that's going to start at the beginning of the season.
04:07Meanwhile, tomorrow in college football, we have 21 games in action, including four top
04:1225 teams, games on Friday night, games on Saturday night as well.
04:16Looking forward to the full college football slate.
04:18We'll preview all the games tomorrow right here on Newswire.
04:21Oklahoma running backs coach DeMarco Murray has been suspended for recruiting violations.
04:26His fifth season and his alma mater is going to serve a one game suspension this season
04:30after the NCAA determined he was involved in recruiting violations and he contacted
04:35prospects apparently and their families before he was allowed to.
04:38Meanwhile, Amari Huggins Bruce is back on Louisville's roster months after the good
04:43receiver transferred to South Carolina and participated in spring and fall practices.
04:48A news release from Louisville said Huggins Bruce was expected to join the team for
04:51practice.
04:52They didn't go any further, said the South Carolina coach Shane Beamer.
04:55He said last week that Huggins Bruce, by the way, was no longer with the program and
04:59didn't know where he was going and now we know.
05:00So there you go there.
05:02All right, over to Major League Baseball, a full slate of afternoon games today and
05:05tomorrow.
05:06We'll touch on that in just a minute.
05:07But first, let's get to the Chicago White Sox lawsuit.
05:10There's a woman who was shot in the leg at a Chicago White Sox game last year suing the
05:14team and the state of Illinois agency that owns guaranteed rate field.
05:18The woman was in the left field bleachers in section 161 when she was shot in the fourth
05:22inning against in a game against the A's.
05:25The Chicago Sun-Times reported she is, you know, certainly entitled to do all of this
05:31and seeking more than $50,000 in damages.
05:34We'll see how this ends up working out.
05:36Major League Baseball last night, Dylan Cruz, one of the top prospects formerly in the Major
05:41League Baseball draft, ended up getting a couple of hits, including his first hit ever,
05:45a double yesterday.
05:46Patrick Corbin, yes, that Patrick Corbin kept the Yankees quiet in that game.
05:51Astros have now lost six out of eight.
05:52Phillies have won four straight games.
05:54Aaron Nola, who has generally been one of the best pitchers in the National League over
05:58the last few years, had a stellar game yesterday, including going seven shutout innings.
06:03Nola, after the game, very happy with getting into that seventh inning, not something that
06:07he's done over the last couple of months.
06:09It's important.
06:10It's been a while since I finished seven.
06:11Yeah, I feel like it was much needed, but it was good to get through the seventh and,
06:18you know, only have to use two pitchers right there to finish the game.
06:21They get this series winner here is big and, you know, can go out tomorrow and try to get
06:27a sweep.
06:29It's big to come back to this homestand after a road trip, especially against these guys
06:34to win a series and hopefully go for a sweep tomorrow and keep it rolling.
06:41It is the Philadelphia Phillies trying to get their way into the number one spot in
06:45the National League.
06:46Also, the Astros, by the way, yesterday signed former Dodgers, Cubs, Braves, Cardinals outfielder
06:51Jason Hayward.
06:52He was let go by the Dodgers.
06:54He's back in the big leagues with the Houston Astros.
06:56Kyle Tucker coming back soon, but he's been out for a long period of time.
06:59All right.
07:00A marathon match yesterday between Dan Evans and Karen Hatchinov.
07:05It was the longest match at the U.S. Open since tiebreakers were introduced in 1970.
07:106-7, 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4, time of match, five hours and 35 minutes.
07:21My goodness, longest match ever was five hours and 26 minutes.
07:25Meanwhile, Yannick Sinner pulled away for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2 victory at the Open against
07:30McKenzie McDonald.
07:31Sinner, of course, was allegedly involved with some over-the-counter sprays that contained
07:37cholesterol in Italy and used it on his finger and was testing positive for that, needless
07:44to say.
07:45Four-time Grand Slam winner Carlos Alcarez wins and advances.
07:49He ends up winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in Queens and moves on to the next round.
07:55And also two-time champion Naomi Osaka makes a triumphant return at the U.S. Open.
08:02She won yesterday and won in 2018, 2020.
08:06She won the whole thing.
08:07So it's a really nice return for her to see if she could win one of the big matches here
08:11at the U.S. Open.
08:13Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
08:14Time to dive into the latest on sports betting.
08:16We will touch on some horse racing with Jim Ghazali, who is a horse racing expert from
08:21LegalSportsReport.com.
08:22And we're back here on the grid with Jim.
08:25Jim, great to have you back here on Newswire.
08:27A couple of horse racing stories here and updates today.
08:29Thanks for coming on the show.
08:31Yeah, thanks, Craig.
08:32The Saratoga meat is winding down, so I'm trying to cram in as many stories for you
08:38as possible.
08:39I got you.
08:40I got you.
08:41All right.
08:42So, you know, I always like talking horse racing as far as a sports betting perspective
08:45because once they legalized sports betting several years ago, there were many that predicted
08:50that the horse racing industry would take a huge hit.
08:52I think we saw that maybe initially, but it has definitely built itself back up.
08:56And a couple of companies in particular, we'll touch on them, Fox and even DraftKings, are
09:01discussing just how popular horse racing continues to be and the handle seems to be growing.
09:08Yeah.
09:09And I think on the surface, that's exactly right.
09:12We've seen a lot of sports books get involved in the horse betting space.
09:17We've seen Fox Sports get involved on the broadcast side, as well as the wagering side.
09:24A couple of years ago, they took out a 25% equity stake in Nira Bets, the ADW, Advanced
09:33Deposit Wagering platform for the New York Racing Association.
09:38And I was interested how the broadcast has translated into betting handles.
09:45So I spoke to a couple of executives at Nira and at Fox Sports over the last couple of
09:50weeks, and they kind of explained what the strategy there is on the broadcast side as
09:57they work to grow that handle.
10:00And obviously, Craig, when you have broadcasting hours that increase, you're exposing it to
10:06more eyeballs, more people are going to be betting on it.
10:11And I think that's simple and easy to understand and an obvious sort of trajectory that they've
10:20rolled out over the last couple of years.
10:23When they have broadcast, racing broadcasts on FS2, it's about 50,000 people that are
10:29typically watching those.
10:30When that broadcast moves to FS1, it's about 100,000.
10:35And this summer, as they've had in the last couple of summers, the national broadcast
10:39on Fox for the big stakes races on Saturday at Saratoga, those typically bring in about
10:44a half million viewers.
10:47Now, they've told me that handle has grown.
10:52Last year, they did about $250 million of handle on the Nira Bets app.
10:58And that's all throughout the year and not just on Nira races.
11:02It's whatever tracks that Nira offers, which is upwards of 300 when you include tracks
11:11in the US and abroad.
11:12This year, they told me they're expecting to do $350 million in handle on the Nira Bets
11:17app.
11:18And part of that strategy is appealing to, at least trying to appeal to a younger demographic.
11:25And they have young talent talking about the races, talking about what it's like being
11:30at the track.
11:32Some insider information, if you will, on what's going on with each of the races that
11:37they're covering.
11:38Though, they did tell me that they want to keep it a sports event, a sporting event first
11:45rather than a gambling event.
11:48Which is interesting because a lot of the complaints that I hear from horse players
11:51is that there isn't enough attention and time being devoted to that educational aspect on
11:59how to properly bet horses, how to read a racing form, and how to make smart wagers
12:05to ultimately make you more successful long term.
12:08So Fox did tell me that they do hear those complaints, though they do want to keep it
12:12a sporting event first, a wagering event second.
12:17Record handle last weekend at Saratoga for the Travers, which we'll touch on again here
12:22in a minute with this DraftKings story.
12:25Record handle, $63 million over Travers Saturday here up at Saratoga last weekend.
12:32So obviously the broadcasts are working in helping to increase that handle.
12:37They're expecting to go over $350 million on the NYRA Bets app this year, Craig.
12:42Wow.
12:43Okay.
12:44That's a big number there.
12:45Now, other big numbers coming in on the DraftKings app.
12:47We'll talk a little bit about horse racing there.
12:50I think what I find fascinating about the next story is that some of the sports betting
12:54operators are finding different ways to engage bettors, especially the higher end bettors
12:58for horse racing and creating VIP experiences for them.
13:01So Jim, if people are betting a lot on horse racing, what does that get them?
13:05Yeah.
13:06So DraftKings really rolled out a sort of soup to nuts marketing plan at the Travers
13:12at Saratoga last Saturday, and they were the title sponsor.
13:16It was the DraftKings Travers, and that really afforded them opportunities to do a variety
13:23of different things.
13:24One being having a VIP suite.
13:27So for their large sports betting customers, their large online concedo customers, they
13:32were able to bring them into the track, entertain them in a high class luxury way with a track
13:39side suite, and the executives at DraftKings told me really to show their loyalty to those
13:47high dollar customers.
13:49Now, for the regular, for lack of a better term, for the regular customer, there's a
13:55lot of promotional material at the track.
13:57They're giving out hats and posters.
14:00Barstool, who's also a sports betting partner with DraftKings now, after that Barstool's
14:07deal with Penn, they broke that off last summer.
14:11DraftKings had its own set at the track on Saturday where they were doing a live stream
14:18broadcast going over the races.
14:20So being that title sponsor of the Travers, the biggest race of the summer up here in
14:27Saratoga, really gave DraftKings the opportunity to appeal to just about every type of customer
14:34that walked into the track.
14:36Whether you were playing on track and relatively small bettor, you were given some freebies.
14:42If you're a VIP customer that's been in with DraftKings for a while, you were wined and
14:47dined trackside.
14:48And even for the player at home, every broadcast all throughout the day was DraftKings Travers,
14:55DraftKings Travers, DraftKings Travers.
14:57So they're building that brand awareness, especially in the lead up to football season,
15:01which I'm sure in the next couple of weeks, we're going to see a massive rollout in promotions
15:07by DraftKings, by FanDuel, and all the rest in states where they operate.
15:12So this was just an easy way and perhaps a more affordable way to attract customers
15:18in the lead up to NFL season, which kicks off here in the next week or so.
15:22Yeah, it does.
15:24And numbers in sports betting are going to be up all across the country.
15:27That will include our next subject, which is North Carolina.
15:30And I know, Jim, the numbers were down for them during the summer, but that's not unusual,
15:35at least for me, for a lot of different places, especially until football comes back.
15:39And so I think that'll be the case for them, too.
15:42Yeah, and to your point, despite the handle in North Carolina dropping in July, which
15:47we do see typically across the country, comparatively month to month, they did post a boost in revenue.
15:57So the sportsbooks are winning, the state is collecting that tax revenue.
16:02So for the sportsbooks in the state, it's been a positive trend from June to July.
16:08And one of the things that stuck out to me was this 12 percent hold.
16:12I believe it was about 12.3, 12.4 percent.
16:15And typically what we've seen over the years since 2018, those early years after sports
16:22betting started to become legalized across multiple states, was that hold percentage
16:27was around 7, 8 percent.
16:30But what we've seen, Craig, and what we've talked about a bunch, especially with these
16:33parlays, the sportsbooks are winning 18, 19, 20 percent sometimes every month just
16:40on those parlays alone.
16:42So that's boosting their overall hold, boosting their overall revenue, and then in turn, boosting
16:47the tax revenue for the state.
16:50So I think what we're seeing in North Carolina, you know, just a handful of months in, five
16:55months in, six months in there.
16:58But in other states, too, we're seeing that win percentage for the sportsbooks increase.
17:03So I'm definitely interested to see how that trend keeps moving as we get into football
17:09season and people get excited to start ramping up betting again with the most popular thing
17:16on the sports betting menu.
17:17Definitely.
17:18And North Carolina's basketball menu will increase in November, too.
17:22Thanks, Jim, for coming on the show.
17:23I really appreciate it.
17:24Thanks, Craig.