FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 15th, 2020

TOM VERDUCCI ON MLB NEGOTIATIONS; JAY BILAS ON PAYING COLLEGE ATHLETES — QUOTES FROM TODAY’S EPISODE OF THE RICH EISEN SHOW ON NBCSN

“It’s very impressive that the players have really found a collective, strong voice on this issue…It’s about cutting your salary across the board, right? So that’s galvanized them.” – Tom Verducci on the negotiating stance of the MLBPA

“It’s just the next step of what seems to be inevitable, but I’m not convinced is inevitable…I’m not confident that the NCAA really means this, that they really want to do it.” – Jay Bilas on the NCAA after Florida passed a law allowing student-athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness

 “The financial ramifications are the major factor in why most players want to go over there and play…This season will be restarted. It will resume in Orlando.” – Chris Haynes on NBA players’ feelings towards resuming the season

STAMFORD, Conn. – June 15, 2020 – Host Rich Eisen was joined on today’s episode of The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN by:

    • Sports Illustrated writer & FOX Sports and MLB Network analyst Tom Verducci
    • ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas
    • Yahoo! NBA insider Chris Haynes
    • Actor Hank Azaria

 

Following are highlights from The Rich Eisen Show on NBCSN:

Tom Verducci on the MLBPA’s negotiating stance: “In some ways, it’s very impressive that the players have really found a collective, strong voice on this issue. It’s not about pension or an economic system or free agent compensation. It’s very understandable. It’s about cutting your salary across the board, right? So that’s galvanized them. They’ve held to their position firmly that they will not take, what they call, a second pay cut.”

Verducci on financial implications if Commissioner Rob Manfred implements a shortened season: “(The players) say they don’t want a second pay cut, but by allowing the Commissioner to install a 48-game season, they’re taking a 20% virtual pay cut. Now, it’s not that simple…It is more complicated than that, but I’m using that as an example of how galvanized the players have been about not taking a second pay cut because they literally are turning away $300 million to stick to their principle.”

Verducci on if players will play if the 48-game season is implemented: “The majority of players want to play…They might not like how they got to a 48-game season, but they want to play baseball, and there’s so much…clubhouse influence that your buds are there playing ball and training for a season and you don’t want to come back because you think the season’s not worth it because you think the season’s not long enough. That’s a tough position to defend to your teammates.”

Verducci on Commissioner Manfred: “I think it will be apparent that he’s dealing with a union that historically has been much stronger than the unions we see in other sports The other thing we’re starting to see is this play out so much more publicly in baseball than the other sports…Every commissioner is going through this. The baseball Commissioner is the one who, unfortunately for baseball, is going through this in a very public way.”

Jay Bilas on Ohio State asking student-athletes to sign a coronavirus risk waiver: “You’re going to see a lot of this. It doesn’t sound like a waiver, it is one. It’s a liability waiver…I think the NCAA and the member institutions are looking at the optics of, ‘How can you ask an amateur player to assume the risk of playing in a multibillion-dollar business?’…There’s an odd feel to it, to me. First of all, calling it a ‘pledge’ can be seen as a bit misleading, and then the fact that they have to sign it in order to play.”

Bilas on if student-athletes feel as if they have to play if there’s a season: “If (the NCAA) says we’re starting up again, I’d feel obligated as an athlete to go because you have a lot riding on it. Not just your scholarship and the like, but I think you’d feel like your career in some ways could be riding on it.”

Bilas on Florida passing a bill to allow student-athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness: “It’s just the next step of what seems to be inevitable, but I’m not convinced is inevitable. It’s sort of the NCAA allowing athletes economic rights, and in this, the limited economic right of their name, image and likeness…The NCAA comes out and says, ‘We want to allow name, image and likeness rights as long as it fits within the collegiate model.’…I’m not confident that the NCAA really means this, that they really want to do it. I don’t believe they do, and I think they’re asking Congress for an anti-trust exemption…It’s bizarre in how grandiose that view is.”

Bilas on next steps the NCAA may take: “I think what’ll happen is if the NCAA is unable to get traction in Congress for some sort of legislation before Florida’s law goes into effect, I think you’ll see the NCAA sue the state of Florida and the state of California under some theory that they violated the United States Constitution…It’ll certainly delay things, and the more the NCAA delays, the more they get the status quo and the more they pocket the billions of dollars that they’re making.”

Chris Haynes on the origins of the Kyrie Irving-led phone call among NBA players this weekend: “It was a call with about 80 players…and it was players from all ranges, it wasn’t just stars…Basically (Kyrie Irving) wanted to give everybody who felt like they didn’t have a voice in this process, he wanted to give them a platform to air their grievances, air their concerns. It was a platform where a lot of young guys got to talk.”

Haynes on what was discussed on the call: “There were about five or six guys that let it be known that they weren’t interested in playing. They felt like this was a time to make change in what’s going on with our society right now, and the other people were just trying to explain to them the ramifications of not playing. So, there wasn’t enough opposition to say this thing is headed to a place where there’s not going to be a season. That’s not the case at all. It was just Kyrie Irving giving people a platform to feel like they’re in this process because a lot of young players, that was their criticism that they didn’t have a vote in the say that the season is going to restart or not…At the end of the day, it was a good phone call to get everybody on the same page…and, if anything, just to allow people to have a voice who normally wouldn’t.”

Haynes on players’ desire to resume the season: “Most players want to go over there and play and largely, largely, because of financial ramifications. The players feel like if they didn’t play, owners would rip that CBA up — which would most likely happen — and that 50-50 BRI (Basketball Related Income) split that they have now, it wouldn’t be anywhere close to that. So, the financial ramifications are the major factor in why most players want to go over there and play…This season will be restarted. It will resume in Orlando.”

Hank Azaria on his favorite baseball movie: “‘The Natural’…I love that movie. That’s one of those movies, not only is it my favorite baseball movie, but it’s one of those movies that goes in my pantheon that if it’s on, I will watch it until the end.”

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