Sports business journalist Eric Fisher of Front Office Sports tells Nestor where David Rubenstein and the new Orioles ownership team can make progress right away. Things like a way to watch games on your mobile device and an All Star Game in Baltimore and real progress for the folks at MLB, who believe the franchise will finally reach its modern potential.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
sports, eric fisher, game, money, big, baseball, number, team, day, feel, baltimore, years, fan, rubenstein, early, signs, happened, buy, issue, david rubenstein
SPEAKERS
Eric Fisher, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:02
We are W NSGA in 1570, Towson Baltimore and Baltimore positive we are in the spring it is March I want to remind everybody we’re gonna take the Maryland crab cake Tour presented by the Maryland lottery in conjunction with window nation, our friends at Jiffy Lube and liberty pure solutions we’re gonna get back out on the road in early April got a bunch of dates in April, then a lot in February, looking are going to head down to spring training. I have released two books this month Peter principles so the history of the Angelo’s family ownership with the team that’s coming to an end and then beginning March 5, and we are recording on March fifth my father’s birthday, releasing a 19 chapter book that was written in 2006 as a prelude to free the birds on my love of baseball, my family name, my father’s a love of baseball, and and my childhood and how this place has been here for 25 years, and loving baseball in an environment where it’s been kind of tough to love baseball, but all that apparently is about to change. This guy has been a friend and a foil for at least a decade coming on. I think I met him personally the day that Rob Manfred took over for blood sealing a number of years ago down at the Hyatt in Baltimore. He’s now with front office sports. He is a longtime local journalist in the Washington area and attorney as well and covering the business of sports and law. Amongst other things. Eric Fisher is our defending champion. He has sat in courtrooms, dissecting Masson money, and hundreds of million really billions of dollars is what it’s been. It’s been billions like since 2005. That has interacted and changed hands. But Eric Fisher, I’ll say this to you. I said this to my wife in the aftermath took about two or three days for this to settle in. The Ravens have just lost the championship game was a little wacky time couple of weeks ago. I said to her, I’ve never thought or even spoken to you or anyone I know like you, my wife, my family, about what happens the day after Peter dies or the day after the Angelo’s family does or who the next person is going to be or how they’re going to act. It felt like Cuba to me, it felt like Russia to me, it felt like it’s never going to end. It’s always going to be this way. But I’m sure you’re here to tell me that things are gonna change. Right. Please tell me that, Eric. Yeah,
8
Eric Fisher 02:07
the the the Rubinstein purchase of the Orioles remains on track for approval. It’s going through its normal cadences at the league level. And it could be somewhere right around opening day. You know, that’s not a locked in stone kind of date. But we’re not looking at the summertime either that we’re this is a matter of weeks and not months in terms of this getting across the finish line. But your point is well taken in the you know, the Angelo’s era of 30 years, 30 years, a long time. And it doesn’t you don’t know what it feels like to be outside of it until you’re outside of it.
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:43
Yeah, we’re not there yet. Right. But but we have
Eric Fisher 02:46
white, not quite. But soon,
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:48
8we have smoke signals. As this come to you. I mean, you’re a guy that I don’t say you’re an Oreo fan. But you certainly wrote lots of stories back, you know, with the Washington Times when all of this was being birth with Angeles and mass and in the fight with Seelig and you know, all that went on 20 years ago to make the Nationals the Nationals, and then you’ve sort of moved on in your next job to covering all of sports and money and RS ends and where all this money was going. And certainly the massive story was primarily yours for a number of years, where two or three times a year we get together and say are they going to solve this? Are we going to get an all star game? I mean, in the end you and I blustered a lot over the years and nothing ever really changed. And still nothing still has changed. Really corporate burns a little bit of a change. But what do you expect to happen? When this happens in what’s your sort of inside plan this because this isn’t your first rodeo for an ownership change in Major League Baseball, you’ve seen this? Oh,
Eric Fisher 03:43
no. Right now we’re in the honeymoon phase or the pre honeymoon phase. The early signs have been pretty good in the sense that Rubenstein has been out a lot. He’s been to candy yards, he’s been to Sarasota. He’s tweeting a lot. And that was one of my big complaints with John angelos, even in the recent years after he got the day to day control position that you’re in a rebuilding mode. And this is before obviously the great onfield success last year, that he needed to play a lot more of my feeling. And I said this on your show that he needed to play a lot more retail politics and wasn’t doing any of it. And already I’m seeing just a handful of days way more in that sort of retail politics and sort of getting the name and visibility out there from Rubenstein in a way that I just never did from John Angelo. So that’s a good early sign resale politics
Nestor J. Aparicio 04:33
to find that I just That’s a beauty of retail politics in
Eric Fisher 04:37
terms of just getting out and shaking hands and kissing babies so to speak, in terms of going meeting with politicians going to meetings, going to Chamber of Commerce, lunches, just getting out there and building relationships with people who matter in your town. And there just wasn’t a lot of that at least in a sort of public facing sense, again that I saw from John Angelo’s. I’m seeing Good early signs of that from David Rubenstein that, obviously, he’s a little limited in what he can fully say and do until he gets the full approval to get the keys to the kingdom here. But the early signs have been positive. But once that deal does get done, that’s where the rubber meets the road and we’ll see what happens. But again, I think there’s a honeymoon period that is emerging and he seems to want to do the right thing. And the subtext that I’m getting is that he seems to recognize that there is a sort of unrealized jewel here that yes, Baltimore’s a smaller market Yes, sir. challenges that we’ve talked about. But there is they’re they’re great assets. There’s a great lineage, there’s a great history, and there are some real things to build from here.
8Nestor J. Aparicio 05:45
Does it almost feel like an expansion team to some degree with a with a loaded roster? You know, it just feels like there’s so many things they’ve done wrong or ignored or just really done poorly like, pettiness, enemies, people like me that have wanted nothing more than the love them, you know, that if you’ve learned nothing from a 19 chapter book I wrote, 2006 is like, all I’ve ever done is love the team love the city love baseball, my last name, the whole deal. And they’ve never, I said to my wife, I don’t know what it’s like to go down there and be treated well, I’ve never ever, ever been down there since last century. And had anybody be nice to me ever. So I as a journalist, as a citizen, as a fan, as a person who had some maybe uncomfortable questions for them sometimes that they never wanted answered, that’s sort of my job, it’s sort of holding them accountable. I don’t think Rubenstein is going to have any problem with that sort of part of it. But there is a beginning of it, where it feels like they have a first hand out to even the people that are already bought in and to make it feel different. And what I’ve asked everybody is what makes it feel different. And you can speak to this from the DC side of things with the group and on the football team down there. I’m not one of them. I didn’t go to the games this year. It’s still in a crappy stadium. There’s still the called the commander’s, I don’t know what that vibe would be because we’re gonna win a lot of games this year. I mean, they’re gonna be really good baseball team, that much is guaranteed. You’re gonna get that? Yeah, but what else do you get with it? That doesn’t intimidate your lead broadcaster in the middle of baseball season, right? And throw them off the just crazy stuff that’s going on recently. That that will stop where do you start to say, Rush page, open canvas? How does a billionaire come in? And do that other than hiring really good people who aren’t currently the people that are there? It needs to have new oxygen? Yeah,
Eric Fisher 07:39
and a lot of what we were seeing so far are the good early steps where he’s just walking the facilities asking a lot of questions, getting a lot of information, because that’s really the big thing that needs to happen right now. But if you sort of just start with just, I want to learn as much as I can, and I want to win ballgames, if those are your two primary motivations, and those appear to be the two primary motivations. A lot of the stuff you’re talking about just sort of falls by the wayside, and things get a lot simpler to understand. I
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:10
think the bigger motivation is fixing the city here, bro. I don’t think these are wealthy dudes are not getting into this for money. I don’t know that they’re, I mean, maybe he’s got some ego about him with his television show or whatever it
Eric Fisher 08:20
8says he is playing town, but I don’t want to put too much on him because he’s still just the, you know, he’s a businessman and a baseball team owner, but he doesn’t have the responsibilities of the mayor or the governor of the city council president or whatever. So I don’t want to be a little unfair here to him but in Yes, there are much bigger civic challenges that you’re all wrestling with. And I get all of that. He can be a part of that. But that’s not all on him and I want to be fair about Yeah,
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:45
and I agree with that. But I listen, I live downtown and I I bought my place and sold it for less than I bought it for 20 years later, after put a quarter million dollars into it. Three, this was my view. So I watched it all front row, paid the taxes, lost the money, watch the deterioration watch a tumbleweed blown down Conway street on April nights when they got 4000 people down there like I saw it all. And I’ve always seen this potential. But I also think like the bigger bring a Bloomberg in on this like this. This isn’t a play to be Mr. Big and own a baseball team, which was Peters play was to be hero, right? This is a play to say I can be a part of chart helping turn around a city in the way Detroit 20 years ago like that sports can be a part of that. For downtown. This is in a while we’re going to come in and downtown is not going to work and we’re going to build a stadium in the suburbs. These guys aren’t thinking that way at all. And
Eric Fisher 09:36
no, I am getting a vibe to want to want to help but help being the operative word. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:43
okay, and I’ll hear Eric Fisher’s here fun office sports. Let’s run off his sports. Run me through that and your daily work because it does encompass covering the media in the Business Media and look, the RSS feeds and the media model for baseball. You and I could do a half an hour and where that’s going right.
8Eric Fisher 09:59
Yeah, so Oh, you know this, this is a media outlet that covers the intersection of business and culture with sports. You know, it’s been in existence for about eight, nine years now I joined on last year, and what I’m doing is helping to put together a twice daily newsletter product that goes out to a very large audience around the country, and getting them all plugged in on everything in and around the business of sports.
Nestor J. Aparicio 10:26
What is the business of sports around what what is David Rubenstein inheriting here in regard to maths in the broken RSN system? Apps not working? Just it? The whole industry is looking at itself, much like our industry did in journalism and media. It’s recent, you’re not at the Washington Times anymore. And I’m didn’t get a gold watch in the Baltimore Sun, right? Like, they need to figure this out. And I don’t know that they that even smart people like you have sniffed what the real answer is, I’ve often thought like, Alright, I’m a fan, you got me in the, you know, charge me 1000 bucks at the beginning of the year, send me a 13 game plan, send me all the games on TV, send me a jersey of right, you know what that that there’s going to be a bundle package for fans, that’s going to sort of put you all in at the team is going to own I guess in the end, that’s what it’s going to be right? Potentially,
Eric Fisher 11:14
it’s it’s going down towards some kind of subscription type model like that. And there are different flavors of that with regard to mass. And specifically, there are specific issues to them. And then there are the macro issues. The macro issues, obviously, as you allude to, is we’ve got cord cutting going on all across the country, and all stripes, way beyond sports, where a lot of people younger than us, as they’re coming into adulthood have no interest in a traditional cable or satellite package. That’s the existential issue with regard to mass. And specifically, this is an RSM that’s got a history as you eluded sort of cheeping out on some things, they don’t have a DTC direct to consumer option as it currently exists. And you’ve got the complicated shared situation with the Nationals, which obviously, we’ve spent many hours discussing as well. Well, that’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 12:06
8gonna end right now that they have seen people and that they’re going to find the financial ending to that right and separate potentially,
Eric Fisher 12:12
I think there are discussions along that and Rob Bamford’s even spoken to that that changed, literally the quote was changed brings opportunity. And there, there potentially could have been new people on both sides of the table. Because learners were thinking about selling the Nationals, that’s no longer happening. They’ve pulled the team off the market. So Rubinstein will have to deal with the Nationals in that regard. But maybe they already came to a resolution on the second writes term, in a matter of weeks, whereas the first one took like 12 years of court hearings to settle out. And then they did the second one now that the die was cast. And we know what the essentially the end result of all that legal back and forth was the second one literally got done in a matter of weeks, the grain
Nestor J. Aparicio 13:00
your beer came from those dozen years. Oh
Eric Fisher 13:02
yeah, my family was sick of hearing about that, too. So I get it. So maybe that comes together. But yes, there there there are challenges big and small around mass and and now we’ve got a potential distribution issue, as well, that Comcast obviously the number one carrier in your neck of the woods as his mind. You know, they’re in sort of a contractual standoff right now. And you could have a situation if this doesn’t get resolved, where this network is not going to be on the number one cable carrier in the market. All the things
8Nestor J. Aparicio 13:38
you were writing about in LA in New York 15 years ago, right with the Dodgers and the Yankees being they haven’t figured it out all these years now. Now just become our problem baseball’s problem has moved San Diego got thrown off television in the middle of season last year. Yeah,
Eric Fisher 13:53
that was a little bit different because diamond sports literally went bankrupt. Comcast is certainly not bankrupt. The issue there is a little bit more nuanced in the sense we’ve seen this play out closest corollary to what’s happening your neck of the woods is Pittsburgh and Seattle where Comcast put those rsmeans on higher, more expensive tiers. They would like to do the same with Masson. And like everything else, it’s a negotiation in a dance and we’re trying to see where that’s going to net out. Eric Fisher
Nestor J. Aparicio 14:22
has been my friend a long time he covers some media, sports money, business billionaires and how it all ties together along all sports, not just the baseball but he has got a bit of a seam head I’ve seen around the ballpark and I hope to bump into you and a press box sometime with Rubenstein for for the rest of it. And I guess the bigger picture of me being so pissed off at the NFL and peacock that I went up to Hollywood casino to watch that lousy cold, terrible dolphins chiefs game. We now the Amazon Prime’s on Thursday night. I you know I’m not an old Get off my lawn guy dude. I’m just sort of like, I’m not paying you and giving you my credit card to watch a Thursday night football game between the commanders in the pairs, you know, I’m just not doing it. And I feel that way about it. But this is all about the change, right? Like, the fact that the digital has gotten into this, the only way it matters for them is to get it off of your television, and you have to go to your computer. And you have to find that, and that that’s going to be the new model, right? I mean, they’re going to do that with playoffs. We’re going to be playing with you world soon, right? It’s
Eric Fisher 15:30
8sort of moving in that direction. But it’s important to note that the applications as they currently exist, you’re talking about what’s gone to streaming is the least popular of the regular season packages. And what has gone to streaming in the playoffs bit is the one of the worst time slots of the wildcard weekend, they’re sort of still dealing at the margins on this as it relates to your biggest games, and your biggest moments. Those are still on over the air TV. And I think it’s a matter and I think we’re going to be in this realm for a number of years yet, in terms of kind of seeing where this whole nets out, because we’re still in the middle of this cyclone of change. And nobody in anybody claims he know exactly how it’s gonna play out. They’re lying to you, because nobody knows for sure. And there’s still going to be some left turns on this that we don’t know about yet. And so I think the NFL is just playing some smaller placing some smaller bets. And again, putting some of their lesser inventory on these platforms and seeing what shakes out
Nestor J. Aparicio 16:34
well, what they can get away with, right like literally, and I don’t know what they got away with. And I don’t trust as they’ll lie, especially to people like you that the day after peacock says we got you know, whatever. What what was their ShakeOut? And I’m, I’m sure they had a PR guy to like, chat, steal the buffet all up and tell you it was a beautiful thing. It was a big success. But I don’t know those are those are
Eric Fisher 16:56
23 million for that, that chiefs dolphins game. And that’s a third party audited number. I mean, I get what you’re talking about with PR guys, but the third party Nielsen stuff, and we can have a whole separate conversation about Nielsen’s modeling and everything. But those aren’t, that is a third party audited system. But 23 million people watched the game. On average, yes,
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:18
I watched the game, but I watched in a casino. I didn’t watch it. And I didn’t get very subscriptions. They you know, how many people signed up in five days before solely so they can watch the football game on the trial basis, if you’re gonna screw me and keep my credit card 30 days from now, and I’m, I’m gonna find it in May. And I’m gonna say I, I thought I paid five bucks for that game and I paid 40 So far,
8Eric Fisher 17:40
come back to me in a little over a month, because that churn period that you described, that’s a fair point, but Comcast will report their earnings early to mid April. And we’ll have a better sense of that than
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:56
if it worked. And literally from a business. Well, we’ll have
Eric Fisher 17:59
some sense. Yes, because Comcast every quarter says how many subscribers they have, as of the last quarter before the game, they had 31 million and if they come back with some dramatically different number, we will know that the NFL game had a material impact.
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:16
8Well, it’s it’s it’s like charging eight bucks for a beer 12 bucks for beer 17 bucks for beer to concert? Eight I buy it’s Well, probably not 17 No way. And I think the same thing for chiefs dolphins game, it’s like, alright, you know, my team were in it, I guess I’d have to fork over the money and do it like, but I don’t know that. I abstained as as, as a signal to them as saying that you’re not getting away with this. And then
Eric Fisher 18:42
you got counted essentially, in the modeling because there’s an out of home component, that for the last two, three years now all the Nielsen numbers linear and streaming have an out of home component. And you were modelled into that number, because they they do a sampling of at home. And then they extrapolate the sampling. So you essentially were counted in that number.
Nestor J. Aparicio 19:04
Fair enough, because I did watch the game. But from peacocks perspective, the only reason they got in was to get subscriptions, right? They didn’t get mine. So I you know, I’m wondering how many people they really shaping Hollywood casinos. Well, they had that before because they had EPL. So you know, I’ve learned this I don’t watch soccer on Saturday mornings, but if you need to have peacock if you do, so I want to when I pitched the bat everybody only but I have it already for this or that or that but I don’t have it and I get it for the chiefs and the dolphins and I do no I don’t want to belabor the point for our audience. But this is where it’s going for all of this in some way. And I think the Orioles thing we should get ready for. It’s not super TV anymore back in the 70s or home team sports, whatever the new thing is, they’re you know, they’re gonna have to be creative and make me want to buy the $8 beer and not issued a $17 beer make make me buy in and make me feel good about it. And I think that’s really the charge for Rubinstein is because Angela isn’t been anything to make anybody feel good about anything and A long, long time, I wonder when new management’s going to hang a sign, it’s going to start to feel different. That’s all other than the team on the field feels great. But the rest of it all the, the wrapper around it.
Eric Fisher 20:12
Well, and again, this is where it’s going to be very interesting to see how Rubenstein also approaches the onfield. And we can drill into that a little bit more, because there’s an interesting kind of Atlanta Braves model where the Atlanta Braves have gone to a lot of that young talent gone to them pre arbitration, pre free agency, lock them up. And if Rubinstein does that, and goes to your Adley rutschman to the world, and like you’re gonna be an Oracle for the next 10 years. That is a massive signal to your town that I want to win and continue to win. And they
8Nestor J. Aparicio 20:44
have the money to do it and the wherewithal to do it. Oh, sure. It’s it’s
Eric Fisher 20:47
all it’s all about priorities and action, no doubt. Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:51
and they can borrow for tomorrow, because they have the money to do that and thinking like, we’re not going to have 20 1000 people at the ballpark the next time we clinch a pennant, you know, next time you clinch a division, and, and I hope that there is a new day here. It’s so exciting to have you on under the circumstances. I try not to be too negative, you know, like, I really am trying to be like, What are they doing? That really is the question, because it needs to be dramatically different. And I think both of our eyes are going to be open. And this is for the sport to take over a crown jewel franchise that has been just driven through the mud for 30 years, and maybe resurrected to that level of the way the Red Sox were the way the Cardinals were the way the Astros have become this thing in recent times to the Braves to you. The amount of money it throws off, this team should be that for you know, for the next 20 years, it can be as good as it ever was. And we haven’t talked about it in that way in our friendship. And I don’t think anybody I’ve talked about that 25 years ever the Raiders did because I never thought it could ever be maximized with this guy running it. And I was right.
Eric Fisher 21:53
8Also keep in mind as we talk through the whole time, that this the latter, really two thirds of the Angelo’s era, was all wrapped around conflict because obviously he never wanted the team in Washington. And because once that became a thing, it was always some element of conflict, whether it be with Washington with the league office, in courtrooms with fans, whoever, it just that whole the Angelus theory, if you sort of boil it down almost a one word, it’s conflict, because the latter two thirds, those 20 years have essentially nothing but conflict. And Rubenstein has essentially an opportunity to come in with a clean slate without that conflict. And like I said, I the early the very, very early signs are encouraging. But he doesn’t carry that baggage of conflict, then Angeles obviously has,
Nestor J. Aparicio 22:48
well, if you look to your left after game six, when the fireworks are going off at Camden Yards. And as Buck once said, they’re piled diving and we and the city’s about to have a parade. And I’m in the left field press box with you. When you look down, you see me sobbing openly, you’ll you know, you’ll know it’s fixed. So, you know, I appreciate you, Eric. And you know what I’m, you know, like, I’ve waited a long, long time had a lot of people say to me, they feel best for me, and I’m like, don’t feel good for me until I’m back and doing the job that I was doing for 22 years for was interrupted 18 years ago. But I feel good for the possibilities for my city because it does feel like and, and I’ll leave you with this. The day after all this happened. My wife and I were drug City Local, have sponsor bars, a liquor store, and I don’t drink champagne. And I was kidding. My friends from curio, a cannabis and wellness about is there a cannabis strain for celebration. It’s like a champagne. And I thought you know what, I like red wine. And I’m not a guy that buys expensive red wines. You know, I target $15 bottle, but I like really good red wine when somebody else buys it. And I thought you know what, this is going to be the celebration, I spent 60 bucks to drug city on a bottle that was appropriate. The prisoner, delicious wine. I’ve had it before. So the night it happens, and I see you and Rand and all these guys reporting that it’s done, done. And I see the press conference and I get the invite to the press conference ask questions. I’m going to unleash the prisoner because I feel like I’ve been imprisoned here, Eric for a long, long time.
Eric Fisher 24:10
Yeah, and like I said, the best thing that you can sort of hope for is that a whole city of fans waking up on any given day, hey, maybe win today. And you’ve not had that feeling for a very long time. I know the team’s better now. But how long did it go on that you were just assuming today was going to be a loss. And that’s a that’s a hard thing to have to feel and now you can potentially feel like yeah, maybe we’re gonna win today.
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:38
Try doing radio for 32 consecutive years in spring training and on March 5 of every year. It’s it’s not I mean, you already know five years, five years and 32 years where you legitimately could stay here stand here and say they have a chance to make the playoffs and and be good this year. The other 27 years. It’s been how all For the ownership has been and there has been no other story. So I’m really looking forward to having people think of me as the guy that loves baseball and not the guy that hates it.
8Eric Fisher 25:10
Yeah, and again, it goes back to what the league has said. And this was this is one of their talking points that I’ll actually agree with, to the extent that you are talking about wins and losses, and not the kind of stuff that I make my living out of. That’s, that’s when things are going better. And if you actually are legitimately talking about are we going to win today, that means things are better? Well,
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:31
the day after he he signs up, the next thing is Henderson rutschman. You know, like, Where where’s the real commitment to be getting a jersey and getting back in and I can’t wait for it now. Fast Track. Last thing for you. What does Fast Track mean? You’ve seen these things? Well, there’s no reason for them to slow play. I heard that from the minute it happened. I know how at odds ang Angelou says with with Manfred and the whole thing. And obviously what happened with Westmore here and the $600 million a team’s getting this is fast track what slows it down what speeds it up. And what usually when there’s
Eric Fisher 26:05
Yeah, usually with these ownership transfers, when there is a problem, it means there’s some issue with actually the money and actually the deal itself and there’s some complicated financing. This guy’s got lots of money. This deal, as I understand it is structured much more cleanly than a lot of these. And so that’s what helps it along that like if you got the money, you just move right along. And it’s almost like a massive version of buying a car. If you’re coming in buying a car with cash. You know, you’re not spending four hours in the finance manager’s office trying to work something out. You’re and you’re driving away a lot quicker. And I’m being metaphorical here, but that’s sort of what’s going along here that as I understand it, pretty clean deal. And away they go. All
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:53
8right. So I hope to have you back on after the clean dlopen See you at Oriole Park at Camden I hope to get your crabcake somewhere along the line. You guys up Jersey gotta get down and get something legitimate. I’ll get you over fake news we’re gonna be doing fadeless live on Friday from 205 on Oracle home games all the brought to you by the minute you also get a 10 times the cash ticket here even though you’re not a state resident you’re still allowed to play our friends weathernation 866 90 nation I’ll get stores this year so I’m looking forward to that they do that as well. And our friends at Jiffy Lube multi care and liberty pure solution sponsoring the Maryland crab cake tour. A little bit of a hiatus this month we’re getting ready for new management around here and we’re really excited about that even though the Terps have got us disappointed in the ravens are gonna be doing a bunch of free agency we are still very very much on our a game on Eric Fisher can be found out at front office sports he can also be found out on the the social media avenues and any other big news or you’re falling like that the next big thing that’s on your radar, other Baltimore’s home ownership ownership, but there’s a lot of other things happened in the sports world. Yeah,
Eric Fisher 27:50
getting back to the RSN issue. We’ve got diamond sports, which is the parent company of Valley sports, not your RSM, but a lot of other artisans around the country trying to emerge from bankruptcy. There’s a plan coming together where Amazon is actually going to be a part owner of this company. But the big question is how do they survive and with what what what rights do they survive with? Because there’s actually negotiations going on with not only baseball but hockey and basketball, and really fascinating story, lots of layers gets into all the RSN and streaming stuff that we’re talking about. But on a pretty macro scale.
Nestor J. Aparicio 28:27
Reminds me a lot of newspapers. There’s no model yet. I mean, you know, there’s there’s no like we figured it out and for all the sports right? We’re gonna do it the way f1 Does and we’re gonna do it the way they do nobody horse racing these fringe sports net bowling, they never figured it out. Right. So like, I don’t know where it is for them. Wrestling’s figured it out, right? I mean, restaurants are one place where they kind of figured it out but they also have such rapidity and their fan base that you have to buy it in a way or you know, you have to buy it. I don’t know that we’re there yet with baseball here for sure. And the numbers that they need to support $50 million a year for Adley rutschman $50 million a year for Gunnar Anderson in a local market but but it is a crown jewel and we’re gonna bring it back to life Eric Fisher we are
Eric Fisher 29:14
a new day is emerging. A
8Nestor J. Aparicio 29:17
new crabcakes we’re ready for for UT Eric Fisher front office sports go find them out there you can find me anywhere. Good conversation and wise conversations are so looks covering the orals and the Ravens and we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive
