SportsPrep Live

Wesley Knight 0:00
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Graydon Prescott 0:17
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live. Sports prep live, where we unbox the bike and talk excellence in athletics,

Graydon Prescott 0:35
what's going on everybody. Welcome back to another episode, another edition of Sports prep live. I'm your host, grade and Prescott. And today is probably the busiest week of sports that we're going to have this year. We have March Madness to discuss. We got the WNBA collective bargaining agreement was finally made, so we're going to lead off with that. And there's also some local news in sport, especially in the high school scene, regarding football and a powerhouse is may have the potential to be a little bit tamed, at least in the Nevada perspective. So we'll start with the collective bargaining agreement the WNBA. I got KB with me, yep, yep, and yeah. Let's just jump right into it, because we only have a limited amount of time. WNBA finally reached their collective bargaining agreement with the Players Association. It's a seven year agreement, right, running until 2032 and here's how it's gonna look. The salary cap is going to increase from the previous mark of $1.5 million to $7 million much deserved, and it could reach 10 million plus by the end of the deal, right? 2032, I believe it is yes. Max contracts are growing to over $2.4 million and throughout the duration of the CBA, which which is big progress, minimum salary is going to move from anywhere between 270 and $300,000 and just for reference, minimum salary in the WNBA previously was around 77 somewhere 7572 Yeah, somewhere in there. So a huge bump there. And then average salary, long overdue. Average Salary right now is going to be $583,000 right? And by the end of the agreement, projected over a million, we're

K.B. 2:21
getting respectable so

Graydon Prescott 2:22
these women, so every player in the league will now be making six figures, well deserved, which is good. That is a number that only a small handful of players were previously making. Right? The number one pick in the draft is going to be earning about $500,000 now. So it's going to be a faster path for elite young players to get sustainable money. Sure, take, you know, you take Caitlin and page, for example, their salaries are going to be bumping from about $78,000 to $582,000 this coming year. Huge exponential increase. Sure, the season is going to expand 50 to 52 games. Nice. The rosters are going to increase to 12 and two developmental spots. So for a photo, for a total of 14 spots, they're also expanding first class travel facilities and player resources and bonuses. For example, the bonuses $60,000 to the league MVP, if you're an all WNBA or an all pro player, that's another $30,000 right now. The deal still needs formal approval, and they have compressed the offseason timeline, which means the Expansion Draft and free agency and the WNBA draft all are going to need to happen in the span that training camp is opening,

K.B. 3:40
okay, which is opening school soon. The season is opening soon, I believe may 8, or somewhere around there. Training Camp opens in April. So like you've given, you've given us the readout. What do you think about the deal? Is this a net positive? Did it come in about where you thought it would? Did it come in a little bit lower than you

Graydon Prescott 3:56
thought it I think, I think, I think it's a net positive. Okay, um, I still think there's more to be done. Yeah, for the players, yes, because they've created a lot of value. Yeah, absolutely. Players have Yeah, absolutely. And look, a jump in the salary cap by 700% almost sure, is well deserved. Yeah, it's a meaningful increase, but it could still be more right? We're living in a time now where the number one pick in the draft should probably be making seven figures rather than six Sure, and we're not talking $100,000 it's mid six figures. It's $500,000 but the number one pick in the draft is a million dollar player, sure, my opinion, at least Sure, minimum salary in the NBA for the number one pick in the draft is about 17 million. Yeah, so that's eight figures. Now, the WNBA is not at a point where they can provide that kind of money, yet, right, right? They're on their their own that path. So I think it's a net positive. We're moving in the right direction, absolutely. But this is. Not the final landing point. That's why it's only a seven year agreement, right, right? This is not really a long term agreement, and it's subject to change. Throughout the next seven years, numbers are going to continue to increase, and by the end of this agreement, we could be looking at a lot more. So, net positive. Absolutely, it's probably not the best thing in the world for the front offices of the, you know, the teams coming into Toronto and Portland, I only say that because now they have a limited amount of time and more money is going to be on the table for the best players to go to teams that can actually compete. Sure, sure. So an expansion team is at a disadvantage right now, free agency in at least for the WNBA, free agency is going to be at a little bit of a disadvantage right now. Players could shift very easily, but also teams are going to have more money to hold on to their most valuable players. Yeah, I think

K.B. 5:54
generally speaking, it was a good deal. Yeah, the players didn't get everything that they should have. Kathy Englebert, who is the Commissioner of the WNBA answers to Adam Silver and the ownership group, they really wanted to try to recuperate, and that makes sense from a business standpoint, some of the outlays, the expenses that they've incurred over the last, really 30 years, I do think that they were trying to get all that back in the next few years, as opposed to a traditional long term investment, where you begin to see a return over the course of sometimes decades. Certainly, anybody that's involved in the WNBA that seems to me like that's going to be a long term investment, and when they sell, there's going to be an even bigger return on whatever those initial investments are or were, and they weren't that sizeable as compared to other professional teams. So I do think the players left a little bit on the table, but I also think it was smart to get the deal done. They've created a lot of value in this league, independent of the owners. The owners like to take credit. Oh well, you know, we were writing the checks, but not really. You know, you had them catching busses to games. You had them playing at rec centers. You had them taking economy flights when they could take a flight. So it's, it's not like they poured a ton of money in it, but I do think the players are beginning to get their just due, because, again, they have created a tremendous amount of value in this league in a very short period of time. Even though it's been a long term coming, the public has really sat up and taken notice of the incredible talent that not only Women's College of basketball has to offer, but you know that talent as it transfers into the WNBA. So shout out to them. I'm happy for them. Hopefully they can build on this. Salaries are going to increase. There's going to be endorsement money, sponsorship money that's going to continue to

Graydon Prescott 7:45
flow into the league. Housing is also part of the so

K.B. 7:47
those that deserve to get paid, and there, there are a lot of them I think will get paid. And you know, I'm going to stick with my prediction of last season, Caitlin Clark is going to be the first 100 million dollar player. I think now that's a conservative estimate, yeah. And I think there will be other Yes, and there will be other players who come in and make a big splash, maybe not 100 million, but 2025, 30, $40 million players, which is really good for the sport.

Graydon Prescott 8:11
What do you think this this deal means for players playing, let's say, in overseas leagues in the offseason, or even an unrivaled, I think unrivaled is built more with a focus on the players, sure, players actually and then playing in the Euro league helped players with a second source of income, right, right? I think with this new deal, that might not be necessary, yeah, you know, players like Brianna Stewart, prior to unrivaled, we're going, you know, to play basketball in Germany or in Spain, or Italy, Italy, whatever it may be, Russia, unfortunately, players even playing in Russia. So I think that's gonna

K.B. 8:54
being paid like, like they should be paid here. Yeah. So I think that was a black eye for the WNBA, that was embarrassing, that players were going overseas and making more money, making more money for a shorter timeframe, making three, four or five, sometimes 10 times what they were making here. That was an embarrassment for the league, and a black eye. And I think part of this was to make good on some of that value that these women have shown is there in their game. Yeah?

Graydon Prescott 9:26
Now, as that's speaking on the Euro league point, you know players playing overseas as for unrivaled, that's not going anywhere, even though this new deal came through, and that was another report, yeah, unrivaled is built on the backs of players, with the focus on the players and the benefits going to the players, unrivaled is about the players, so that that League has a different, you know, kind of point of interest, sure, one that it's so stable with, with a focus on its players, that's just not going anywhere. You're too. Yeah, and it's going to continue to be a pressure point for the WNBA. And you got to think seven years from now, exponent, or it will have grown expensive, a billion

K.B. 10:08
dollar franchise, if not more, right?

Graydon Prescott 10:10
You know, they've already got an agreement with Turner, Turner Turner Sports, yeah, otherwise, otherwise known as TNT, and it's just going to continue to grow. So that's going to be a pressure point come 2032 when the, when the next negotiations, major negotiations, are happening,

K.B. 10:29
and they're going to, I think that's going to be, you know, a net positive for them. Because, you know, the the NBA didn't have anything like that. Yeah, yeah, no. Pressure point like that for the NBA. And so for the, you know, people may not remember, you know, we have, we tend to have a younger audience, but the NBA also had a lagging its feet for quite a while in terms of what they were paying those players based on what the value that they were creating, right?

Graydon Prescott 10:55
And the NBA actually did have a lockout because of this right in the year 19 it was the 1998 Yeah, the first season after Michael Jordan had retired for the second time. You know, Vince Carter's rookie year. So that 1998 offseason, there was a lockout. They didn't start playing games until Christmas, January. Yes, yes. So that was close to we were, people don't understand how close that was to happening in the WNBA this year. Right, right?

K.B. 11:26
Really, really. But again, I think one of the things that the WNBA, the women's players, had on their side is on right, we're still going to eat. Yeah, maybe not everybody, but a lot of us are still going to eat. And that would would have created a lot of tension in that relationship.

Graydon Prescott 11:44
And another major difference was NBA players going to play overseas in the offseason, which some of them did, even though the NBA wasn't playing, paying their players enough or their due diligence, they still weren't making NBA money playing overseas, right? Complete opposite of what was going on in the WNBA. So overall, net positive. All in all, more more changes to be made, more improvements to be made. But for where we are right now, I think a good deal unanimously voted on by the players has been reached. Absolutely no, let's, let's shift gears a little bit, and before we get into the hottest of the hot topics in the month of March, yeah, March Madness, yes, sir, let's quickly dive into something that I'm sure you'll you are well versed on. I'm relatively well versed in the Las Vegas area the NI double A's new situation with the principals of Clark County School District CCSD schools. There are 30 CCSD schools in class four a and five right? All 30 school principals came to the agreement that the four a and five a public schools will pull out of NIAA competition, yes, for the next two years. Basically making drum roll please, basically making the point that it is unfair to their schools, to their players, to their players, families, to their students, for them to be playing against. And they they said it in a very politically correct way, harder and private schools, right? We all know it's not fair for them to be playing against Bishop Correct, correct. Now Bishop Gorman was named multiple times, yes, but they said, this isn't about this isn't all about lawyers in the fight. Yeah, yes. Now that they did the principles of the of the CCSD schools did try to say this isn't all about Gorman This is about the system I'm gonna call bull crap. Yeah, keep it a buck. Yeah, keep it a buck. Yeah, right. This is 100% about Bishop Gordon. Right? Keep it 100 that does not mean it's not the right thing for them to do, right? It just means that they are being politically correct about it, and that's probably how they should do it. But everyone knows this is because of the dominance of the bishop Gorman football program.

K.B. 14:06
I believe they have won. And Nia being the Nevada interscholastic activities Association, yes. And obviously CCSD is the school district, school district. And so yes, they took a vote. These principles came together and decided, and like you said, they're trying to put a nice pretty bow on it, but you really can't put lipstick on a pig. Yeah. Essentially, what they're saying is we don't want to be in a system where the at the end of the all of the end of the year awards, the five a championship for high school football, is a foregone conclusion, right? And I believe 15 of the last 17 years, 16, there's only one. One is correct, yeah. 16 of the last 17 years, it has been a foregone conclusion. Even. In the year, I don't even think Vegas would take a bet on the outcome of who's going to be the national or the the in state championship.

Graydon Prescott 15:07
If high school, high school, high school sports gambling were legal, I'm sure Bishop Gorman, they wouldn't take any bets minus 100,000 Right, right? The highest possible odds, you couldn't win any

K.B. 15:19
money saying that bishop Gorman was going to win, because everybody knew that was the case. And a lot of that happens because of the I think there are some rules that the CCS dual, that our CCSD schools have to adhere to, that the private schools do not correct. One of them being in a CCSD school. The kids that go to that school are the kids that fall within the parameters of that that school's footprint. Yes, right schools are right. You're zoned for a specific correct you're you're zoned for a specific High School. Well, at Bishop, they can pull you from Pennsylvania if they find you. And I don't know the exact system. I don't know how much money goes into that, and it's rather opaque, and I think that's one of the issues that the schools have. I'm not sure if somebody's being put up in an apartment, or if there's money being provided for tuition, because it is not inexpensive to go to Bishop Gorman. So there are all of these resources that are available to Bishop Gorman that are not necessarily available to these other programs, especially as it relates to football, yeah, and that is unfair. It is unfair, if you have, you know, and I'm just pulling a number out of the air, you've got $2 million a year going into a high school football.

Graydon Prescott 16:41
Oh, it's far more than that.

K.B. 16:42
Yeah, I'm just pulling the number out of the air, and we're probably

Graydon Prescott 16:47
and then 10% million

K.B. 16:49
dollars, 10% of that goes into a high school football program for and if that, yes, if that correct, because they it's probably have to split that money equitably, almost between all the other

Graydon Prescott 17:01
sports that are Gorman's. Gorman's is different. Gorman will get donations. This is for the football pro Correct. You can't do that at a public school and make a donation to the school. It's a school. It's, you know, a correct donation to the school. If you make a donation at Bishop Gorman, this goes to dedicate where it goes. This goes to weights. This goes to a field. This goes to a building, right, right, which, etc, right, right, all things that bishop Gorman, yes, at their disposal. It's not fair. Bishop Gorman is run like a college football program, right? It's not, let's be

K.B. 17:32
very and they do a really good job of it. Yeah, they're fans, but we have to keep it a buck and say, like, like, come on. Like, there's just no we're using these other high schools is basically crash dummies, like those kids are being treated like crash dummies at these at the Clark County School District schools, and I think the parents and the players, and it sounds like now the principals have just had it up to here with that system, where the outcome is a foregone conclusion. If it's a jump ball, if we don't know who that that in state champion is going to be fine. But I think what the schools are seeing is we are so far behind, and we don't see a way for us to catch up. It's better for us to just say, You know what, we're going to play in a system and be independent, where we're playing against one another, where there is at least some parody in terms of the resources that are going into the school, yeah, and then it's a jump ball. Whoever wins, wins. But when you're dealing when you throw a bishop in there, or, you know, a faith, even though faith isn't as strong in football, yeah, the

Graydon Prescott 18:33
point still stands correct. When you throw those

K.B. 18:35
private schools in with private resources, it really is a game changer. It hasn't happened as much, say, in a sport like basketball, because it is hard to corral or to bring in house all of the talent that is dispersed. In a city as large as Las Vegas, there's a lot of basketball talent out. But when you can put 50 kids on a team, that's that's notable, like 50 kids on a team for an 11 man roster. I mean, you can do some damage, and they obviously have done damage, so Bishop is going to have to figure out what they're going to do here, because there are some rules that say, you know, if you play, you have to play at least nine games to be considered for an in state championship, and then you can only play one game out of state and you can on the out of state side of it, you have and you can't play Bishop's argument is you can't play just one game and be considered for an out of state championship. Bishop needs to play more out of state games than that, but to do that and to have a full roster of nine in State Games, that is a heavy lift, right? So this is going to be tricky. We're going to keep an eye on this, but we do know that as of now, the next couple of seasons, including this one, Bishop Gorman, is going to be kind of wanting for teams to play in state,

Graydon Prescott 19:57
because the CCSD schools in for a. And five, we're gonna keep an eye on the story competition. And the one thing I would like to point out, if people don't understand the absolute dominance of Bishop Gorman over the past four years, for a student who is a senior right now and was a freshman four years ago in 2022 Yeah, they will have, they would have witnessed that student would have witnessed four state championship football games. The final scores of those four games are 7044, 56 and 67 all of those to seven for a grand total of 237 to 28 that's insane. 237 right accumulating points 28 for Bishop Gorman and their opponents collectively over the past four state championship. This isn't just playing in some regular team. No, no, this is the state runner ups versus Bishop right? 237 to 28 that's that's why this is happening in the CCSD schools and in the NIA. This is why the top, you know, all of the CCSD schools in four a and five A are pulling out of Nia. It is not

K.B. 21:06
fair what I would say to some of these public schools, because I know a lot of the high schools around here have relationships with some of the businesses and organizations that are in the city. Like, if it's that serious to you, and you need to get these resources. You need to strike up some partnerships with some of the companies that are here, because we are entering an age, not entering we are in an age, you know, in L, N, I, L, is starting to come down to high school players now. So they need to be cognizant of that. If you want to compete at that level, yeah, you're going to have to get resources into your program. And it's probably not going to be, is not going to come in visa V the state, you know taxes, and you know, because, you know, no one really wants to see taxes raised. So it's going to have to come in from private dollars. So if they want to be competitive, they're going to have to get people on their staff who are solely dedicated to striking partnerships with organizations and businesses around the city so that they can, they can get their

Graydon Prescott 22:01
weight up. Yep. Now I'm sure what everyone has been waiting for is March Madness. Yes, we'll start. I don't think there's really much to say on the women's side right now. Madison Booker did Madison Booker things as as Texas, Texas to the Sweet 16. She had 40 points, which is her

K.B. 22:18
career high. Crazy, and left the game

Graydon Prescott 22:20
early, yeah, but they won the game by 42 Yeah. So that's my point.

K.B. 22:25
Like, yeah, you had 40 and still had time to sit down and put your slides on and, yeah, yeah.

Graydon Prescott 22:29
No big, no big deal. Nothing else really going on that's too crazy. Yukon is doing Yukon things that, you know, they're up by a million points on Syracuse right now, I was probably the most notable is the two seed Iowa lost, lost to a 10 seed, lost to a 10 seat in double overtime, which was kind of a shocker. What else has happened in the in the women's USC had a thriller against who did they play first round? Who did USC play in the first round, man, Clemson. They played, I think it was Clemson overtime, overtime game. And what came out with the jazzy Davidson was sensation fallen. Clemson had a game winner that was about a quarter of a second late, and USC ended up rallying the troops and winning in overtime. But really, no major surprises so far, on the women's side, and you know, the sweet 16 will be set tonight. Now the men's side, the sweet 16 was set last night. And of course, there have been some surprises, right, right? So the team that you know, at least for a Hawkeye fan, and the Hawkeyes have been in basketball news over the past half a decade, a lot thanks to a woman named Caitlin. But you would never have expected Iowa to have a team in the sweet 16 and it not be their women's program. And they

K.B. 23:50
had to beat a number one seed, right?

Graydon Prescott 23:54
They beat Florida, the defending champs, defending national champion, the men's team beat Florida on a game winner, yes, 73 to 72 last night, with four and a half seconds left in Florida, didn't even get a shot off at the end. Kansas has fallen, you know, with Darren Peterson, North Carolina crew, North Carolina is out. Yes, not that that is shocking, because their best player was out for the season. So that's there's a little bit of an asterisk,

K.B. 24:21
because they are they, you know, North Carolina managed one of the very few. I think there's only two losses that Duke had this season, right? So North Carolina had, you know, a powerhouse and does have a powerhouse program, but they did lose a key player, and that may have impacted what just transpired over the last couple of days, because North Carolina is out of the tournament.

Graydon Prescott 24:42
Yep, your your Cinderella story, I say yes. Who seed is just shocking the world by making it to the Sweet six.

K.B. 24:50
Let me explain just very briefly,

Graydon Prescott 24:53
teams that are 15 seeds

K.B. 24:55
lower than them, because technically, you are correct. Iowa is not Iowa. State is not a two. Seed or not a Cinderella team in the classic sense, but in terms of a team that you just do not expect to win a national championship, that can get close and then just have it snatched away from them, like Lucy in the football with Charlie Brown, like that's how I view Iowa State. So from that vantage point. I view them as a Cinderella team, a team that really has no business winning a national championship. Although I am a huge fan of tame and Lipsy, this dude has to be, if not the number one, certainly in the top five guards in the country. You know him well. You guys were in the same program back in the day. He's a little bit older than you, obviously, yeah, but Taman Lipsy is a

Graydon Prescott 25:45
dog. He's, he's really he

K.B. 25:47
is high basketball. IQ knows how to distribute the ball, makes very few mistakes and turnovers. Tremendous on

Graydon Prescott 25:54
defense. Had 26 the other day,

K.B. 25:56
yes, just a floor general to the core. You know, we coined the nickname of the maestro for Caitlin Clark. If there is a male version of that in the in College men's basketball today, it's Tave and Lipsy.

Graydon Prescott 26:10
Yeah, I agree with that. Michigan has advanced this week. Well, three one seats are still alive. It's Arizona, Duke and Michigan, right? Florida is the only one out. Duke is going to play against St John's, who just beat Kansas. I would expect Duke to win that game, but st John, you never know. They got a great coach and Rick Pitino, and you know they are, they're built to stun another team. They were not expected to beat Kansas, but here we are. So anything can happen. Arizona is looking pretty dominant right now. I don't know that Arizona is going to get beaten in this next round. Now, here's my bold prediction. I think Michigan is gone after this game against Alabama. Wow, that's my bold prediction for for this week. Okay, I can see that happen. I'm taking, I'm gonna take a big leap. Yeah, it's Alabama. It's a four versus a one,

K.B. 26:58
right? Alabama is a very talented

Graydon Prescott 27:00
basketball, right? I think Alabama is going to get them, I really do, and

K.B. 27:05
they're about to get more talented. Shout out to Jackson Richardson, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Graydon Prescott 27:09
Alabama's Alabama's coming. Yes, there are four seed this year. They've been a one seed over the past couple of years time, and, you know, historically, a football school, but they've been really good in basketball for the past few years I'm taking Alabama, Houston is looking as dominant as ever. They're kind of always two bulls. Yeah, they're kind of always a two seater, you know, anywhere between one and three. Very dangerous where Houston wasn't between one. I think we said it last week.

K.B. 27:35
You do not want to look, yeah, no. Huge bracket and see on the other side. No matter

Graydon Prescott 27:41
Houston, I think Houston is certainly right now, if we, if we were to do a power ranking, regardless of seed, I think Houston would certainly be a top three team left in the debate. They remind

K.B. 27:50
me a lot, just a little bit notch of a little bit of a notch above, but they remind me a lot of Iowa State like that, that same kind of gritty just they're going to give you a game no matter who you are,

Graydon Prescott 28:01
both, both, both of those two teams are actually in incredible Yes, yes, but I think Houston is probably the superior. I agree, I agree, but I mean, Iowa State beat them this year.

K.B. 28:15
Correct, correct. I do give Houston the edge, you know, behind the the play of tame and Lipsey. They did manage to beat Houston, but Houston, I still give them the edge as a basketball club, Iowa State is missing, yeah, one of their big guns.

Graydon Prescott 28:31
Yes, the biggest gun, Joshua Jefferson. But again, that's objective because, well, he's, he's, he's one of the guys who could be first team, all American. Yeah, big body. But Joshua Jefferson also could, he may

K.B. 28:45
come back. Yeah, correct. He's he may come back. He's saw him in a booth the other day, so he is taking care of his his ankle. But if there is a here's

Graydon Prescott 28:55
my there, he comes back into here's my last bold prediction, because we won't be back until these games are set. If Joshua Jefferson comes back, Iowa State's gonna make the final four. I'm not mad at that.

K.B. 29:07
I am not mad at that. That's my Iowa State, my Cinderella team.

Graydon Prescott 29:10
Ladies and gentlemen, definitely not a Cinderella team, but whatever. Thank you everybody for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. It's been a very important one. It's been a very educational one. I'm graden Prescott. We'll be back next week with the Final Four on the women's side and the men's side, cyclones, and yeah, goes. You never thought I'd be saying that. Go cyclones. Appreciate everybody. We'll see you next week. Thank you for tuning into this episode of sports prep live. I'm Graydon Prescott, and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple Spotify or wherever you get your podcast, and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports prep live. Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai