Podcast Summary:

Digital Social Hour, Episode #1583 — Jeremy Bloom: Olympian Exposes the NCAA’s Biggest Scam in History
Host: Sean Kelly
Guest: Jeremy Bloom
Date: October 23, 2025

Episode Overview

In this episode, host Sean Kelly sits down with Jeremy Bloom—Olympian skier, former NFL player, philanthropist, and tech entrepreneur—at the AI4 Conference. The wide-ranging conversation delves into Bloom’s pioneering work applying AI to sports officiating, the striking impact and ethics of technology in modern athletics, and Bloom’s long public battle with the NCAA regarding the exploitation of student athletes. The exchange is lively, candid, and punctuated by both humor and thoughtful critique of the sports industry.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. AI in Sports: Solving Officiating and Globalization

• Human Error in Officiating ([01:45]-[06:39])

  • Bloom highlights numerous infamous sports officiating blunders, emphasizing how subjective judging and ref error have cost athletes and teams dearly, recounting examples from NFL, F1, and the Olympics.
    • Quote:

      “I just can’t believe we still live in a world where human referees and judges are getting it wrong. And it’s changing the course of history for these athletes, these teams, these fans.” — Jeremy Bloom [01:53]

  • The rise of sports betting increases pressure and danger for referees, leading to a dwindling pipeline for new refs.
    • Quote:

      “Sports betting was a $400 million business in 2018... It’s now $16 billion. They [referees] go home and they don’t have a good quality of life because of fans. There’s just too much on the line.” — Jeremy Bloom [03:20]

• AI as the Solution: Project OWL ([06:40]-[10:34])

  • Bloom describes “OWL,” an AI system that judges, comments, and even narrates sports events, beginning with highly subjective disciplines like X Games snowboarding.
    • Quote:

      “When we launched this, the world’s first AI judge for a subjective sport in Aspen this year... It did really well. Not only did it become a PhD level judge... it started commentating the events in an endemic X Games voice.” — Jeremy Bloom [07:48], [08:07]

  • OWL allows real-time commentary and judging in multiple languages, broadening access for global audiences.
    • Quote:

      "Now we can use this technology to broadcast in their local language, which is exactly what we did at Summer X Games... Japanese, Portuguese, Mandarin and Spanish. The first time ever in X Games." — Jeremy Bloom [08:26]

  • The tech is designed to empower, not replace, human referees and commentators.
    • Quote:

      “This is not technology to replace commentators. It’s using this technology to give commentators superpowers.” — Jeremy Bloom [09:41]

• The Future of Sports Broadcasting ([11:08]-[14:32])

  • Streaming partnerships (UFC/Paramount, NFL/Amazon, etc.) are shifting how young audiences consume sports.
    • Quote:

      “I said, ‘Raise your hand if you have cable.’ Not a single student raised their hand… It's really important... Especially sports like X [Games], where our demo is young... Streaming is a huge focus.” — Jeremy Bloom [11:19]

  • Bloom cites data showing the X Games draws a uniquely young, international, and non-traditional sports audience. Their partnership with Roku revealed that 71% of X Games viewers don’t cross over to mainstream “stick and ball” sports.

2. Exposing the NCAA’s "Amateurism" Sham

• Scale of the Problem ([14:32]-[16:59])

  • Bloom accuses the NCAA of extracting “trillions” from student athletes in the modern era, under the pretense of “amateurism.”
    • Quote:

      “I think it’s pretty clear now that the NCAA has stolen trillions of dollars from student athletes... They stole it under the guise of what’s called amateurism, which has always been a sham. Amateurism means free labor, and free labor is a hell of a drug.” — Jeremy Bloom [14:46]

• Legislative Turning Points

  • California’s and then other states’ Name, Image & Likeness (NIL) laws forced the NCAA’s hand, ending exclusive NCAA control over athletes’ commercial rights.
    • Quote:

      “That was the tipping point… It was a tipping point from there... The big tipping point was the Alston case at the Supreme Court... the Supreme Court, which is unanimous in nothing, voted unanimously in support of Alston, which was the end — which signaled the end of amateurism.” — Jeremy Bloom [15:49]

  • Bloom celebrates the new landscape, emphasizing that NIL rights are basic human rights.
    • Quote:

      “We’re in a world now where the student athletes own their own name, image and likeness. And that’s a basic human right that we all have in this country.” — Jeremy Bloom [16:15]

• Personal Story: NCAA vs. Jeremy Bloom ([17:03]-[18:48])

  • As a world champion skier and college football player, Bloom endured NCAA rules barring him from retaining skiing endorsements—forcing him to choose between sports and losing ~$400k in contracts.
    • Quote:

      “When I went to college to go accept a full ride scholarship to play football, the NCAA said, ‘Well, if you play football, you have to give up all your endorsements in skiing.’ ... I sued them and testified in Congress and sort of been on this... two decade Crusader Journey.” — Jeremy Bloom [17:03], [17:19]

    • Quote:

      “They did [make me choose]. I tore up all the endorsement contracts – probably 3 or $400,000 worth... for an 18-year-old.” — Jeremy Bloom [18:02]

  • Ultimately, he played two seasons in the NFL, but his college football career was cut short by these rules.

3. Bloom’s Broader Impact: Philanthropy and Family

• Wish of a Lifetime Foundation ([20:03]-[21:42])

  • Inspired by his close relationship with his grandfather, Bloom founded the Wish of a Lifetime, granting wishes to seniors to bring dignity and joy to elders, inspired by Eastern reverence for the aged.
    • Quote:

      “Now we’re granting almost one wish per day... reminding people that, hey, just because you’re in your 90s or 100s doesn’t mean you need to stop dreaming. And a reminder for all of us young people in this country—respect these people, they paved our roads.” — Jeremy Bloom [21:32]

• Family Connections

  • Bloom’s sister, Molly Bloom, built America’s biggest underground poker game, dramatized in the film Molly’s Game.
    • Quote:

      “She built, I think, the largest underground poker game in American history, only to see it come crashing down by the FBI. And Aaron Sorkin did an awesome movie about her life called Molly’s Game.” — Jeremy Bloom [21:55]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Amateurism means free labor, and free labor is a hell of a drug.” — Jeremy Bloom [14:49]
• “We’ve seen it… in every sport.” — Sean Kelly, on judges being bought off [05:57]
• “The social channels are a great way to reach your audience through TikTok and Snapchat and Instagram.” — Jeremy Bloom [12:28]
• “More young people watched X Games than the Wimbledon semifinals… than the F1 Monaco race. These are really big sports properties.” — Jeremy Bloom [14:19]
• “If I ever do anything in my life, I want to do something for seniors… reminding people that, hey, just because you’re in your 90s or 100s doesn’t mean you need to stop dreaming.” — Jeremy Bloom [20:15], [21:32]
• On learning to ski young: “My grandfather used to throw little miniature size candy of ours down the mountain… If I was good enough to find a medium, I could eat them.” — Jeremy Bloom [19:30]

Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:45] — Introduction to AI refereeing; Bloom’s background in judged sports
• [03:26] — Sports betting’s impact on referee job pipeline and safety
• [06:40] — First implementation of AI judging in the X Games; OWL project details
• [08:26] — AI expanding access through multilingual commentary
• [11:19] — The death of cable, rise of streaming, and sports broadcast partnerships
• [14:46] — NCAA exploitation and the myth of amateurism, ramifications for student athletes
• [17:03] — Personal story: NCAA forcing Bloom to choose between two sports
• [20:03] — Founding Wish of a Lifetime and the mission behind it
• [21:55] — Molly Bloom and Molly’s Game movie reference

Conclusion

Sean Kelly’s conversation with Jeremy Bloom paints a vivid picture of how technology, advocacy, and personal conviction are converging to rapidly change the world of sports. Bloom offers unique insight as both a top athlete and a disruptor, arguing passionately for fairness and agency among athletes and expressing optimism for using AI not just to fix old problems, but to make sports—and society—better for everyone.