Local Hour: A Man Of Process

Summary

Podcast Summary

Podcast: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Episode: Local Hour: A Man Of Process
Date: April 1, 2026
Location: Elser Hotel, Downtown Miami

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Episode Overview

This "Local Hour" episode finds Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, and the crew dissecting two central themes: South Florida’s ever-evolving sports scene and the quirky, process-driven culture of the show itself. The discussion covers the drama and logistics around Inter Miami’s new stadium and the booming Miami Hurricanes football program, with detours into team culture, Miami infrastructure woes, and the shifting business of live sports. Throughout, the crew’s signature banter, personal ribbing, and hyperlocal humor are on full display.

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Key Discussion Points

1. Greg Cody’s Catchphrase List & “Man of Process” Bit

[01:15 – 05:04]

• Dan expresses frustration about trying to get Greg Cody to reveal more of his catchphrase list for the show, only to be stonewalled because Greg wants to keep the bit for his own podcast.
• Tony and Mike Ryan defend Greg, labeling him a “man of process” who must do things his own way, resisting Dan’s urge to accelerate or co-opt the bit.
• The team riffs on the spontaneity—or lack thereof—of Greg’s catchphrases, likening his method to taking a soufflé out of the oven too early (Chris Whittingham, [03:53]); Greg’s wordplay is celebrated for its weird genius (Alan Funt/Helen Hunt/punt rhyme, [04:10 – 04:45]).
• Notable Quote:

  “He’s a man of process. This is a man of words. This is a man, man of dignity. And you’re going to ask him to go forgo his own stuff to just get your little fix? It is no, sir. Absolutely not.” — Tony's Supporter ([02:00])

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2. The Awkwardness of Wedding Invitations

[05:11 – 08:55]

• Dan brings up Chris Whittingham’s engagement and the potential for the group to attend the wedding, inadvertently exposing the discomfort surrounding who will be invited.
• Mike Ryan lightly scolds Dan for possibly putting people on the spot (“Maybe not everyone’s invited… you’re going to make some people feel like some…” [06:10]).
• Whittingham quips about not assuming he'll be invited (“No, you won’t be.” — Stugotz, [06:58]).
• Greg Cody’s ego gets playfully called out for the way he describes run-ins with acquaintances (“He was so happy to see me,” [08:02]).

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3. Inter Miami’s “New New” Stadium — Construction, Branding, Logistics

[08:58 – 16:31]

• Debate about whether the new Inter Miami stadium is truly finished and what it will mean for local traffic, especially with Messi set to play there.
• The absurdity of the stadium’s corporate name, “New New Stadium” and “Brand New Stadium,” is lampooned, with Dan tongue-twisting the branding ([10:44 – 11:17]).
• Personal experiences with Miami’s infamous infrastructure woes surface—joking about driverless cars going in circles and protracted bridge construction ([11:24 – 12:09]).
• Discussion of the Moss family's rapid construction, influence, and the incomplete nature of the area around the stadium; warnings about the first match being a “bit of a cluster bleep” ([12:09 – 13:12]).
• Notable Quote:

  “Miami’s infrastructure is going to get to this game and we’re going to have a functioning new new stadium. Brand new stadium. Brand new.” — Dan Le Batard ([11:17])

• Tony and Mike Ryan praise the Moss family’s construction acumen but caution about traffic and the unfinished surroundings ([14:31 – 15:03]).

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4. The Business of Stadium Attendance vs. TV Dollars

[20:14 – 25:51]

• Dan suggests in-person fan experience matters less than TV and streaming revenue for franchises, referencing insights from John Skipper and David Sampson.
• Mike pushes back hard, arguing that stadium attendance is still crucial for most leagues—particularly for MLS, which relies heavily on ticket revenue and atmosphere ("Attendance is a huge part of the business plan in MLS." — Mike Ryan, [20:31]).
• The group differentiates between MLS and the Big Four sports’ business models; debates whether improved in-person experiences can counter the allure of viewing from home ([21:04 – 25:01]).
• Dan forecasts a trend toward making sports more exclusive and expensive in stadiums, with the most extravagant experiences saved for in-person attendees.

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5. Sustaining Miami Soccer Post-Messi

[27:49 – 31:53]

• Chris Whittingham points out the stadium site was not the team’s original prime location dream (they wanted a waterfront, got the airport). The Moss family’s business strategy includes expanding into entertainment to shore up revenue post-Messi.
• Dan considers the legacy of Beckham’s project—what its next phase will be once star power fades (“Is this going to be one night or is it going to be 10 years?” — Dan, [30:16]).
• Mike Ryan assures that Miami will remain a soccer city and that the team will find new stars, spinning the airport site as potentially superior to previous options.

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6. University of Miami Football: “The U Is Back”

[32:40 – 44:09]

• The UM football revival gets dissected: Mario Cristobal’s leadership, recruiting acumen, transfer portal success, and new local stars (Malachi Tony is highlighted for his magnetism with recruits and fans).
• Mike Ryan raves about the team’s upgraded talent, especially at key positions (QB, WR, OL), and their offensive outlook ([34:18 – 35:49]).
• The pressure of expectations is discussed; whether “The U” can sustain its return to elite status.
• Debate whether the hardest part was resurrecting the program or whether sustaining and winning titles is tougher.
  • Notable Quotes:

    “The hard part is getting the first round picks to choose your school. Once you prove you can do that, everyone wants to get to the money like that.” — Dan Le Batard ([38:29])
    “You now expect UM to win the conference. You now expect UM to play a playoff game.” — Dan Le Batard ([42:05])

• The section concludes highlighting how, at long last, Miami’s team visually and physically matches the nation’s best.

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “He’s a man of process. This is a man of words. This is a man, man of dignity…”
  — Tony’s Supporter ([02:00])

• “You don’t ask Julia Child to take a soufflé out of the oven before it’s done. You just don’t do that.”
  — Chris Whittingham ([03:53])

• “Miami’s infrastructure is going to get to this game and we’re going to have a functioning new new stadium. Brand new stadium. Brand new.”
  — Dan Le Batard ([11:17])

• “Attendance is a huge part of the business plan in MLS.”
  — Mike Ryan ([20:31])

• “The hard part is getting the first round picks to choose your school. Once you prove you can do that, everyone wants to get to the money like that.”
  — Dan Le Batard ([38:29])

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Important Segments & Timestamps

• [01:15 – 05:04] – Dan and Greg’s Catchphrase List drama and the “man of process” theme.
• [05:11 – 08:55] – Whittingham’s wedding: social tensions and Miami narcissism jokes.
• [08:58 – 16:31] – Inter Miami’s stadium: completion, branding, and Miami’s construction chaos.
• [20:14 – 25:51] – Stadium attendance vs. TV/streaming revenue debate, especially in MLS context.
• [27:49 – 31:53] – Stadium business model, legacy planning for Inter Miami post-Messi.
• [32:40 – 44:09] – UM football: recruiting, expectations, the Cristobal era “the U is back.”

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Episode Tone

Conversational, self-aware, heavy on South Florida in-jokes and ribbing. The group amplifies each other’s quirks while dissecting sports business and fan culture genuinely but with consistent irreverence and wit.

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Summary for New Listeners

If you missed the episode, you’ll catch up on:

• The running gag of Greg Cody’s catchphrase “process” and the show’s meta-showmanship.
• Why Inter Miami’s stadium is called “New New Stadium” and the logistical headaches (and humor) facing South Florida fans.
• The business of American sports: how TV and streaming revenue are changing the in-stadium experience, especially for soccer.
• The University of Miami football renaissance, the influence of new coaching leadership, and the building excitement (and pressure) for sustained success.

No matter your familiarity with Miami’s sports scene or the show’s inside jokes, you’ll leave with a sense of the personalities, passions, and peculiarities that make the Dan Le Batard Show a unique voice in sports media.

Transcript

[Mike Ryan]

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[Greg Cody]

K Pop Demon Hunters, Haja Boys Breakfast meal and Hunt Trick's meal have just dropped at McDonald's. They're calling this a battle for the fans. What do you say to that, Rumi? It's not a battle. So glad the Saja boys could take breakfast and give our meal the rest of the day.

[Stugats]

It is an honor to share.

[Greg Cody]

No, it's our honor.

[Stugats]

Larger honor.

[Chris Whittingham]

No, really, stop.

[Greg Cody]

You can really feel the respect in this battle. Pick a meal to pick a side

[Stugats]

and participate in McDonald's while supplies last.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm dismayed by where my relationship is longtime relationship is with Greg Cody on this show and otherwise. Did any of you guys hear the conversation that Greg and I were having moments ago about his list of catchphrases? Was anyone close enough to listen to what was happening there?

[Tony]

I listened and it made me feel really uncomfortable.

[Dan LeBatard]

Did it make you feel bad for me that I'm sitting there begging Greg Cody to share his 24th catchphrase on our show and embargo his 23rd for his show because we have a killer thing that works with him where we can go through all his catchphrases and just have one more. Tony, why are you shaking your head?

[Tony's Supporter]

Because that's not how this works, Dan. Okay? This is a man of process. This is a man of words. This is a man, man of dignity. And you're going to ask him to go for go his own stuff to just get your little fix. It is no, sir. Absolutely not.

[Tony]

It's a classic Dan move of like, that's awesome. Let's do more of that. But then what would we do next week? Because then there would be no anything to update.

[Mike Ryan]

I think you need to just acknowledge this was a great idea by the Greg Cody show featuring Greg Cody, thank you.

[Chris Whittingham]

They get me.

[Mike Ryan]

I was setting them up, but whatever. And you just have to promote that, get the rundown when we get it and not force it onto your show. Because straight up, Dan, you want to steal this, you're trying to steal it for our show. And I get it. It's good, it's good. But you can't jump ahead of the podcast that invented it. You got to wait for that to play out.

[Tony]

How much would you pay my dad to do number one on this show?

[Dan LeBatard]

No, I don't want number one. I don't.

[Mike Ryan]

He's been doing number two for 15 years.

[Dan LeBatard]

I acknowledged yesterday that I was wrong out how great a bit that was. And I called him after the show

[Greg's Friend]

yesterday to laugh about the fact that he has successfully executed what is going

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

to be a months long joke. But the conversation. If you'd heard me begging him for

[Greg's Friend]

number 24 just so that I can make him read quickly the other 26

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

beforehand, what you would have heard is

[Greg's Friend]

him say, but I don't know what number 24 is yet. Like part of the whole thing that is that it's spot. Well, that's the argument. The argument wasn't that he wanted it for his own show. It was that, no, this needs to be spontaneous. I'm like, you really don't know what the last 24 are, do you?

[Mike Ryan]

I don't recall a top whatever type of list that is. Spontaneity. Usually thought goes into these things.

[Chris Whittingham]

Well, that's the beauty of it though. And Tony used the word process. He gets it, he understands. And you ask me to provide number 24 right now, it's like asking Julia Child to take a souffle out of the oven before it's done. You don't do that. You just don't do it.

[Dan LeBatard]

I don't think people appreciate it enough yesterday that Greg Cody, after summoning Casey at the bat as the most famous baseball thing ever written in 1888, he then went to the original prank show and had the perfect show host name, Alan Funt to rhyme with punt.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yes, Funt.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

You don't have a lot of options

[Greg's Friend]

throughout history that will allow you to

[Dan LeBatard]

find, other than Helen Hunt, something that rhymes with punt.

[Greg's Friend]

Funt.

[Chris Whittingham]

There aren't many.

[Greg's Friend]

Funt is.

[Mike Ryan]

I already forgot yesterday's. What were yesterday's?

[Chris Whittingham]

The others, they all learn from me.

[Mike Ryan]

Oh, and there's like, don't go showering.

[Chris Whittingham]

Try to please me.

[Don LeBatard]

This is the Dan Levatar show with the Stugats podcast.

[Dan LeBatard]

Chris. If not for defending champion Mls Champion Inter Miami, perhaps for the World Cup. Soccer is back, Jack. Soccer is back, Jack, because we have to get ramped up for soccer here. The world is coming to town and coming to the United States, and it's going to be a giant event. And we have the defending MLS champions here. Whittingham. I've been trying to reach Whittingham. Let me do this here.

[Mike Ryan]

Chris Whittingham is a fancy lad.

[Dan LeBatard]

My wife has been calling him Whittingham because he's engaged. How many of us are going to end up going to that wedding? Because I don't believe a group of us have been to a wedding in a really long time. So I would assume that this. This wedding would get a contingency from here.

[Mike Ryan]

This is so classic Dan.

[Tony]

I mean, two season situation. He thinks everyone's getting invited.

[Mike Ryan]

You don't do that, dude. You don't do that. You. You don't reveal it. I know it's on, like, his IG or whatever, but you just let people like Greg Cody, you have a shining monument right next to. Well, not shining. You have a monument right next to you as to why you don't do the things that you did right now. It's like you're talking to a bunch of people right now in this other studio. Odds are. And I don't know, but odds are maybe not everybody's invited. You're going to make some people feel like some.

[Tony's Supporter]

I won't be invited. But that's cool. Blessings to him.

[Tony]

Now, did he text me asking me for my address? Yes, but that's fine.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Once you go on IG with this announcement. You can't be bringing that on me and complaining about me.

[Mike Ryan]

All right, let's focus on the second part. Assuming everybody's invited to the wedding.

[Tony]

Yeah, Now I'm invited, but everyone else might not be.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah, as soon as you said that, I. I was thinking to myself, geez, I don't really assume I'm gonna be invited.

[Stugats]

No, you won't be.

[Chris Whittingham]

Okay. Thank you for that.

[Dan LeBatard]

What is the last wedding that the show went to as a group? Because it was mine.

[Mike Ryan]

Was.

[Dan LeBatard]

I was the last one to have

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

a group of people from here together in a place.

[Tony]

Yeah. When I juggled for Dan Patrick.

[Tony's Supporter]

Hit him in the nuts with an orange.

[Dan LeBatard]

Hit him in the nuts with an orange.

[Mike Ryan]

It was pre Covid. No matter what. It was pre Covid. But to answer your question, it won't be this one, because not everybody's invited.

[Roy]

My.

[Tony]

My dad and I holding court with Pat Riley.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

That was A good night.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah, big night. You don't think I'll be invited, huh? To wedding. Wedding. No.

[Tony]

This is awkward. So see what you've done, Dan?

[Chris Whittingham]

I ran into him at a Mexican restaurant a few weeks ago, and we had a buffo reunion. Like, we hugged.

[Tony]

You mentioned how happy he was to see you.

[Chris Whittingham]

He. If he wasn't, he faked it.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

It's just a funny way.

[Tony]

Tell someone else about seeing someone.

[Greg's Friend]

That is fun. That is your dad.

[Tony]

It wasn't so happy.

[Greg's Friend]

Your dad's narcissism is so much so. So profound that all of us would say it was nice to see someone else. The way he frames it is. He was really happy to see me.

[Chris Whittingham]

I mean, he was. I don't lie. You weren't.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

But usually you would say, I'm really

[Greg's Friend]

happy to see him. I was really happy to see him as the way anybody else in the world would say that.

[Chris Whittingham]

Well, I don't know about that.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

I mean, anybody in the world who just ran into Chris Whittingham and they

[Greg's Friend]

reunited and both of them were happy because I'm assum. Both of you were happy. The way that they would frame that is. I was so happy to see him. Not. He was so happy to see me.

[Chris Whittingham]

He initiated the happiness, huh? Still leaned in for the hug.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yep.

[Chris Whittingham]

He initiated the reunion. I did a double take because he's with his family. I don't know his family. Who are these people? He's. You know, I think mom and dad.

[Greg's Friend]

They're invited to the wedding.

[Dan LeBatard]

People were invited to the wedding.

[Chris Whittingham]

Were there. They were all going to the wedding. But he didn't ask for my address, so I assume I'm not going. Witty, if you're listening, no hard feelings. It was good of you to see

[Dan LeBatard]

me that night and be happy to see him.

[Chris Whittingham]

Right. I appreciate that.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

I mean, do you know the name of the corporate sponsor on Inter Miami

[Dan LeBatard]

stadium that they have.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

They have rushed, and I don't. I have to salute them because I did not think in Miami something could be built anywhere, never mind there, next to the airport, in time for a season.

[Mike]

That was my question. Because that bridge still isn't finished. And as long as I've been coming to Miami, they've been working on that bridge. And this stadium, I feel like it went up, like, in the span of a few months.

[Dan LeBatard]

David Sampson does any number of crazy, willful things. You know, running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. He has had no greater achievement in his professional life than building a stadium

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

in this town on time.

[Dan LeBatard]

And on budget.

[Mike Ryan]

You wanted to know the name of Inter Miami's new stadium.

[Dan LeBatard]

I wanted to know if a meeting knew it.

[Mike Ryan]

New stadium?

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

I didn't say that. I said if.

[Dan LeBatard]

I asked if he knew the new corporate name for the place where Inter Miami is playing. I did not say the new stadium. I asked for the corporate name.

[Mike]

You're asking me for the corporate name of the new stadium?

[Mike Ryan]

You're asking for the new stadium.

[Dan LeBatard]

I did not ask for the new stadium. I asked for the corporate name of the place where Inter Miami is playing. Do you know it?

[Mike]

The old one. I know the new one.

[Mike Ryan]

New stadium.

[Tony]

Tell me the name.

[Chris Whittingham]

The new stadium.

[Mike Ryan]

The new stadium.

[Chris Whittingham]

It's new, right?

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah. Yeah, it's new.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

So I take it you did New. New.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Hold on.

[Mike]

You're asking. You're asking for. For the. For the brand name? You want the brand new stadium?

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah.

[Mike Ryan]

Well, the reason I'm asking for the new city.

[Tony]

Someone tell me.

[Dan LeBatard]

The reason I'm asking is because of

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

the wonderful double redundancies here.

[Dan LeBatard]

Because it's not just that. It's new. New stadium. And everyone who says it is going to sound like they're stutter. It's also brand new. Brand new stadium.

[Mike]

That's right.

[Dan LeBatard]

Because the brand is new.

[Mike]

What's a new brand?

[Dan LeBatard]

It's new.

[Tony]

It's young.

[Dan LeBatard]

The brand is new. And you.

[Chris Whittingham]

Mm.

[Mike]

And I what?

[Dan LeBatard]

You didn't know? You didn't knew. I got the impression that you didn't knew.

[Chris Whittingham]

He knew.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

You could call it brand new.

[Dan LeBatard]

Brand new stadium. And you can call it new. New stadium. I can't believe they got it built like. I really can't.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

You have to understand. We sent Zaslow out the other day in a driverless car and he went

[Dan LeBatard]

in circles until he ran into a traffic light. That didn't work. Because Miami. It's always something like that in Miami. Tony is right when he says they

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

have screwed up our traffic in and out of the beach here for many years because they're building an arch. No one needs to hold up a bridge that will needed when all of South Florida is underwater. But they've been building this for so long. It should be easier to build this than it is a stadium near the airport. But you guys are as surprised as I am that Miami's infrastructure is going to get to this game and we're going to have a functioning new new stadium. Brand new stadium. Brand new.

[Chris Whittingham]

I don't know.

[Mike Ryan]

I don't know if Miami is going to be able to get to the stadium. Because this was a very aggressive timeline. I'm not surprised that they got it done, because we were asking the same exact questions with the Drive Pink, formerly known as Drive Pink Stadium up in Fort Lauderdale. And that thing went up in like, what seemed like seven months. And I'm done doubting the Moss family when it comes to anything. But one thing is very clear. While the stadium looks ready to go now, finally all the seats are installed. It wasn't that long ago that there were no seats installed. Honestly, it was a matter of weeks. The area surrounding the stadium is not quite ready for showtime, and the messaging is already getting out there. Please take public transportation. There is a Metro Rail stop that takes you to the airport that isn't too far away from where the stadium is. But the signs are there that this is going to be a bit of a cluster bleep, at least for match day one. But the day is finally here.

[Chris Whittingham]

But it's a reach to say that they finished the stadium before the season

[Mike Ryan]

because, well, yeah, the season's like two months old already.

[Mike]

Right?

[Mike Ryan]

But. And it's also a reach to say that they finished the entire stadium project because it is an act of construction.

[Dan LeBatard]

The part that I'm surprised by is they are going to house Messi. Like that's going to happen. Messi's going to play in a game in Miami, a new, new stadium, and they're going to have achieved this on time.

[Chris Whittingham]

Lionel Messi, ITALIAN

[Dan LeBatard]

the parts of this that Mike has right is for those of you who do not know this area before we put that stadium there between 3pm and 7pm that's the worst place in South Florida to be for traffic.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

The worst there. There is none worse than that. I'll give you some i95 as a competitor, but around the airport between 3 and 7, I don't go anywhere and have not gone anywhere for two years

[Dan LeBatard]

because I know I'm going to get

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

caught in two hours of traffic.

[Dan LeBatard]

This is before you put a soccer

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

cluster BLEEP doesn't begin to describe what's about to happen here. And while you can say you're done doubting the Moss family, unless they're bringing everyone in by helicopter, that's going to be a nightmare. No one's going to get to that stadium on time.

[Tony's Supporter]

Well, sure, it's going to be a nightmare logistically, but for the fact that them putting up an entire stadium and what felt like kind of like a blink of an eye, that just talks about their power in building and construction, which they have a massive construction company which is where they made all their money. And we're talking about the arch, which is, you know, city of Miami, the Miami Dade Council and like, stuff that's going there that's probably not as fast and not as limber as the Moss family.

[Mike]

Great at construction, not great at construction sites.

[Dan LeBatard]

Am I saying anything that's incorrect here?

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

And, and I know we've been talking for a while.

[Dan LeBatard]

Your customer stadium experience doesn't matter anymore.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Like, most of these places don't care whether or not you show up to the game. Soccer not yet there in America, but among our big sports, whether you go or not, they've got their TV dollars and the customer matters less. The people who are going to this game physically will not enjoy the getting

[Dan LeBatard]

there because it's got.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Mike, you love this team. You know, this is a special night. These are defending champions. You used to have season tickets until you got gouged out on price. Will you go and if you were to get tickets with the thing that kept you from going, only be that it's going to take three hours for you to get there.

[Mike Ryan]

It used to take me three hours to get there before. So this is a tremendous upgrade. And I can take, and I can take the Metro Rail there and I intend to. When I do go to the stadium, I don't have tickets to opening day on Saturday. Those tickets tend to find me a little bit. But if you want to go check out the new stadium, the second match is available for like a pretty fair price. And I think that no matter what. And yeah, I get the worries about it being next to the airport. Thankfully, MLS games aren't during like peak travel times. They'll figure it out just like they had to figure it out at the drive Pink because that was a mess. Getting to park at the stadium because it was their first time doing that kind of thing. I imagine this will be a mess getting in and out of that stadium, at least for the first couple of weeks. But then it'll find its groove.

[Roy]

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[Mike Ryan]

hey, Roy, buddy.

[Roy]

Yo.

[Mike Ryan]

You know that energy shift when the game gets good and everybody all together in unison knows to stand up on their feet?

[Roy]

Oh, absolutely, Mike.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah.

[Mike Ryan]

You've been at many big time sporting events. You know that moment quite well. That's what it's like when you take your first sip of Cuervo.

[Roy]

Oh, delicious.

[Mike Ryan]

It's the signal that says, we're not checking the time anymore, pal. It's when small talk turns into stories. Cuervo, man. It's that high five. A random stranger effect. That's right. The game is popping. You're hugging people you never met before. That's the kind of energy that Cuervo brings. It's so smooth, so delicious. That's the Cuervo effect. Keep it Cuervo.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Folks, listen up.

[Tony]

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[Stugats]

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[Don LeBatard]

Don LeBatard what do I got here?

[Chris Whittingham]

I got a Magnum condom. We won't get that out.

[Greg's Friend]

That's shocking.

[Chris Whittingham]

St Here's a picture of Christopher when he was like three years old.

[Greg's Friend]

Right next to the condo.

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah.

[Don LeBatard]

Never forget, this is the Dan lebatar show with the St.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah, I'm. I'm going Saturday and not looking forward to the traffic.

[Tony]

A little nervous about that.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

I mean, Saturday will be fine.

[Greg's Friend]

It's not rush.

[Tony]

About the infrastructure, guys.

[Mike Ryan]

This is. This is the Miami market. It's inner Miami.

[Roy]

We'll be okay.

[Mike Ryan]

The. The previous stadium where this pro team, this MLS champion played at was 15 minutes away from Boca Raton. This is huge to have it this close. And. Yeah. Will it be annoying getting in and out? Yeah. Not nearly as annoying as driving up to Lockhart Stadium.

[Mike]

So, Dan, you said something that I gotta push back on. The stadium experience doesn't matter. And I would say no, it does matter because that's the stuff you don't have to share. Right? You share the revenues, obviously, on the national TV deals. You share the revenues on your local TV deals. That doesn't apply in MLS because it's all through Apple tv.

[Mike Ryan]

And it should be noted that attendance is a huge part of the business plan in mls. They don't have this big booming. We don't know all the particulars of their deal with Apple, but the business model is get people into the stadiums. That was one thing that MLS was really good at. While their TV reach wasn't anything to be impressed by, their stadium capacity, their ability to actually reach die hard soccer fans in this country was always superlative.

[Mike]

But even in the major four sports, attendance is still a huge lifeline.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Right.

[Mike]

One of the parts about the move to shorten an NBA schedule, the big obstacle is because owners don't want to give up those home dates. Because if you look at it, there's a way to do it where the national TV people don't lose any games. You can have the same number of national TV games, which means same amount of inventory, same amount of rights, deals, money. But the local deal is the one that will get the haircut. That's not the part where people are saying no or the owners would say no. They say no because, hey, that's concessions, that's parking. That's how many million dollars they generate every single home game. It's still a huge lifeline for all the major sports.

[Dan LeBatard]

I think you're using outdated information here. This is not my opinion, though I presented it as mine. I have heard Sampson and Skipper talk about what, what business people are doing with these streaming dollars on the sporting class.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

And they say that the customer is

[Dan LeBatard]

reduced here who goes to the stadium

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

because of how much money is involved

[Dan LeBatard]

with the high end, that the.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

The ticket price on this Stuff is not as valuable as the multiples they're getting because they've gotten an entirely. They've gotten all these new streams because all of these owners, when you talk about daily attendance on these games, it pales compared to the five. And each of these is going to get when. When you get one expansion team where they get to share all the money of the $10 billion in expansion money. The dollars are so crazy with television that even your overinflated ticket prices are worth less than they've ever been in the mind of the people who are running these games.

[Mike]

They're not worth as much as the dollar, the streaming dollars of TV rights deals, but they're still worth something. You're making it into an absolutism like, oh, because we have this money, I'm

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

doing it because of the pandemic and how it is they were able to do sports without us in the stadiums.

[Mike]

That's not how it's happening. Right. Like you, you are conflating, hey, this isn't quite as big a deal as it once was with, it's nothing. I don't need it at all. And that's not the case. There's not, Dan. If you look across every single major sport, two things are true. Number one, average ticket prices are higher than they've ever been. Number two, the customer experience is way more extravagant than it's ever been. You can't tell me even 10 years ago the things that we see as common in all these stadiums across the country were common 10 years ago. It's not true. The existence of the TV rights money and whatever streaming money, whatever you want to call that does not devalue the in game experience. Otherwise, we would do what a G league did about 20 years ago, which is, hey, we're gonna have like 100 seats. We're going to sell the 100 seats for an extraordinary luxurious experience at a high dollar amount. And we don't care about having it in crowd. In arena crowd experience. That's not happening in any of the sports. And so Sampson and Skipper can say that because, yes, this thing is getting bigger. But it's like saying, hey, now that I have $500, I don't care about this $100 bill.

[Mike Ryan]

Regardless, it doesn't apply to MLS because MLS is still a very young league that is very dependent on people who are at going through those turnstiles when

[Dan LeBatard]

you say we're not there. And you're right, I shouldn't be absolute about these things. It's not that the customer doesn't matter at all. It's that the, the customer matters a lot less. And while you're saying that they're improving the in house experience and Mike, you're also right, and I mentioned that in the, in the preface to it when I said soccer is different than our four major sports. When Skipper talks about the super bowl being on pay per view, all of this stuff within the next five years, we're headed there. And you're feeling it now the way that the customer gets reduced to, hey,

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

you realize that we just need the television dollars and your eyes and your interest. We don't need you necessarily buying our hot dog anymore. We'll charge you the $50 for parking. We're going to keep making it so that your experience at home with sports is better than your experience at the stadium.

[Mike Ryan]

I don't think it's too hard to connect these conversations. What I trying to say is when you look up super bowl tickets, they're $20,000. Like the ticket prices are increasing and there is a premium now put on luxury experience, hospitality experience across all major sports because they're trying to get the big money in there. The, the in fan, the in arena experience for all the majors has certainly been accentuated recently with all these new stadiums.

[Dan LeBatard]

I guess what I'm saying to you is when I say again for now, what do you think the beginning of that looks like? Like if not for we're presently living it.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Like if whatever it is you're fearing here. Because yes, once, yes, the super bowl ticket is absolutely that expensive. Wait till I put it on pay per view and they can get those dollars and see what happens to the ticket price when no one wants to sit at the stadium anymore because it's what's happening with the television dollars. You can't have all these other oil wells where the companies of the future, Amazon, Netflix, everyone else is competing for your eyeballs as we're sitting there watching NFL on Sunday at home because it's more fun to watch it at home

[Dan LeBatard]

because getting to the stadium is a

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

pain in the ass. I'm talking about Mike, when it comes to you and your relationship with Inter Miami and you said public transportation, you are using public transportation in Miami. A whole hell of a lot of people are not. If I had to make it a three hour drive for you, all of a sudden your interest in going to the game of the defending champions would be less, I would assume.

[Mike Ryan]

I mean, I went for several seasons and I made that drive once every couple of weeks to watch Inter Miami. Play and ultimately I got priced down and I decided to like refocus some of those funds to the University of Miami. But now that they're playing closer, it's something that I'll look at again. I want to be able to take my daughter to a soccer game down here. I think the MLS product is enjoyable for what it was, a prefab stadium, but for what it was. The Moss family in Inter Miami tried to make the hospitality areas something that was impressive, certainly impressive for mls, I think, since this is a permanent structure. I haven't toured the stadium or seen what it's like, but I think that they're putting a lot of effort into that because this is a David Beckham owned team. They like their VIPs. It's a big part of this whole brand. So I imagine it's going to be impressive. It's going to be covered, it's going to be a cool place to watch a game. It's soccer specific. I'm excited to have a permanent structure in which our champion MLS team can be playing in and I'm very excited to not be driving 10 minutes outside of Boca Raton for it.

[Chris Whittingham]

This was not a dream location for them. I think that should be pointed out like eight years ago when David Beckham stood over here at the Perez Art Museum introducing this whole thing and the whole dream. They envisioned a waterfront stadium across the causeway near the port, near off Biscayne Bay waterfront. They didn't get that, so they built the stadium where they are. But the, the Moss family, they're expert moneymakers and they're brilliantly taking advantage of what could be the last year of the Messi era. That's why they rushed to get this stadium built, because they have to grow a fan base. I think the franchise is probably terrified, and rightly so, that when Messi is no longer in uniform, interest in the franchise may go down. And one other thing I would point out is that Inter Miami recently and fairly quietly, I don't know how much publicity this got, they started an entertainment wing, an entertainment arm of the whole business operation. They've already booked major concerts for that stadium. They plan to be a year round magnet for crowds. So they know what they're doing in terms of making money.

[Dan LeBatard]

When you say that though, and I don't want to worry about 10 years from now, because 10 years from now it's very unlikely any of this is going to mushroom cloud into what it is we'd all like it to mushroom cloud into. You lose Messi. He signed for Much longer than next year, but because they just, they just re signed him. But what Greg Cody is saying this, this part is really interesting to me. The history of this, what they envisioned versus what they got. David Beckham strides in international soccer. International icon Miami, glamour and glitz. And I say to him, eight years ago, best case scenario for this. What's the best case in eight years? He's like, there's no way it's the best player in the world is defending champions and we've got a new stadium. Where's it going to be by the airport?

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Like, whatever David Beckham imagined here was not in. It was not in Boca, it was not in Fort Lauderdale. It was not by the airport. He imagined something glitzy and waterfront because they've delivered on all the things you would need to have the monster event thing that you would want to have going into the stadium. You have the defending champions, you have the best player in the world, you have an event town, and you have a new stadium in the center of an event town. Is this going to be one night or is it going to be 10 years?

[Dan LeBatard]

Because is it going to be one

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

season or are they playing for the next 10 years? Because that stadium is going to be there long after Messi's gone.

[Mike Ryan]

Look, they were. They were an expansion team and they had good attendance before Messi. I know you could say, well, that's expansion year excitement, but also it's very far from the customer base they were trying to reach. So I think soccer is always going to have a home down here in Miami. I think there's always going to be people interested in going to see professional soccer. And while Messi is not going to be in that shirt forever, built into the business plan is going out and get somebody that's marketable that can wear that shirt. It's one of the bigger brands already in the Americas. And while if you ask David Beckham what is this going to look like in eight years, he would have been wrong because it took 10 years. But, yeah, he wanted Waterfront initially. But I drive by the parcel of land in Overtown in which they were supposed to capitulate and play at, and the airport's way better than that plot of land. So I think they actually spun this into quite a win.

[Mike]

Can I be me maximum here and ask is this going to affect me getting to the airport?

[Mike Ryan]

I think if you're trying to leave on match day, the first match day, they're probably not going to have all that stuff worked out just the same way that they did and have it worked out at the formerly known Drive Pink. It takes a couple of weeks for that infrastructure and those logistics teams to get a good read on that, to get a read on traffic flows. But I do think ultimately, not that it's going to be super seamless because it is a part of an airport, but it's not the only stadium that's near an airport. If anything, the airport infrastructure could be spun to actually helping this stadium if done right. I imagine with time, it won't be nearly as bad as match day one will be.

[Dan LeBatard]

Saturday helps. They're fortunate that it's not a weekday night game because that's going to be a problem.

[Mike Ryan]

Those really don't exist in MLS unless you're in CONCACAF Champions Cup. Usually most of the games are on weekends, avoiding peak travel times.

[Don LeBatard]

Don Libertard, he has been great.

[Chris Whittingham]

He's made great hires.

[Mike Ryan]

I said all.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

We've said all.

[Roy]

He said all

[Dan LeBatard]

the first time I

[Don LeBatard]

heard any of this.

[Greg's Friend]

Greg, everything you're saying, it's all been said.

[Chris Whittingham]

Okay? You gotta understand one thing stugats me maximum.

[Don LeBatard]

That's right.

[Chris Whittingham]

I say it, it hasn't been said. Okay? Understand that. Until I say it, it hasn't been said.

[Don LeBatard]

This is the Dan lebatar show with the two Gods.

[Dan LeBatard]

The other investment in business and sports that hummed back to life this week was the University of Miami football team. Because these are two interesting things trying to. To get the foothold in this town that the Marlins never have, even with two champions. Right? Because when Mike says where you put things like the, the customer base that inter Miami is going to be drawing from. The University of Miami is the closest thing we've ever had down here to a professional team that's not a professional team. Until recently, they were bigger than the entirety of the Panthers. Everything going on, five championships. University of Miami football. Mario Cristobal, it can be said now like he is. The conversation has ended about is the you back?

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

That's over.

[Dan LeBatard]

It was boring old for 20 years.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

It was everybody who said yes was wrong for 20 years. But is the you back?

[Dan LeBatard]

Yes, obviously, like that's been answered.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

And now is Mike Ryan, is Greg Cody. Are you mentor members?

[Dan LeBatard]

Like, because they now have.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

They have now a quarterback that to me, when I watched him play is in the mold of the things you look for in Carson, back in Cam Ward. Wait, I'm dropping someone in right now who's like very close to being a professional and I'm letting him run my professional team the way that a quarterback has to Run a professional team when he's a veteran, when he's poised, when he's somebody who's played big games, even if they're at Duke. This is you. What did you see at spring practice?

[Mike Ryan]

I saw the guy that I saw on film who's really good at rolling out and throwing a pro throw to the sidelines very accurately. That's what I wanted to see in person. That's what I saw. I think he'll have the best offensive line and the best wide receiver room he's ever had. I mean, they took Duke's leading receiver and they added him to this room. And last year we were really worried about the receivers and that depth got tested, especially when Daniels went down. The receiver room is really impressive here. Mensah is exactly who I thought he would be. Jackson Cantwell is a freak. Now, I don't think that the offensive line is going to be the same or as good as last year's, but it's still going to be the best that Mensah's ever had. And I think the coolest part is seeing the community take to Malachi Tony. Malachi Toney and Cam Ward. He was the number one pick, but he came in from Wazoo. He didn't have this fanfare. This is the biggest star that I've seen at Green Tree in my adult life. The way that kids look at Malachi Tony, the way that high school recruits that are maybe two years younger look at Malachi Toney, like there's something there. He's tapped into something with this community. Because if you're familiar with his story, this guy's been a local football legend for, like, eight years. People have been talking and whispering about Baby Jesus and sharing highlights of Baby Jesus. He's a prodigal son, right. And he believed in this process the way that Jeremiah Smith did it. And to see people whip out their phones and quiet, shush people when Malachi Tony has this presence around them. That's the type of energy that I haven't seen at Green Tree in a very long time.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah, they may have to pay to keep them, I'm imagining. But Mario Cristobal is.

[Dan LeBatard]

They already did. They did.

[Mike Ryan]

Can confirm reports.

[Chris Whittingham]

Malachi, he's a great recruiter, obviously, and he's owned the Portal with three excellent quarterbacks in a row. He owns the Portal. But Everybody forgets in 2017, I think it was Mark Richt had the number two ranked team in the.

[Dan LeBatard]

No, they were.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

They were number one.

[Chris Whittingham]

So my point is the U is back UNQUESTIONABLY but now it's about sustainability. Now it's about not having the three

[Dan LeBatard]

losses that wasn't this. Okay?

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

They were number two, and if they'd

[Dan LeBatard]

beaten Pitt, they would have been number one. And they lost against Pitt. But we all knew that Stephen Morris and all of that was bandages and nonsense. That's not what we're talking about now, right?

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

For first round picks. For first round picks.

[Chris Whittingham]

First of all, yeah, that's debatable. It'll probably be three.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Okay, but still, when. When's the last time? When's the last time they had a couple of those on the same team, never mind the same pass rush.

[Greg's Friend]

The.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

The thing about the formula, to me that is impenetrable is they're now dropping seasoned quarterbacks who want to play into the professional cauldron of. Do you want to get better? It's better for you here than it was at Duke. Duke's actually won the conference and we actually haven't. Doesn't matter. We're the place where the first round picks go. We're the place that's going to get you to the pros. We're the place that the quarterbacks want to be. You want to know why? Because we got a number one pick in Cam Ward. Because Carson Beck has just flown up the draft here. When we. We watched him play big games for four years, the last of them at Miami, they just got a quarterback that they're. They know is good, even though we don't know how much the surrounding talent around him was good at Duke. We know now when Malachi, Tony is your number one receiver, but you get to go and steal the guy who's got chemistry to make him your number two. Like the guy he's got chemistry with,

[Greg's Friend]

he played with all of last year.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

You're just dropping him into a receiver's room that didn't really have a number two last year.

[Chris Whittingham]

Everything you say is undeniable and nobody's arguing about it. My point is right now they're dealing with expectations moving forward that they haven't dealt with for a quarter of a century. They have to win now. The expectation is torqued up. The pressure is torqued up. They're the betting favorite to win the conference ahead of smu. So now the expectation is win the ac.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's going to get easier now, though, Greg, because the hard part's done.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

The hard. The hard. No, Greg, what do you mean? Greg, what do you. What do you mean? The hard part is done. It's getting the first round picks to choose your school. Once you prove you can do that, everyone wants to get to the money like that. The problem that they had for 20 years is the first round picks weren't either being developed here or found before they were first round picks. Now it's not refutable.

[Mike Ryan]

One of your chief concerns, if I tell you last year's team, you know, national runner up, great season, they lose, I think it's going to be four first round picks. Keonte Scott's pro day was outrageous and I know people that are at the coaches meetings right now and he's certainly a buzz about name. You lose four first round picks, naturally the worry is how are we going to replace these guys? That's not my worry. When I go to practice, we got the guys to replace these guys. The problem is going to be replacing that mentality because those four first round picks were absolute psychos.

[Chris Whittingham]

Mario Kisbo would not agree with you that the hard part is done. The hard part is living up to expectations, sustaining expectations, winning a national championship. They're on the precipice. They haven't done it yet. Greg, you can't assume you're both right. You can't assume that the arc is.

[Mike Ryan]

You're both right. Mario Crystal Ball will say this is a unique challenge and trust me, he's talked to other coaches across sports how to deal with this. And look, we got 40 of these guys weren't on that team. You know, they have this expectation. But respectfully, the hard part was digging this program out of where it's been for the last 20 years.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

And you. And well, you say no doubt, but

[Dan LeBatard]

you just argued with it like that.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

You are really underestimating. Okay, Mario Cristobal comes in for four years, $90 million and everybody says what are they doing? What are they doing? They're making a $90 million down payment on. Nope. We're going to play in this every year like we're going to. You're going to know that we're going to compete for this every year. Why?

[Greg's Friend]

Why?

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Because the pros play here now. Like that is. You say what's the, what's the hard part? Winning a national championship is hard. But I can make the argument with four first round picks. You underachieved. Indiana doesn't have four of those.

[Mike Ryan]

They might have three. Like people like to do this thing with Indiana. Yes. Not as talented as Miami. Plenty of talent.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Okay, but Miami had a bunch of first round picks one year and got beat by Ohio State, who didn't have

[Dan LeBatard]

a bunch of first round picks, but

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

had like 14 players drafted. Not a bunch of first round picks, but had a bunch of pros on the field. Indiana's older. My point is that you just played against the team that had the best college resume in the history of the sport for the national championship and you now have what Lane Kiffin said Alabama had every time they walked onto the field, which is you walk onto the field and you're like, our guys are all bigger than theirs. We have like the whole thing is built on for all of the guys that we're talking about being drafted. Okay. The whole things built on. We're going to be more physical than you up front. They haven't even gotten the skill guys there yet. Cam Ward was one of them, but they haven't actually gotten the receiver room, the tight end room.

[Mike Ryan]

That's one place. That's the one hole on, on this team that I see that. And who's going to be Jacoby Thomas? Who's going to be Keonte Scott? Who's going to be Reuben Bain? Who's just an absolute psycho about winning? We'll see how that plays out during camp.

[Mike]

You're saying the one hole is in the tight end?

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Dan LeBatard]

Greg likes it. You think that digging them out of the hole they were in for 20 years, that there's something harder than that

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

because they were trying for 20 years

[Dan LeBatard]

to dig out of that hole.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

Once you get to that game and are the number two team, the leap from there isn't a very large one like you now expect. You say expectations are a different thing. You now expect that um to win the conference. You now expect um to play a playoff game.

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah, I do. And you got to live up to it.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

But do you know how different that is? But do you know how different. Do you know how hard it is to get that? Like they've gotten to that and Mike was at spring practice and. And Mike can be lightheaded about these things because he said Carson Beck looked better than Cam Ward last spring. But what did you see? Did you see an appreciable difference in what it is you're watching now versus what it is you were watching three years?

[Mike Ryan]

Yeah, over three years ago. Like I've been to practices at Green Trees since the Mark Richt era and I've been lightheaded and I've not known the way that it's supposed to look. And now, borrowing off my past experience, I think I've been pretty level headed and also pretty right about the University of Miami. It looks a certain way, the same way that it did last year. There's not a talent drop off. If anything, the talent across the board has gotten better. You hear me? It's gotten better. Despite losing four first round picks, I would say, you know, the biggest challenge for this program isn't even having success in the CFP anymore. It's winning the conference something that they haven't done. They've only gotten to Charlotte once.

[Dan LeBatard]

I've told this story before, but it's interesting to see Mike have the perspective from the other side where you're watching what, um has been for 20 years close up on the field and you're like, I don't think that looks how it needs to look. And then you see what the pros look like and you're like, oh, okay, that's what. What I missed my first time in a locker room. The guy I'm talking to is Jerome Brown. Like, the first guy I'm talking to who's a fellow student is a human being who's not a student. And that's my introduction to what this is supposed to physically look like.

[Greg Cody's Co-host]

It's taken 20 years for Mike to see the players on the field that

[Dan LeBatard]

now look like professionals, right?

[Chris Whittingham]

Yeah. Especially on both lines. You're entirely right about that. They're bigger.

[Don LeBatard]

And this is a new and unimproved Dan Levitar show with the stugats gamble on by DraftKings.