The Big Suey: The Major Animal (feat. David Samson)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Big Suey – "The Major Animal"

The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Date: April 2, 2026
Main Guests: Dan Le Batard, Stugotz, David Samson, Tony, Mike, Amin

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Episode Overview

Broadcast live from the Elser Hotel in Downtown Miami, this episode of "The Big Suey" features the usual cast (Dan, Stugotz, Tony, Mike, Amin) and a prominent guest, former Marlins president David Samson. The show dives into NBA trade talk and front office philosophy, transitions into the business of MLB and media, and climaxes with the viral "Major Animal" moment—a hilarious, self-deprecating story involving Samson, a bug, and his supposed “safari” moment in the studio. The episode is packed with sharp, humorous exchanges, strong opinions, and behind-the-scenes perspectives from Samson, balancing sports talk and media criticism with playful irreverence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

NBA Trade Season & Franchise Philosophy

[00:47 – 07:59]

• Giannis-Oriented Decision Tree & Front Office Strategy

  • Tony and Mike explore the “flowchart” logic guiding NBA teams’ roster choices, with Tony framing it as, “Do you want Giannis? If yes, you go this way. If no, you go this way” (01:34).
  • Unique Pacers Case: Pacers traded for Zubac, eschewing tanking even as injuries set their early season back. Stugotz quips, “Now they're going to get the number one pick, A.J. Dan” (02:04).
  • Debate on health, luck, and timing: “If Halberton doesn’t get hurt...they’re doing the same thing the Heat are doing right now” (02:10).

• Heat vs. Celtics/Front Office & Talent Discussion

  • Argument erupts over whether Boston’s continued dominance is due to starting with “two top-three picks who are all NBA players” (05:21, Tony), or front office superiority.
  • Stugotz and Mike stress Miami’s loyalty to roster continuity may have left them “totally maxed out.”
  • Tony rejects mythologizing Boston's rise: “They started on third base and made it home. You’re starting at home and trying to get to second” (05:21).

• Development and Asset Management

  • On, “adding assets or trading for stars,” Mike says, “If we weren’t going to add a star, why not add assets? ... That’s a question that should be asked when you’re holding this franchise accountable” (06:25).

Notable Quote:

• Amin (07:33):
  "I spoke with Eric Spoelstra yesterday...he was like, 'Look, they look at us right now like exactly what we are, and they should, because we are not to the caliber of team that they have been. And that talent disparity is obvious.'"

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Boston vs. Miami: Evolution of Two Franchises

[07:59 – 10:59]

• Amin and Dan weigh in on Heat stagnation vs. Celtics growth:
  • Dan: “Since the Derrick White tip...the Celtics have run circles around the Heat. And what you saw last night is evidence of why the Heat thing has now collapsed.”
• Dan pivots to introduce David Samson's baseball/business insight, promising chaos with Amin's ‘sensual Pat Riley’ bit.
  • Humorous diversion: Tony and Amin riff about ‘swagger,’ and Dan asks, “Are you showing your nipples to all...I’m Bat Riley?” (09:12) leading to a dissection of what “swagger and sensuality” means in sports leadership.

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Marlins Attendance, Baseball Business & Media Revenue

[10:59 – 17:45]

• Samson’s Attendance Fudging & Miami’s Narrative

  • Dan prompts Samson to explain ‘fudged’ attendance numbers:
    • Samson: “This is why. Because it’s the national conversation that there were 6,500 people at the ballpark...All you have to do is buy 4,000 $1 tickets. 4,000 bucks, we wrote the check every game” (10:59).
  • Dan: “He’s doing an accounting move just to not have the conversation about the Marlins be...how do they support baseball down there with no crowds?” (16:00)
  • Samson’s stance: “No, there’s a time to be transparent and a time to be murky. This is the time for the Marlins to be murky...” (10:59)

• Business vs. Customer Focus in Sports

  • Dan: “How long before it’s not important anymore that no fans at the game, or very few people in seats, that it won’t matter because the TV money is so large...?”
  • Samson: “You’re not neglecting customer service. You’re just figuring out where there are more customers...there’s way more money in national revenue and in streaming revenue as a percentage of your total pie than there ever has been...” (18:31)

• Future of Stadium Experience:
  Samson: “Nobody’s doing stadium deals anymore. They’re all doing real estate deals...because what happens inside the stadium...is just not enough” (24:01)

Notable Quotes:

• Samson (10:59):
  “It is shocking to me that this view of ‘let's be transparent’...Really? You want to be transparent when you got 6,500 people announced?...There’s a time to be transparent and a time to be murky.”
• Mike (16:00):
  “He’s doing an accounting move just to not have the conversation about the Marlins be again for the 30th straight year, ‘How do they support baseball down there with no crowds?’”

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The Streaming Wars: Sports Rights & Market Saturation

[24:34 – 30:00]

• Netflix, MLB, and the Streaming Gold Rush
  • Dan asks Samson for clarity: “Netflix buying into baseball at $50 million...if they can get 3 million people to their baseball product, I guess that’s a success. But I don't know the accounting here. Do you?”
    • Samson: “Their return on their baseball investment is not from the number of people who watch the game. It’s the number of people who engage with their platform and then do it on a monthly basis...There’s nothing better than recurring revenue” (25:34).
  • Debate over whether the TV/rights “gold rush” is sustainable.
    • Mike: “At a certain point, the people buying these licenses are gonna realize it's not worth the squeeze because they're providing seed money right now...”
    • Samson counters: “I think we’re not even in the middle of the end times. I think we may be in the middle of the early part...what streaming is going to look like and what consolidation will look like.” (27:20)

Notable Quote:

• Samson (25:34):
  “There is nothing better than recurring revenue. It is the dream of any business to have that.”

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Ratings, Grades, and Gripes

[30:32 – 34:11]

• Netflix Baseball Grade Debacle

  • Dan asks Samson to rate the new, criticized Netflix baseball presentation.
    • Samson refuses binary and instead scores it “86,” confusing the room (“86 also means cancel it”) (30:48).
    • Repeats: “85”—Stugotz: “That's a good grade,” Dan: “It's not a B plus.”

• Sidebar: School grading system debate.

  • “Is an 85 eternally still a B?” “Doesn't matter if it's 89. Doesn't matter if it's 80.” (32:05)

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Movie Sidetrack: "Send Help," Survivor, and Island Preparedness

[32:29 – 35:45]

• David’s Movie Review:
  • Brief review of “Send Help” and a tangent on deserted-island logic.
  • Samson: “If you’re ever on a deserted island with one other person, don’t take their word for it. Do, like, a double check.” (34:00)
• On Being on Survivor:
  • Dan (“Do you do this on purpose?” re: referencing Survivor experience), Samson reflects on how being on Survivor shapes his views on preparedness and island survival psychology.

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Baseball Game Pace – Is It Now Too Fast?

[35:59 – 37:45]

• Stugotz’s Dilemma: Games Move Too Quick
  • “I go to my seat, I look around—it’s the third inning. I take a sip of beer, it’s the sixth inning...I need it to be about four [hours]. I need it to be...345 [minutes]” (36:09)
  • Samson jokes: “If we could get every fan to say that the average crap lasts three innings...now we’re getting somewhere.” (36:25)
  • Discussion of old-school Miami parking habits and local color (“I pay the 20 bucks, no blocky.”)

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The Viral "Major Animal" Moment

[37:45 – End (~41:30)]

• Set-Up:
  Dan: “I am told, and Coca has never done this before...we have video here of you getting scared of a large animal...Were you attacked by a large animal?”
• Samson’s Blow-By-Blow:
  • Describes live show stress (“I Miyagi’d it”)—swatting at a bug while broadcasting, camera shaking, losing his train of thought.
  • Clip plays: Samson, in-show, breaks up over the “major animal,” apologetically saying, “I can’t do a show like this, Coca. There is something that is going to hit—yep, think I got him. Holy cow. Hey, we're live...” (39:49)
• Crew Roasts Samson:
  • Peal of laughter at how insignificant the “animal” was. Dan: “The bug is the smallest thing I’ve ever seen” (40:42), Stugotz: “How small...major animal” (40:08).
  • Parody: Dan imagines a “harpy eagle” flying through the apartment based on Samson’s panic.

Memorable Quotes:

• Samson (39:11):
  “I just didn’t want it to fly into my mouth. I don’t want it to fly into my eye. I know we’re live, and what I tried to do was grab it while still talking...but I nailed it.”
• Dan (40:44):
  “The bug is the smallest thing I’ve ever seen.”
• Stugotz (40:08):
  “How small David looks. A major animal!”

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Tony (01:34): “So it’s basically like a flowchart, right? You go, you step over here and you say, ‘Do you want Giannis?’...If your answer is yes...you cannot then midway through and say, ooh, I like kind of one of those options down there. It's gone. It's done.”
• Amin (07:33): “I spoke with Eric Spoelstra yesterday...he was like, ‘Look, they look at us right now like exactly what we are, and they should, because we are not to the caliber of team that they have been. And that talent disparity is obvious.’”
• David Sampson (10:59): “All you have to do is buy 4,000 $1 tickets. 4,000 bucks. We wrote the check every game...It is shocking to me that this view of 'let's be transparent'...There’s a time to be transparent and a time to be murky.”
• Mike (16:00): “He’s doing an accounting move just to not have the conversation…‘How do they support baseball down there with no crowds?’”
• David Sampson (25:34): “There is nothing better than recurring revenue. It is the dream of any business to have that. And that is what streaming services are.”
• Dan (40:44): “The bug is the smallest thing I’ve ever seen.”
• Stugotz (40:08): “How small David looks. A major animal!”

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Key Timestamps

• 00:47: Dan welcomes panel and discusses show’s unique identity; fast segue to NBA front office decision-making.
• 01:33: Tony’s “flowchart” on NBA star-chasing logic.
• 05:21: Debate: Celtics' front office or lottery luck?
• 07:33: Spoelstra’s candid assessment via Amin.
• 10:59: Samson on Marlins attendance fudging.
• 16:00: Dan breaks down the PR rationale for “murky” attendance numbers.
• 18:31: Samson on the seismic shift toward media/streaming revenue in pro sports.
• 24:01: Stadium real estate > stadium-only profit.
• 25:34: Netflix, MLB, recurring revenue and the new “success” calculation for streaming.
• 30:48: Samson’s controversial “86/B+” grade for Netflix’s baseball deal.
• 34:00: Samson’s “preparedness” lessons from Survivor.
• 35:59: Stugotz’s take: Games are now too quick!
• 37:45: Dan introduces the “Major Animal” viral clip.
• 39:49: The bug incident is played and roasted by the entire crew.

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Episode Tonality

The show is fast-paced, argumentative, self-deprecating, and gleefully unserious—anchored by Dan’s deft hosting, Stugotz's comic-relief, and the rest of the crew’s willingness to mix sports analysis with relentless sarcasm and personal jabs. David Samson provides strong insight but isn’t allowed to escape the group’s ridicule—especially for his exaggerated “major animal” bug story.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode is a perfect microcosm of “The Dan Le Batard Show” DNA: sports debate without filter, press-box knowledge, wild digressions, “insider” talk on both basketball and baseball, and a trainwreck moment of viral comedy (“major animal!”) that will live on in show lore. If you want to understand how sports business, media, and fandom blend with personality-driven banter—and laugh while learning—this is a must-listen.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Mike]

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[Tony]

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[Tony]

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[David Sampson]

Mulch offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii.

[Dan LeBatard]

Welcome to the Big Sui presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to

[Tony]

the other Dan LeBatard podcast? I'm sorry, I'm not gonna apolog.

[Dan LeBatard]

In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys.

[Ad Read Voice]

I've done it.

[Dan LeBatard]

And now here's the marching man to nowhere, Fat face and the habitual liar.

[Stugats]

I mean, to the point of the Eastern Conference. We even saw a team that was in the NBA Finals last year make a move that was kind of head scratching at the moment when the Pacers traded for Zubots. Like, there's a lot of teams that have done something, but. But if you have the goal of getting a Giannis, right, then you have to do things that serve that goal.

[Mike]

No?

[Tony]

Yeah. So it's basically like a flowchart, right? You go, you step over here and you say, I want. Do you want Giannis? If yes, you go this way. If no, you go this way. If your answer is yes and you start following down that path, you cannot then midway through and say, ooh, I like kind of one of those options down there. It's gone. It's done. For the Pacers, which, by the way, the other franchise in the NBA, the. That is staunchly on the record anti tanking. We do not tank in Indiana. That's what they say. They were forced into this hand. What happened to them this year, this

[Stugats]

great hand, by the way, because now they're going to get the number one pick, AJ Dan.

[Mike]

And then Hal's going to come out, right? Move like your competition keeps making good moves.

[Tony]

It worked out for them. They took lemons and they made lemonade. If Halberton doesn't get hurt, hell, Halliburton could get Hurt. If Pascal Siakam is. And Nemhardt and McConnell and Jackson and Naismith all don't get hurt to start the year, they're doing the same thing the Heat are doing right now, because that's how they do now. What ended up happening was those guys all started hurt. They started awful. It set their course of their flowchart in a certain way. And then when a Zubots becomes available for multiple firsts for them, they're saying, look, we're a team that when we're healthy, we really like who we got. We are a center away. Let's go for it.

[Stugats]

Which they were.

[Mike]

But it is reasonable, I mean, to say that you can understand a team that made it to the NBA Finals, made it deep in the NBA Finals against a really good OKC team, it's understandable that they would stand pat.

[Tony]

It's almost like there was a team that went to the NBA Finals and

[Mike]

talked to me about five years ago.

[Tony]

No, but five years ago, you were talking trash. You were like, oh, these guys aren't that good.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yes.

[Amin]

You were.

[Mike]

Oh, five years ago about their. Their prospects not being good enough after

[Tony]

they went to the Finals.

[Mike]

I was right about that.

[Tony]

The year after. Yeah, the year after. Okay, so Indiana's the same. In the same situation. They're in the same situation.

[David Sampson]

Right.

[Tony]

They did. Only difference is their franchise player got irrevocably hurt in the Finals, and then all of their starters got hurt to start the year.

[Stugats]

But in the season, they were selling, they bought.

[Mike]

I love that an argument started when I'm like, we don't have to argue about this team anymore. We don't like it because, like, we.

[Tony]

I'm talking to Tony. You're the one that's talking to me right now, but I'm talking to Tony. But in that situation, you decided to

[Stugats]

insert yourself where you're tanking, but you're a buyer at the deadline because nobody saw Zubots going to Indiana.

[Tony]

Sure. It happened very quickly. I talked to Jake Fisher because he reported on. It happened very quickly because it was like, hey, what's up with Zubots? And they knew that Zubots was being shot. The Raptors were actually the ones that were really hot on it. And the word from the Clippers is, if it's not multiple firsts, don't talk to us. So the Raptors said, that's a little too rich for my blood. Somewhere there's a podcast radio guy in Toronto.

[Dan LeBatard]

I can't believe they passed someone out.

[Tony]

Everyone else did stuff.

[Dan LeBatard]

Everything that's happened here is disrespectful to David Sampson. You guys continue to argue about this and you were so much better on this subject when screaming at Tony through the break. Just screaming at him, doing your own show. So much better than you were articulating what you just articulated. I wanted to hear the show you just did with Tony when you I've never seen in our show's history ever an argument go from on air to off air to. You were screaming at Tony. The argument wasn't screaming, tone.

[Stugats]

We were talking very loudly, but we were talking because there was a lot of noise and stuff. We were excited. We were excited. There was an excited tone, not an angry tone. I think Atlanta has the best prospect going forward in the Easter conference. If we want to talk to David about that.

[Dan LeBatard]

Look, the Celtics are who the Heat thought they were and everyone else in that conference is.

[Tony]

No, they're not better. Incorrect statement. Celtics had not one, but two perennial all NBA top five picks. Two top five picks, but top three picks.

[Dan LeBatard]

The Celtics and Heat were even at the top of the conference and whatever the growth has been since then has been the Boston front office leaving the heats behind. There is no no, no, no, no.

[Tony]

It's no no, no you' false kind of statements as fact. They started with two top three picks who are all NBA players. Whatever the equality was at the height of band blocking, Jason Tatum or whatever kind of poetry approach you want to use, it was still this team has talent. This team is scrappy guys who are just fighting to get there. And so you can't say, oh, the front office have made all they started on third base and made it to home. You're starting at home and trying to make it to second.

[Stugats]

Not only that, you have the top three picks that end up panning out into all NBA players. But then you have the development that is happening here in Miami. You have that same development over there in Boston with guys like Derrick White who couldn't shoot is now a three point assassin with guys like Peyton Pritchard who was not who's not going to be in the league, right? And now he leads the league in

[Dan LeBatard]

points for Damon ISO and they trade for Jrue Holiday and Porzingis and then get rid of them and all of the pieces now fit around their two pieces like that. They've made it so that they're at the top of the conference and can dominate it for a while because they've got two guys under contract.

[Mike]

That's the starting point, the awareness of the franchise to know that they weren't good enough and they made moves. They had to. And Miami got swept up in making the finals, while immediately after the finals we also argued this team totally maxed out. They're not good enough. They have to do something. They stood pat year after year and now like, hopefully we're just doing the same thing again where we're wishing that, you know, the old Pat Riley shows up and he gets the whale. What I'm arguing is, and they've shown this in the past, they've realized that they weren't good enough. They remain competitive. They did this with the Jermaine o' Neal team where they increase their flexibility to be able to chase those whales. And all I'm asking is if we weren't going to add a star, why not add assets? And I think that's a question that should be asked when you're holding this franchise accountable.

[Amin]

Two parts here. The one, oh my God, that response

[Dan LeBatard]

is going to, he's going to lose.

[Amin]

The one thing that is point in Mike's favor and becomes a part of it is like, are you adding assets? I think the Heat's view here would be the flexibility that they maintain this summer may have been more valuable than trading those pieces for second round picks and salary filler. We'll see what happens because they're trying to acquire that talent we're talking about.

[Stugats]

That's part one.

[Amin]

But when it comes to the second part, I, I spoke with Eric Spoelstre yesterday about this exact thing where the Celtics and the Heat stand and when it comes to that rivalry, like you guys might have a first round series if the Heat are one of the seven or eight seeds and end up as the seven. And he was like, look, they, they look at us right now like exactly what we are and they should because we are not to the caliber of team that they have been. And that talent disparity is obvious. And it was on display yesterday in that first quarter.

[Dan LeBatard]

Guys. The Celtics have clinched a playoff spot now for 12 consecutive seasons. They've reached the playoffs 18 of the last 19 years and 22 of the last 25. In the last quarter century, no team has played or more one more playoff to games than Boston. And since the Derrick White tip that all of that stuff, the Celtics have run circles around the Heat. And what you saw last night is evidence of why the Heat thing has now collapsed. David Sampson has been waiting patiently and I just want to get to two more things and I'd like them to be with David Sampson first. Can you play Amin earlier in the show doing sensual Pat Riley for some reason. David, just please analyze for me here what it is that is happening here when Amin goes full sensuality.

[Tony]

Here, have this. Like, get that out of my face. I'm not doing any deals. I'm Bat Riley. I like what I have. Bat Riley.

[Dan LeBatard]

What?

[David Sampson]

That's a guy who has a very good Obama, a really good one. I mean, and you're trying to sort of do what you can't do, and it comes off as just wrong. Stick to Obama. You got a couple great ones, actually. I mean, what are you doing?

[Dan LeBatard]

Explain to me what the sensuality. Are you showing your nipples to all. I'm Bat Riley. Like that. Show me this again. No, I want to know what Amin is doing here. Do you think you're giving off swagger and sensuality here?

[Tony]

I wasn't going for sensuality. I was going more for, like, look at me. I'm here. I've arrived.

[Dan LeBatard]

Bask before another. Look at me. Tell me what happened here when Mike told you to look at me, Amin. And I was made very uncomfortable by everything that happened here.

[Mike]

I mean, look at me.

[Tony]

Wait. Oh, I thought there was a video.

[Mike]

I mean, look at me.

[Tony]

Yeah, no, I was. Look, I'm always respectful, so I wasn't being respectful when I wasn't making eye contact with him.

[Mike]

I mean, look at me.

[Tony]

He closes his eyes and shakes his head and does this little look. Here I remain with eye contact. But in that moment, I wasn't. And so he was right to call me out. See that?

[David Sampson]

We're 10 minutes late, Dan. So just curiosity. Is this a me thing? If it is, just fine. But if you had a guest that you scheduled and then you just did this, I guess maybe that's why the booking people have issues. I don't know. I've been here. Been here 15 minutes.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, I'm sorry. And that's genuine. I do mean that sincerely. I do. Because the show has gotten away from me. Obviously, we rarely have an argument that's that authentic where the two people are on different sides. And I can see where Amin is calling for fairness. And I can see where Mike is, like, enough. I'm done being reasonable. Everyone's past them. Like, that's. That's not up for dispute on where the Heat are. But before you came on with us, we were excited about the Marlins. And what I wanted to ask you is, first off, did you have any thoughts on their announced attendance of 6,000, whatever it was, earlier this week? Because you were notorious about. About why you would fudge the numbers on attendance in this city.

[David Sampson]

This is why. Because it's the national conversation that there were 6,500 people at the ballpark. All you have to do is buy 4,000 $1 tickets. 4,000 bucks. We wrote the check every game. You buy 4,000, you announce 10,169 and no one says a word. It is shocking to me that this view of like, oh, let's be transparent. Really? You want to be transparent when you got 6,500 people announced? No, there's a time to be transparent and a time to be murky. This is the time for the Marlins to be murky because what we should be talking about is the fact that they got off to a 51 start against teams they should have gotten off to a 51 start again. That it puts them in a position to potentially have a season worth watching. Let's talk about Sandy Alcantara. Let's talk about Owen Cassie or Griffin Conine's bomb. It was when the game was out of reach, but so much to talk about. Instead you're talking about 6,500. They did it to themselves.

[Mike]

I don't think anyone's Talking about the 6500 everywhere, Mike.

[David Sampson]

Oh no, it's, it's, what do you mean? It's the same trope, I think conversation.

[Mike]

Well, part of the national conversation should be five and one fish, Sandy complete game shutout. They look at this lineup like they're, they're, they're like. I don't think. Okay, I guess you're, you're running more national circles than I am. I think that that's just taking low hanging fruit locally. I don't think anybody's talking about that. So maybe that's what I'm applying.

[David Sampson]

Yeah. So I'm definitely talking about nationally because nationally people watch your show and nationally that is how these type of shows are engaged. And that's our audience. And that's just by the way, baseball fans. Sports fans. How about that? I got contacted by people who aren't even baseball fans, hadn't watched the game and then commented to me about the attendance and wanted my thought like, do you have a comment about 6,500 people? And my response was I've got a comment about having one of the top five pitchers ever to wear a Marlins uniform going nine and doing a Maddox. Would you like that comment? And the answer was nah, we're more curious what your thought is on attendance in sports.

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[Mike]

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[David Sampson]

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[Tony]

Folks, listen up.

[Stugats]

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[Ad Read Voice]

the Don Lebatar show with the Stugats.

[Dan LeBatard]

Amim, can you walk me through what you make of what David is saying? Because he is taking a very easy approaches. For $4,000 a game, I buy myself out of an embarrassment. It's a price worth. It's a price worth. Murky numbers, but he's doing an accounting move just to not have the conversation about the Marlins be again for the 30th straight year. How do they support baseball down there with no crowds?

[Tony]

But that. But he's right. It goes back to kind of some of the argument I was having with Mike where he says, well, they have their PR people run to Barry Jackson and say this. I'm like, yeah, what are they supposed to do? The job of the PR department is to protect the franchise at all costs. And we're not here to be like David said, there's a time for transparency. This ain't one of the times. So we do whatever it takes to not attract the wrong kind of attention to our franchise. The team is 5 and 1. Jeremy tells me they've got a better record since some date last year, June 13, in the last hundred games. Right. Than the Dodgers do.

[Dan LeBatard]

Sampson, don't laugh at that. 100's a good sample.

[Tony]

Right. Like so.

[David Sampson]

Yes.

[Tony]

The whole point.

[David Sampson]

No, I'm laughing that Amin is trying to talk baseball. I love this.

[Tony]

Yeah, well, I think I'm succeeding also. Right. So the idea is that there are plenty of positive storylines to be put ahead and for it to be overshadowed by an attendance figure that can be easily fixed. Like David said, For four grand, hell, call it five grand. Let's go crazy. Let's say there are 11,000 people there. Let's give away the seats, whatever it is. It's so easy to obfuscate that one embarrassing part that really isn't important to the story of the team.

[Dan LeBatard]

David, I want to bring you in on something we were discussing yesterday and wanted to properly articulate your vantage point on this. We were talking about how the customer going to the games is less important to owners than it has been. And I was parroting some opinions I've heard you and Skipper espouse. But Mike and Amin were arguing with the idea that the in game experience now very luxurious catering to high end people still is important. How Long before it's not important anymore that no fans at the game or very few people in seats, that it won't matter because the TV money is so large that all of these places can play can neglect customer service because it matters less that people go to the ballparks.

[David Sampson]

Well, you're not neglecting customer service. You're just figuring out where there are more customers. And you can't do be the same and do the same for every type of customer, which is why there are different types of experiences within a stadium, whether you're in the outfield or whether you're in a luxury suite behind the plate. I think what you're referring to is that there's way more money in national revenue and in streaming revenue as a percentage of your total pie than there ever. Than there ever has been. And those numbers are increasing at a percentage, at a compounding rate. Way more than ticket prices plus food, merch, parking. All of those combined do not show the inflate inflationary aspects, as do broadcast revenue. And so that's why you're seeing a change. Look at what Skipper did with unrivaled. He made that a television studio, let in a couple thousand people and just make it a TV product to get a TV deal to get the league on its feet. The NBA right now, if you ask them, the NFL, I hate to tell you, it's the same thing. If you look at their TV deals, it's just not even close what they care about more.

[Mike]

All right, so clean this up for me, because the NBA got their money, the NFL got their money, and the NFL is trying to renegotiate. I see all sorts of news items on all these other leagues getting frustrated because the NFL is hogging all the money. There's only so much budget that people have for this. I see RSN's collapsing. It used to be a huge part of the baseball model. Now that has to evolve. I do think baseball is in pretty solid position to be able to adapt with the times they had the infrastructure. Basketball, it's going to be an issue. Certainly for hockey, it's going to be an issue. But I don't see TV money from this point on moving with that sustainable growth. I actually see the money coming down, especially when you factor RSNs into it. So wouldn't that put more importance on getting people through the turnstiles?

[David Sampson]

Now, you may be talking about the allocation of local versus national mike when it comes to baseball, but the NFL, when you say they're trying to renegotiate what they're doing is they have an opt out in their media rights deal four years from now in 2029. I guess it's three years now. We're in 26 and they have TV deals that were signed through 33, but with an opt out in 29. And they're going around to their partners and saying, hi, we're the NFL. Do me a favor. We want more money right now and if you give us more money, here's what we'll do for you. We won't opt out in 2029.

[Dan LeBatard]

No, it's not just that though, David. Because Paramount is changing ownerships now. The NFL can renegotiate with them right now. Can open up that contract right now because of that trigger of the Paramount sales clause.

[David Sampson]

Yeah, so. But it's all part of the same. They're not going to renegotiate one company at a time, Dan. They're doing it all in. They're not just talking to Netflix about taking four extra games right now or a four game package. They're trying to do everybody. It's coming out as they're negotiating with one company at a time. But no business does that. There's no exclusive period where there's going to be some sort of breakage fee. Hey, if we don't get it done with Paramount, then we'll move on to Comcast. They're doing it all at once to put the entire package together. And it's what the NBA did and they just finished doing it, which is why you saw them on 10 channels. And it's what MLB is trying to do after 2028, which is to combine everything and make it much more national. Mike. Which takes away the local side of the importance of that revenue, which you're right, it used to be so important and it's just disappeared.

[Tony]

David the problem is yesterday Dan's version of the argument was kind of adulterated to be like it doesn't matter at all. And I said they're never going to give up on the in game experience because that is revenue. Just because the streaming rights and the media deal money is growing at a larger rate to be a bigger percentage of the revenue pie does not mean that they're going to ever forego this. So what Skipper did with Unrivaled, which did forego that. Yes, but that's. The scales are completely different in terms of this. A startup league in a niche version, it's not even five on five basketball. Right. Versus these legacy things that are often being performed in buildings that the people who own the team own the building as well, or at least operate it. There's no part of this, David, where we're going to see 10 years from now, 15 years from now, like it's all on TV. That's never going to happen, right?

[David Sampson]

No, but. No but what you are going to see is where it takes on less importance. What used to be a big focus when we built Marlins park angles, where are the cameras going to be? What seats are impacted by camera placement? And we would have Cablevision or Fox and MLB come the broadcasting department. And when you're designing all that, you're thinking about obstructed seats. You don't think about that anymore. You want and need the best camera angles for abs, you need it for replay, you need it for the TV broadcast. That has taken on a far bigger importance in terms of how a game is presented. But no, you're not going to turn down revenue. But nobody's doing stadium deals anymore. They're all doing real estate deals. They're all doing deals to get revenue outside of the stadium. Because what happens inside the stadium, no matter how many Guns N Roses concerts you have, is just not enough.

[Tony]

David, do you wish you had done a bigger deal for Loan Depot that included the surrounding area and had like an entertainment complex?

[David Sampson]

Yeah, we tried. We wanted control of the garage retail, we wanted control of the ballpark retail. And the city wouldn't give it up because they thought that they had a better chance of running it and they wanted the money. And it ended up of course, not having any of the urban sprawl that we hoped to see in Little Havana. It's been, it's been 15 years already and you just haven't seen anything. And that's obviously a great disappointment.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's the opposite of urban sprawl. Just to be more respectful though, to David Sampson because we did waste his time at the beginning of this year, he is going to infiltrate and infect Pitch Clock with Jeremy Tache. His baseball knowledge is really good and we don't use it enough around here cuz we're always talking about the business stuff. So I don't know what he and Jeremy are going to cook up here later in the show, but he will get his time back with Jeremy Tache. And I offer you my sincere apologies for wasting so much of your time on the front end of this. Take me through the business of Netflix getting into baseball. And the ratings numbers were said to be 3 million people. The numbers, I don't know what numbers to believe. The numbers on Diamondbacks Dodgers On NBC was 3.2 million people. I don't know what those numbers mean. I would think Netflix buying into baseball at $50 million, if they can get 3 million people to their baseball product, I guess that's a success. But I don't know the accounting here. Do you?

[David Sampson]

Yeah. No. So I'm not paying attention to that announcement of 3 million or 1 million. I have no way to understand how they're arriving at that numbers. The way that you want to look at it is what are their subs, Are they gaining more subs who joined because of baseball, who are going to keep renewing even though there's not a game now until the Home Run Derby? Because that's how Netflix is looking at it, that their return on their baseball investment is not from the number of people who watch the game. It's the number of people who engage with their platform and then do it on a monthly basis. Because, you know this, Dan, there is nothing better than recurring revenue. It is the dream of any business to have that. That. And that is what streaming services are. It's why this goes all the way back to fun that we've had on this show about Columbia Records where you forget to cancel and you keep getting records.

[Dan LeBatard]

Do you guys not marvel, though, as you watch the business of sports explode? Do you guys not marvel at the idea that of all this found money in streaming, they're doing the same product and they're. And they're selling it for so much more because there are more competitors. And so this thing continues to grow at an accelerant that has no stopping it.

[Mike]

Well, I do think that they're stopping it because we were talking about RSNs the same way. There's going to be something that changes this. Hell, it might even be a recession. But teams are already complaining. Franchises and leagues are already complaining that there isn't enough money for them when it comes to rights because the NFL is in the room. So I think, much like RSNs, at a certain point, we're going to reach a point where the money's never going to go up anymore and the market will then dictate what these new deals are. Right now, it's a gold rush for these leagues, but I think you're already starting to see, David, the start of the end times for that.

[David Sampson]

I do not. I think we're not even in the middle of the end times. I think we may be in the middle of the early part of what streaming is going to look like and what consolidation will look like. And leagues are smartly taking advantage of it by negotiating deals right now. If baseball had its druthers, they would not be waiting till 2029. They'd like to get a collective bargain agreement done yesterday and they'd like to be out in the market. It doesn't matter the the concept of the NFL taking all the money inside the league offices. They're not really looking at it that way because if you look at the competition for hours, it's hours of content. The NFL and Major League Baseball are not competing in terms of eyeball and streams at the same time for the most part. September, yes, you could argue on Sundays in October, there may be a conflict, but guess what? There's enough money to go around for all these sports. So it's not like they're panicked about the NFL.

[Mike]

Ok, so we can dismiss what they're putting in the public space as posturing. I guess. Everything's a negotiation. But ESPN is not really keeping this a secret that they already regret the WWE deal. Apple very clearly had to do a lot of changes to their MLS deal. They regret that there are really regrettable deals being signed and have been for the last several years. At a certain point, the people buying these licenses are gonna realize it's not worth the squeeze because they're providing seed money right now. Right? They're not even hoping to recoup. They're just trying to get subs and credit cards that they hope just keep charge, keep charging well beyond the term of these leagues. I do think, and there's plenty of soccer examples too, where there was regrettable money spent. How many bad deals do there have to be before the marketplace wisens up?

[David Sampson]

Take that with players. Think about what you just said on the number of teams who regret signing certain players. And then you've got to trade them, but pay part of his money, and then they get traded again and you end up with three teams paying the salary even of one player, even though when he signed there was a jersey ceremony, there was excitement. You walk out of the field, you know, with a flag around your back, like all sorts of cool things happening. So that sort of regret will always happen. But as long as there's competition, that sort of regret gets forgotten about quickly and you get back in the saddle. So when you say that Apple has a regret over mls, okay, over that particular deal at that particular moment, but they're right back in the game, allocating their resources and their capital to doing deals just like it with leagues as they figure out how to get more eyeballs on live Events. I just don't think live events will ever have a recession.

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[David Sampson]

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This is the Dan Lebatard show with the stugats.

[Dan LeBatard]

Nothing personal is the podcast and it is very good, very strong in as few words of possible as possible. Tell me the Netflix baseball experience very criticized. Success or not 86. So they get a B.

[Tony]

No.

[David Sampson]

You know you're right near a B plus.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay.

[Tony]

You chose 86 is a weird number because 86 also means cancel it. I was like, oh, wow.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah, it's not.

[Mike]

Sorry.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's not. You couldn't. You couldn't do success or no success. You couldn't give me a word. You gave me a number and you just played your own game. Your. Your own game. Really confusing. Like, yeah, like he gave me an 86. He gave us a grade for some reason. I'll try it again. Netflix was widely criticized presenting baseball to America in its first try. The public relations were, we could say, objectively bad. They spent $50 million on a three year contract. Again found money for baseball to just televise. Three things. Three big events. This is one of them worth it. Yes or no success, yes or no?

[David Sampson]

85.

[Dan LeBatard]

That's not a B plus.

[David Sampson]

Solid.

[Stugats]

That's a good score. That's a good grade. That is a good grade.

[Dan LeBatard]

It's not a B plus.

[Stugats]

It doesn't matter.

[Dan LeBatard]

But it goes.

[Stugats]

When I bring the report card home, my mom sees B.

[Dan LeBatard]

No.

[Amin]

I love mad.

[Dan LeBatard]

Are we still doing 85? Are we still doing it this way? Is this. They're still using this as the grading system or is ours outdated?

[Stugats]

80 to 89. It's a B. Doesn't matter if it's 89. Doesn't matter if it's 80. I bring my mom.

[Dan LeBatard]

Is that still the grading system? The math is no longer the same in schools that nobody knows how to count anymore. They don't have to. The calculators and the libraries will do

[Mike]

it for them on their social studies has changed.

[Dan LeBatard]

We wrote the books for the better. Is 85 eternally still a B? Is. Is that a what? The one thing that's still allowed to be in the American school system. Really confident in that. Really?

[Mike]

David, I saw nothing personal was on mute. So I know you've already covered this ground, but I saw Send Help as well, and I was curious your thoughts on the Move movie.

[David Sampson]

I wasn't scared. It was a. It was a poor man's triangle of sadness. But I really did enjoy, because I love Rachel McAdams and Dylan O' Brien was fine. There's really no other characters. I just. It. It's beyond credibility for me. If you ever get on a deserted island, isn't the first thing you do is to make sure that it's a deserted island? I gotta believe. Like, that was one of my issues with Lost, which I love. How do you not go find anything else that could be on the island? And in Send Help. Spoiler alert.

[Mike]

This is a giant.

[David Sampson]

You may want to look around the island.

[Dan LeBatard]

Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. I don't think you can do all of what you.

[Mike]

I mean, he gave it away beforehand.

[David Sampson]

Just saying, look at the island. I'm not spoiling anything. Well, if you're gonna be. It's like when you're on Survivor. You walk around the island looking for stuff you can eat until the producer says, dude, don't eat that. And you're like, okay, how about this? You're trying to find stuff to eat. If I'm Tom Hanks in Castaway and I get a bunch of FedEx packages, you can bet your ass that I'm gonna walk to the other side just to see, hey, any other possible packages that I may want to open.

[Mike]

But that's why one of them is incapacitated, because he can't get up for himself to look around the island.

[Stugats]

He's an invalid.

[David Sampson]

He eventually can. Mike.

[Mike]

There's a plot device as to why he doesn't.

[David Sampson]

He took her. And that's the other thing. If you're ever on a deserted island with one other person, don't take their word for it. Do, like, a double check.

[Tony]

I like this. This working theory. If you're ever on a deserted island, maybe check out the rest of the island. That's one. And my. My one that I dropped yesterday, David, was, hey, if it's ever the apocalypse and you get lucky, pull out.

[Stugats]

Good point. Don't.

[Dan LeBatard]

Don't have a dog.

[Stugats]

That was a big deal.

[Dan LeBatard]

You had a drop yesterday. You dropped one yesterday. You dropped an amino.

[Tony]

Yeah.

[Dan LeBatard]

On where? On America. There was an Amin drop yesterday. Where did you drop this on this show? Okay, so you dropped it in here. Do you do this on purpose, David, or to make yourself purposely unlikable when you go with the phrase, it's like when you're on Survivor, like, do you do that purposely? I'm asking genuinely, do you, when you mention so casually having been on Survivor, are you conscious and purposeful about it? It.

[David Sampson]

Well, I just. People know that I've been on Survivor. I think they know me for, you know, nothing personal, the Lebiton show and Survivor more than anything else I've done in my career. And so, no, I'm trying to give the example of, hey, I've been on an island that's not totally deserted, but you feel that way. And so I've seen movies. Castaway is one of my, you know, favorite movies. So I am thinking about these things because I'm planning for. With all the flying we all do, like, what happens if I'm in a plane crash? What do I do? How do I survive it? What's my plan once I'm on the island? I do spend time thinking about these things. And at noon today, as a matter of fact, I will be working through some of these things as I have another appointment with a therapist as I try to make sure that I'm right in terms of how I'm thinking about what I would do on a desert island. Or I could go to one.

[Dan LeBatard]

David. We are going to have more David Sampson during pitch clock. Him and Jeremy will break down baseball in a way, I'm telling you. And it'll be an hour, too. Sampson is very good on the subject of baseball. What we talk to him, tend to talk to him about a variety of things here.

[Stugats]

Do you guys get to why the game is so fast now? We need to slow the game down a little bit. Dave. I don't like how fast it is. I get to my seat, I look around. It's the third inning. I take a sip of a beer. It's the sixth inning. I'm doing the seventh inning stretch.

[Dan LeBatard]

I'm going home.

[Stugats]

It takes me an hour and a half. I'm done with the game.

[David Sampson]

It's crazy, Tony. It's like a dream.

[Stugats]

No, I need it to be about four. I need to be like three and a half, 345. I can get a couple beers and I can make a couple walks around the concourse. I stand up, go to the bathroom. It's four innings go by.

[David Sampson]

Good. If that could be. If we could get every fan to say that the average crap lasts three innings and it wasn't because of a long line. Now we're getting somewhere.

[Stugats]

No, it needs to be slower. I went to the opening day. I got into the seats. I was holding my, my daughter. All of a sudden I look up, you know, eight things have happened and we're six, six innings in. It's terrible.

[Amin]

I don't like Sandy baby.

[Stugats]

I don't like what Tony's doing. He was working fast, which I didn't like.

[David Sampson]

I'm on to Tony.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh.

[Stugats]

And to me, what I want, I want to love the game. I want time. I want it to be something that I can enjoy with my family without being there. I, I, I park off site. I got to walk over there. By the time I walk over there, three pictures I've already gone. They're already done.

[Dan LeBatard]

I got, I got it.

[Mike]

The argument is, I, I'm here to avoid my family.

[Stugats]

No, my family.

[Mike]

And I'm not avoiding my family.

[Stugats]

Off site. My family. Do you want to park? I park somebody.

[Mike]

No blocky.

[Ad Read Voice]

Blocky.

[Stugats]

I gave her 20 bucks.

[Mike]

Keep with the.

[Dan LeBatard]

He's really Cuban. He's still doing it. The old.

[Stugats]

I support helping the local economy.

[Tony]

Thank you.

[Dan LeBatard]

What does Chris Cody know about this?

[Stugats]

You know, I know about no block. You kidding me?

[Dan LeBatard]

No. What he's doing. You judged him for you know about it, but now you park elsewhere and you judged him. Don't say you weren't judging him.

[Stugats]

You pay the 60 bucks, I pay the 20. No blocky.

[Dan LeBatard]

You said you park off site. I've got to stop everything we're doing here, David, because I am told, and Coca has never done this before in an emergency, sending a video. Coca is telling us that we have video here of you getting scared of a large animal during your. Give us the context here of what happened during your show. Were you attacked by a large animal?

[David Sampson]

The context is that I do a live show every morning at 7am and there's never any bugs in the studio. There's never any. Anything in the studio. And there was a live thing flying around while I was talking, and I have no relief. I had to kill it. And I Miyagi'd it. And it scared me because I don't want a bug flying around. It gets in my way. So I was able to kill it, but I caught it, killed it. I not only did I get it by doing that, I grabbed it in my palm and then I put it down on the desk, and then I hit the desk, which moved the camera. All of this while we're live and there's nothing I can do.

[Stugats]

I got to.

[David Sampson]

Because we don't.

[Dan LeBatard]

So do you think. But do you think this was good video? Have you seen it? Because Coke.

[David Sampson]

I have not.

[Dan LeBatard]

Okay, so what we're about to see, that coke is sending us in an emergency. Well, but what do you think? Because it was live. You have not revisited this. Do you think this is going to be flattering or embarrassing? Video. You're going to be an amazing actor.

[David Sampson]

If you're using it, it's embarrassing, obviously. Why would you do anything flattering? So I assume I look terrible.

[Stugats]

He's on to a strong assumption.

[Dan LeBatard]

But the way you describe. I don't. They're telling me they've sent me something. You just described it as you showing up as Miyagi, the Karate Kids mentor. Being able to catch a fly with chopsticks. And I'm guessing you were scared of a small bug. Is that what they've said?

[David Sampson]

I just didn't want to fly into my mouth. I don't want to fly to my eye. I know we're live. And what I tried to do was grab it while still talking. And then I lost track of what I was talking about. It was NBA Europe, but I nailed it.

[Dan LeBatard]

Nothing personal. Live every day. Let's hear this.

[David Sampson]

Is that. It's really not. It's really not. There is a major animal in this apartment.

[Tony]

They all.

[David Sampson]

I don't know what I'm gonna do here. I can't do a show like this. Coco, there is something that is going to hit

[Mike]

you caught it.

[David Sampson]

Holy cow. Hey, we're live. I don't like. Can you imagine doing a show like on a safari? Oh, sorry. Got him right there.

[Stugats]

How small David looks a major animal.

[Dan LeBatard]

Oh, my God.

[Stugats]

I couldn't even see it on the piece of paper.

[David Sampson]

It's like wild live animal.

[Amin]

That was awesome.

[Dan LeBatard]

For me, it was just his staring

[Stugats]

at it the first, like, 10 seconds of that.

[Dan LeBatard]

Yeah. He said.

[Tony]

I lost track of what I was talking about. I thought he just kind of started talking in kind of fillers and, you know, you literally just stopped talking. You just stared.

[Dan LeBatard]

Coca.

[David Sampson]

Thanks, Dan.

[Dan LeBatard]

Somebody give Coca a raise. Coca just made an emergency decision.

[Stugats]

Look at how little the bug is.

[Dan LeBatard]

The bug is the smallest thing I've ever seen.

[Stugats]

Animal.

[Dan LeBatard]

I described it as.

[Stugats]

That bug had to be like, major animal.

[Dan LeBatard]

Major.

[David Sampson]

Picturing the bug, like what he just called me.

[Amin]

He inflated his ego before he killed him.

[Dan LeBatard]

A major animal, like a harpy eagle inside. Hold on, hold on. I want to play this again. There's a bird of prey. Clearly, I want. Rick Patino is flown into his house and is hovering over his computer. Look at how distracted that David is on this lonely island doing a show trying to tackle difficult subject matter and distracted by literally the smallest things, is that.

[David Sampson]

It's really not. It's really not. There is a major animal in this apartment. I don't know what I'm going to do here. Hold on. I can't do a show like this. Coca. There is something that is going to happen. Yep. Think I got him. Holy cow. Hey, we're live. I don't like. Can you imagine doing a show like on a safari? Oh, sorry. Got him right there.