← The Herd with Colin Cowherd
The Herd with Colin Cowherd
3 & Out - Rams have extended head coach Sean McVay, San Francisco 49ers CEO Al Guido stops by
00:52:15
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- [00:00]
Al Guido
This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.
- [00:04]
John Middlekauff
This is Lavar Arrington from Up on Game. This message is brought to you by Apple Card. It's a great time to apply for an Apple Card. You'll love earning unlimited daily cash on every purchase. That includes 3% daily cash when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at Apple through this special referral offer. When you get a new Apple Card, you can earn bonus daily cash. To qualify you must apply at Apple Co get daily cash Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City Branch offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply.
- [00:37]
Stugots
Stigots here I have a podcast empire that I have brought here to iheart and I'm also hosting a daily live radio show from 3 to 5pm Eastern Cult to Gods and Company live which is available in podcast form right when the show finishes. Every single day you can expect a lot of laughter, great guests, a ton of calls and a a lot of fun. Listen to Stugots Co. Live and our original podcast Stugson Co. And God bless Football. And you can check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
- [01:12]
Al Guido
The Volume.
- [01:26]
John Middlekauff
What is going on everybody? How are we doing? John Middlecop three and Out Podcast hopefully you are doing great and today we will we'll talk some football because it is super bowl week so it's going to be a big theme I would imagine. Everywhere you turn this week and today we have on Al Guido, who for the last 10 years has been the president of the 49ers and actually early this morning was now named the CEO of of not just the 49ers but all their business ventures. And you know, he runs point with Jed York on landing the super bowl for the Bay Area. So talking to him about dealing with Raj, what's that like? What it's like being a president, a now a CEO of a NFL organization, dealing with the coach, dealing with the gm, as well as some career advice for people that want to get into sports. So that will be after we discuss Sean McVeigh who got extended today. Some thoughts there. The NFL is doubling down on international games and they're going to Paris next year for the first time as well as the dad Diaries before we dive into the interview. But that will be the extent of the show. Tomorrow we will play Stucky and then Thursday we will kind of mix and match whatever we end up doing at the Super Bowl. And we're recording from I think the Madden Studios on Radio Row And a bunch of people are supposed to come by, so should be pretty fun. But other than that, yeah, don't really have much. So you guys know the drill. Subscribe to the 3Now podcast wherever you may listen. If you're listening on Collins feed, make sure you subscribe. We have our own feedback. And obviously, if you want to watch the video of any of these podcasts, it's all up on Netflix. Never miss an episode. You can click Remind me and it'll be in your algorithm and appreciate everyone that's checked that out and hopefully you're enjoying it. So, yeah, let's just. Let's talk some football. So let's start with the news. You know, a couple days ago, Quesi gets fired in Minnesota. And it was pretty clear that him and the head coach were not on the same page. And there are certain relationships in certain industries that have to be pretty strong or else you have no shot. I see this, you know, me and my wife raising this child. Like, if you don't have a buttoned up, strong relationship, it can test you. This has been, as someone that sent me a DM about raising a young child. They called it the fog of war, which sounds a little extreme, but I gotta be honest, there, there's some truth to that. And football is no different because the, the tests of injuries, of the inevitable losing season, articles coming out about players, about personal relationships, about coaching relationships, the backstabbing, the. The just competitive nature of an industry where there's a lot of money on the line. And I'm not just talking for owners. I'm talking about these people, which there are only 32 GM jobs and there are only 32 coaches. And we saw clearly Kevin O' Connell wasn't on board with Quesi or he'd still be in his job. Unless need and Sean McVay have had a pretty, pretty successful partnership and they have now done it multiple different ways. So the news being announced that Sean McVay has. I, I got to take DL. I, I have a lot of opinions. I'm right on a decent amount of them. I'm also get a lot of things wrong. I'm probably less than 12 months older than Sean McVay. And when he got hired, I thought it was insane. I said I didn't know much about him at the time, but he was the youngest coach who's ever been hired in the history of the league by a pretty wide margin. I mean, at the time, you're 30 years old. The youngest before was 34. So, I mean, listen, I Think for guys there are huge growth milestones. Like in our 20s, I, we're pretty immature, most of us. I mean, some of us are wise beyond our years. But I would say on average, most males, maturity in our 20s isn't our strong point. And then I think depending on your lifestyle, from 30 to 35 to 40, there are some big growth. Just areas where you look back, it's like I don't even relate. I couldn't even relate beside like basic treatment of other humans and maybe just some ambitious desires to the 27, 29, 31 year old version of myself. And I think when McVay was hired I thought like, this is crazy. How could a guy be able to handle this gig? And I had just been around Andy Reid and Pat Hill and I had seen Jim Harbaugh, I was like, I just don't think that's going to work. I was wrong. He has been a superstar. His record as the head coach is 92 and 57. He's got 10 playoff victories. He's been obviously to multiple Super Bowls. One one just was. Could have easily been to another a couple of weeks ago in that game against Seattle. He's a superstar. I mean he's a rock star. And I would imagine this extension. He's easily one of the highest paid guys in the league. And you know, I think the one thing that's unique about these guys tenure is when Sean took over, they had Jared Goff on the roster who while coming off a horrendous rookie season, he was the number one pick in the draft. And then when that situation ran its course, they got pretty lucky. This former number one pick in the draft was like, I want out. And the Lions were like, we want out of this business. And, and he was available. And obviously they were able to land them. And there were some quotes that came out or maybe it was sources that obviously Sean McVeigh wants Stafford to return. Of course he does. What are his other options? And one thing that will be very interesting is if Stafford, let's say he plays one more season and then retires, what are the Rams going to do? Clearly there aren't just that many quarterbacks available and they're too well run and too good. Especially you know, this year they were just in the NFC championship game. Even the pick they have from Atlanta is I think pick 13 and it's a terrible quarterback draft. So. And I have a hard time seeing them draft Ty Simpson. So you look at the Rams and you go, the real test for McVeigh is after having these back to back number one overall picks, which he has excelled with. He created Jared Goff's success in the pros and kind of validated Stafford's career. And they've had, I mean, they kick ass and take names when Matt's healthy. But like, to me, the question is big picture. Is Sean McVeigh going to be like a 30 year guy? Is he going to be a guy that you look up and he's like, he just coached for three decades. And I do think the amount of money in the league, Mike Tomlin's a good example. He was making $25 million a year. So let's just say the last three years he had banked 75 million. I know after tax and everything. Well, even before that, it's not like Mike was making two. He was so rich when he's making this decision. And he's not really that old, right? He's 53 years old. He can go, you know what, I can take it your way. Take a deep breath and figure this thing out. Go to tv, just see how it goes. And I don't necessarily need coaching because financially, why do we aspire to do whatever we're doing? I mean, at the root of it, it's to make some money, to live right. And then as you get older, maybe you become passionate about what you do. Obviously, these coaches love to coach. I love to podcast. A lot of you listening to this, whatever your given profession is, are passionate. You enjoy doing it, it, it fulfills you in life, which I, I totally can relate to. But like, we do it for a reason, like the money matters. And once you get to a certain point, you know, I, I think you start priorities in your life can change. And Sean McVeigh dabbled years ago with the Amazon thing. It's easy right now because he has an excellent team and he has a quarterback. But if Matt Stafford retires next year, my question is, what do they do? And I think the answer is pretty simple. They will be the number one team that will offer absolutely everything to acquire the best quarterback who is disgruntled. And I think all signs would be on Joe Burrow if this thing starts to get weird. They would be the team that, it's like, oh, a couple first round picks and a couple that whatever the other team that is in the mix or other teams are willing to offer. I could see McVeigh and Lesney doubling that. And if I'm crocky, I give them the go ahead to do whatever it takes. And I'm just Using Joe Burrow as an example. But that will be their path. Like, I have a hard time thinking that they will just attempt to trade up in a draft and take a guy that they hope will work. That's not really the business Sean McVeigh's in. And he's proven that in the past. He's proven that now with Stafford. And this draft's an easy one to avoid that because the quarterbacks just do not exist. So maybe they take a guy like they did Stetson Bennett a couple of years ago, like a Garrett Nessmeyer in the third or fourth round and maybe hope they strike oil. But they're not in the business on banking in that. On that. They're in the business now of trying to compete at the highest level every single year. And when you have Sean McVay under contract, he's already kind of flirted with other situations. You can't tempt fate. And you have to be really, really aggressive to keep him happy. Because let's face it, Mike Tomlin, this off season, let's just assume he does some tv, which if he is, John, what do you think I should do? You've been in this media world, Mike. I wouldn't do. I would sit back, enjoy life, whatever you like. Golf, fish, sleep, travel, do whatever the bleep you want to do. You do not have to go on TV to like up your stock, because next year you will be, if not the number one guy, depending on who's available at the top of teams lined up for your services. Now, if you want to do tv, if you want to keep scratching that itch and talk some ball, it will only help. But you are at the point you do not need to do that. Enjoy your riches and take a year to kind of do something that you've never been able to do because you've been working in this profession forever. Sean McVay would be the same and even a higher level because he's an offensive guy and is an offensive league that if Sean McVay, in like five years said, like, you know what? I need a break. I'm burnout. I've been grinding for 15 years. I need a deep breath. Jon Gruden once did this. And then Jon Gruden realized, I can scratch my itch. I'm making so much money on Monday Night Football and I'm a rock star. Like, I am the poster child for this. Sean McVay would be that Mike. Mike Tomlin would be that if he wanted to be right, Amazon would probably immediately make Mike Tomlin the other analyst with Al Michaels. And maybe you find out like, oh, this life's not bad. It's like, wait, you pay me $15 million to work 10% of the time. And it's not because it's not as. It's still a lot of work. But relative to the coaching world, let's face it, Quesi went on a paternity leave. And universally, the league players, coaches, all were like, what the fuck are you doing? That ain't allowed here, buddy.
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Al Guido
The.
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John Middlekauff
You. Are you serious? Yeah, I am. W2 Employment. No, you're the general manager. It's training camp. It's cut downs where you got to come back to work. No, I'm out of office. Like that just didn't flip people. Sean McVay had a child on Sunday night and coach four days later on the road and honestly did a great job until the special teams fell apart. They were going to win that game, you know, so it's a profession that'll just wear you thin. And the amount of money has to change people's mindsets. I don't care who you are. I think one thing, when, you know, the NBA is taking a lot of crap, the regular season has never been worse, right? It's a lot of times it's unwatchable. I was like, what's going to motivate these guys? I mean, average players now make $20 million a year. The Stars make 40, 50, $60 million in any game they want. It's like I just take it off and it doesn't matter. No one can tell them any differently. And if I was in their shoes, I'd probably do the same, right? Because everyone kind of does that. So it's not like you look like, you know, some, some outlier, some. Some bucking against the trends that's not taking place. Like, well, everyone's doing it, so why wouldn't I? And. And then it's promoted where I think these football coaches, these old school guys, are just wired to grind and they got into the gig when the money was nothing. These younger guys, The Kyle's, the McVeighs, they're going to accumulate a ton of cash by the time they're 50 years old. And we have never seen that. It's like, you know, why are these guys. Think how many former players would have been excellent coaches? It's like, do I want to work that life when I've already made $140 million playing in the league? And the answer for most of them is like, no, it's not Worth it. Now some of them eventually get back because they kind of get bored, but early on and they're kind of stepping away, they're like, I don't need to do anything. And that's true. You don't. So I think Sean McVeigh, my only question is how are they going to find another quarterback? And I think the answer is there is not going to be a team in the league that will do more and move mountains to acquire the best possible veteran quarterback and potentially talk to a team and convince them, like, yeah, you're offering me that much. You can have my guy and they would be the team. And they've proven it before with fuck them picks. The other news and I, I'm, I recorded this before Raj talks, so I'm sure he's going to be asked about international games and will there be an international Super Bowl. So I'm not going to speculate on what he's going to say. But this year the Saints are going to host a game in Paris. And I guess I see both sides. To me it's kind of a double edged sword. On one side, it's like you're trying to expand, you're trying to, you know, how much more can you maximize? The States, so you're trying to build more of a global operation. I think you view the, you know, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, like those brands, like why can't the NFL kind of be international? And they have gone all in on that. And part of it is it's inevitable. The package that's coming. Robert Kraft talked about it, there's going to be an international package. Like Thursday night. I do wonder if we get to the point though, you're at a huge disadvantage depending on the team where you're traveling from. Like anyone close to the Eastern seaboard, flying over to Europe to, you know, the UK to France, to wherever is much easier flight than if you're Seattle, San Francisco, Arizona, the LA teams, Raiders, like it's a, it's a long, long travel and this league is obsessed with these international games. And when I saw the Paris thing, if you're going to do the series of 16 games, they're clearly thinking, we're not all going to be in Wembley Stadium, we're not all going to be there. We're going to be in seven, eight countries. And I mean they've already messed with Brazil, they've done Mexico City in the past. I'm sure, you know, Japan will be on the table. Surely that they used to play over there when I was Younger, I think definitely when I was a kid in, like, junior high. I remember the 49ers played a preseason game in Japan, so get buckle up for that one. And now going to France, that the league like this is. Once upon a time, Thursday Night Football was a big feather in like Roger Goodell and Rolap, who is now the. The PGA Tour commissioners, like their expansion of the NFL's revenue streams because all they're trying to do is grow revenue. And once you get so big, you get to a point like, what's Apple gonna do to get any bigger? It's like they've already hit on the phone, the iPad. Hell, they're. The AirPod business alone, I think I've read would be like a top 500 company. The amount of money that they generate off the AirPods, like, you just eventually you're just going to run out of stuff to do. And I think football in the NFL, like, they're viewing it, they only have so many more pitches and they're all in on this. I think if you view it like Thursday night football was 14 years ago, this is going to be viewed the same. And they will sell it to Netflix and they will sell it to Amazon or whoever will get that package. And there will be a game every single morning, bright and early when we get up for the entire football season. And one day it'll be in Brazil, one day it'll be in France, one day it'll be in Japan, Saudi Arabia, you name it, it'll be all over the world. And I think that is going to be probably Rog's last big swing is I helped turn the NFL into a global brand because 20 years ago, it was a 100% domestic sport. Like basketball was an international sport. Baseball was clearly an international sport. Big in Asia, big in Southern America. Football is football. Like, it was played here. And I don't necessarily know if it's going to expand from a playing standpoint. Like little kids in France or Madrid are going to be yelling, you know, blue 82, you know, under center, running go routes. But if you can get them to watch it. And I think they view F1 and soccer, they're trying to do that. And whether it works, because if it does, it could take the NFL to a completely different level. Before we dive into Guido, I do have. I got to hit on a couple dad diaries. And there is. I owe a huge apology. I've probably talked shit behind parents, young parents, backs for a long time. Like, it can't be that hard. The lack of Sleep is just. It is a grind. I'm not going to complain about it. Everyone goes through it, but you just try to. You just try to battle through it and drink enough coffee and Coke Zeros as humanly possible and you get to a point where you don't even think it's doing anything. But it is cool seeing, you know, your. Your child, your young son kind of become more of a human every day. It's. It's a really powerful thing. But as any parent knows that the changing situation is quite the experience. And I always, I never. My. I have two young nephews that are now 6 and 3. I don't think I've ever really held an infant baby. Part of it was the floppy neck. I just never felt comfortable. It was like, I don't want it to be on my watch that I dropped so and so's kid. So it was almost like when you meet a golfer, you know, or hear a golfer talk and they're like, I'm never going to play Augusta until I make the Masters. That was always kind of in a roundabout way, my logically. I'm never holding the baby till it's my baby. And then once you get it, you realize the change in diapers and stuff isn't even that gross. It becomes kind of second nature. But the first couple weeks it's pretty easy. Baby's kind of sits there, you change it, you wipe them off. It's. It's really kick as they're gaining a little personality, especially a boy. That penis starts, you know, aiming different ways. And for those of you that don't have children, you put the thing up on a changing. Put the kid up on a changing table. It's not a thing. And it's got like a pee pad under it like, you know, dogs have or whatever. And typically you have like a trash can, but not a normal trash can because you can't just throw the dirty diapers in an open trash can because it would stink. So you have these things like diaper genies that have like basically enclosed situations that you can press with your foot, push the diaper down there and it closes. You don't smell anything, but like you're not able to do it all in one. So you kind of gotta like take the stuff off the kid, reach around and you're kind of all over the place. You need to be like an octopus. But it's kind of difficult depending on the setup of your room. And I didn't need to worry for the first couple weeks of any crazy explosions. Or pee flying around. But I would say the last three or four days turned into like a hose. And I, when I remodeled our house for like a year, I didn't even have blinds because the blinds and the shutters he had on the, on the house when I bought it were so bad we just ripped them off. And honestly for like the first six months we had nothing in any room of the house. Probably not a great idea when you live in a place that gets like 115 degrees. Probably didn't help the, the bill. But then I would highly recommend this. No free ads not paid for Costco. If you buy something like I have motorized blinds through them. Let's say you spend 15k, they give you almost 20% back in money you can spend through Costco. So I went through Costco, great buy. I got like $3,500 back, which we shopped there anyway that you just kind of reinvest back. So it, it was a really good buy. They did a really good job. But I, I put one in his room and it's really nice motorized shade. It came down and I look over and he is just. His PE is probably three feet in the air just drenching this shade. And I, I was thinking about this, that like is Tom Brady or a Navy SEAL or anyone that is in like a very, very. That has to produce in their job in the highest of stresses. Like at the end of the day, like I, I have stresses to do a good job doing this and keep people entertained and be good with sponsors and keep this business rolling. But like when I record a podcast, it's not like, you know, it's, you're down 20 here in the fourth quarter. I don't feel stress when I'm doing this. And like if you are in the military or a football player or whatever, there is just a daily stress. You get cut, you can lose. If you're an athlete, if you are certain, some of these industries, right, sales guy, you don't hit the quota, you're going to get fired. Right? I wonder if you have a huge advantage when you're dealing with an infant baby because all of a sudden, peace flying, hitting you in the face, diaper on the ground, poo everywhere. The baby is screaming bloody murder. And you got to keep it calm. And listen, I'd be the first. I'm not acting like a couple times I haven't lost it. But if you lose it, you create an energy and you make the situation worse. So you have to bring the level down to like zero to even attempt to get him come. And I was wonderful guy. Like, some of these quarterbacks thrive in infant situations because they just don't get stressed in that situation. Like, they're just completely unfazed. And I'm, I, I'm very jealous of those human beings, but for the first time. And that pee, it starts going up like a hose. And, you know, if he starts wiggling around, it starts firing in different places. You're covering it with, you know, different diapers with your hand. You get it on your shirt. You try to avoid the face. It's all over the, the motorized blind, which was not cheap. And you basically got to just say, like, you know, as Carrie Underwood once says, jesus, take the wheel. It's, it's out of my control. And I've been preaching this for a long time, and I'm a huge believer in this. The Internet and Instagram specifically has made so many people treat their children like they are models for the gram. I, I, I think clothing obviously gets cold. You got to keep them warm. But like, it, it's, it's such a waste to put it on because they immediately go through it and you just go through outfit after outfit. And this p, I'm telling you, bro, it goes everywhere. And there is just no, you can put on the diaper perfectly and that thing is still a puddle all over his clothes. And you go over there in the, in the bassinet, you know, at 4 in the morning, and it's like a little lake in there, and he's just snoozing and just sleeping on a lake. I'm like, welcome to life. So you gotta watch out for the hose because it's just, it's coming at you and this she's, until it runs out there, there's no stopping it. On that note, let's dive into my good buddy and new CEO of the San Francisco 49ers, Al Guido. 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- [29:29]
Stugots
Stugats here I have a podcast empire. It continues to grow and I have brought it here to iHeart. I'm also doing a live radio show from 3 to 5pm Eastern because my wife wanted to kick me out of the house. It's called Stegots and company Live which is a very available in podcast form right when the show finishes every single day. Some of the biggest names in sports, a lot of phone calls.
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John Middlekauff
I love you guys show. It's one of my favorites.
- [29:56]
Stugots
A lot of interaction. Guys not taking themselves too seriously. Those are just some of the things that you could expect from Stugouts Co. And Stugouts Co. Live. So listen to Stugouts Co. Live and our original podcast. Please subscribe, rate and review Stugots Co. And God bless football. Taylor's livelihood depends on it. Do it today and you can check all of those out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast.
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John Middlekauff
Olivia Culpo here to tell you all about the launch of the new Abercrombie spring denim collection Made the way denim should feel. Their denim has always been a staple.
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Al Guido
In my wardrobe and has a wide.
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John Middlekauff
Range of fits, styles and washes. Every jean is available in both their Classic Fit and Viral Curve Love Shop in the app, online and in stores. Very, very excited. I, I, I woke up this morning to some, some news. I said what perfect timing I'm having. My man Al Guido who was, you know, I, I knew him as the president of the 49ers and this morning Jed's like, he's my CEO of the 49ers. So Al, 49ers are obviously hosting the Super Bowl. I will be there in next 24 hours. Congratulations and, and good to see you, my man.
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Al Guido
Thanks, John. Man, it's good to be on. It's great to see you.
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John Middlekauff
Was that something? I mean it didn't just happen overnight, I'm sure. You've been the president of the Niners what, almost a decade?
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Al Guido
Yeah, it's been a decade, man. I think it's probably about as long as I've known you. So I've been out here for 15 years, but I've been in the president's chair for the last 10. And so no, Jed and I have been talking about it for the last call it month or so and it's, I'm thrilled, man, I'm humbled. It's been a great family. Jed is the best to work for and having teammates like John and Kyle on the football side are just, is just awesome, man. I mean obviously I wish we were playing in this game that we're hosting. That's the only down the bummer about it all. But it's a really special group to be a part of, man. And I'm looking forward to doing it for hopefully as long as they let me.
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John Middlekauff
Yeah, I mean as someone that grew up in that area, I mean when I was a kid, Steve Young, I was a little after Montana era, but Steve and Jerry and you know, it was as big as it gets and you Got the opportunity to be the CEO of one of the biggest brands in American sports, probably in the world. When you just factor in the brand, you know, I talk obviously a lot of football, you know, John, Kyle, the people in those roles. When you're the president now the CEO, like does that from a day to day standpoint, like what do you do?
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Al Guido
Well, you mentioned running the business of it, which is frankly grown in, in, in size, in people, in complexity, I mean, all across the board. Right when I first got here, we were embarking on trying to build Levi's Stadium. We went from the oldest non renovated stadium in the US at Candlestick park, which had tremendous, great memories, but frankly put us in the bottom quartile of a lot of metrics. And now you return to the rightful place of top quartile, not just on the field, but off the field in the business. And John, Levi's has been great. Like it's been a, you know, 12 years. We've obviously made it a home field advantage now over time. We had our stops and starts in the very beginning, there's no doubt about that. I think we've learned from all that. We've grown. And then you mentioned it, just the international footprint. I mean, the Niners were already a massive brand, five time super bowl champions, the most dominant team in the bay. But now you look at us on the road, you look at us internationally, you look at the events that we put in this building, it's just grown. I think when I first got here, the Niners are roughly about 80 employees. And now fast forward, you're close to 500. It's just a different operation and organization now. And I say that for the good. It's just that being part of the National Football League is just the engine man. It's the machine that just keeps on growing and I'm proud to be part of it.
- [33:54]
John Middlekauff
You know, when I, when I worked for the Eagles, I used to work out sometimes in the morning, but I'd go there to shower. My locker was right around Don Smolinski's, who used to just be there bright and early riding the bike. And I used to pick his brain because, you know, they had a newer stadium relative to you guys a couple years before, maybe like a decade or whatever. But it was so big for, you know, Taylor Swift or whoever would come by and obviously that's a big deal for you guys. Stadium talk is such a big deal in the NFL because is it the importance of the suites? Is it the importance of getting the Royal Rumble, the WrestleMania Taylor Swift, whatever. Because football is not basketball or baseball. Right? You only get eight or nine games.
- [34:37]
Al Guido
Yep.
- [34:38]
John Middlekauff
It's.
- [34:38]
Al Guido
It's so important, man. I mean, look, it's. It's good for our community, too. Like, I, I don't want to overstate the importance for the 49ers, because there's no doubt the NFL is still kind of the hero feature, the biggest, you know, part of our revenue stream. But, you know, when you go on and embark about building these stadiums, they're no longer. You mentioned the Eagles, right? And Don's a dear friend. I think he's one of the best people in this, in our industry. You know, Those stadiums cost 3,400 million right? Now you got stadiums costing 2,3,6 billion dollars. And so to pay for those stadiums, you can't just put 10 games on. Right. It just doesn't make sense. And then to be able to host a Super bowl is not good. Not just good for us, frankly. It's. It's. It's okay for the 49ers. It's fine. It's actually great for our region. You know, we talk about $2 billion of economic impact that's been delivered since we opened up Levi's Stadium. That's in the first 12 years. We're going to do over a billion in the next six months between the super bowl and the World cup. Talking about 10,000 jobs. I mean, Daniel Lawyer, our great mayor of San Francisco, the other day he told me 1.3 million people are going to fly in here over a course of seven days. 400,000 hotel rooms are booked. John, you know this market really well, right? It got beat up during COVID There's a lot of national stories about it. I was, I was fun to see. Charles Barkley admit that San Francisco is a great place during the NBA All Star Game, but I kind of view that as our jobs. Like we're behind the scenes. To your point, the actors and the actresses, they're the stars. John, Kyle, the team, they're the stars. But there's a lot of people behind the scenes. I use a lot of sports analogies. Like, we all need teammates. Yeah, we got to have a quarterback, but we all need teammates. And the team behind the scenes at the 49ers are just fantastic. And, you know, when you got a good quality product on the field, that helps. It just makes everything go a little bit smoother.
- [36:22]
John Middlekauff
So let's talk some Super Bowl. When you get a new stadium, do you automatically get the Super Bowl? Is that why you got it? The first time or you don't get it?
- [36:29]
Al Guido
No, you don't actually, as a matter of fact, you have to, you have to go through the process. JOHN so it used to be that cities would bid against each other and I'm glad they changed that, to be totally honest. Like, so what happens now is you eventually you, you sign up for your interest, like an indication of interest. So then you get a note back from the NFL, says, hey, we're willing to talk to you about super bowl. Then you have to put your best foot forward. It's like your sales pitch and it's like your job interview. So for us, I don't remember exactly when this happened, but I started, I've embarked on this about five years ago, trying to get like all of our support necessary to convince the Commissioner and Peter O'Reilly and everybody else to bring it back. But to do that, we had the entire Bay Area caucus sign up for support. You have all your corporate sponsors sign up for support. I mean, you got to raise a significant amount of money just to put this event on, just given the size and scale that it's grown to. JOHN and so we were never guaranteed a Super Bowl. We felt good that we were going to get 50 knowing that we built the stadium, but you fast Forward to get 60. The competitive landscape was entirely different. Allegiant didn't exist in Vegas, so I didn't exist in la. You already had the super bowl markets in New Orleans or others right in Miami. And so now it's a really, really competitive thing to be able to win the rights to host one of these.
- [37:44]
John Middlekauff
So it's when you say Roger and his team, is it you presenting or like you put in a bid originally and then there's a process from there where you start doing a present presentation in front of Goodell.
- [37:57]
Al Guido
Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, we actually do. It's, it's a fun sales pitch, man. And I, we're aggressive here at the 49ers. Like, I, I didn't wait for that indication of interest to come. I, I sent over a note and letters to the league telling them why they needed to come back here and then obviously got that, got our foot in the door and you know, when we, when we got, when we got our foot in the door, man, we just knocked out of the park and it takes an army and we host. You have to have a non profit entity. And we already had one in Super Bowl 50, but we dissolved it. And so we recreated something called the Bay Area Host Committee, which is effectively a Nonprofit commission to help put on the event. And what I was proud about this time around, John, because we had to make the best sales pitch, is every single one of my counterparts at all the other Bay Area professional sports team signed up to be part of that board. They all actually put in their own dollars to support our cause and effort. And you look at now like Chase Center's involved in the bid. SAP Centers involved, which is where the home of the San Jose Sharks, Larry Bear and Oracle Park. You know, their whole ballpark. Ballpark's involved in the bid because the footprint is just so drastically different. And so, yeah, it was. It was. It was a hard thing to do. You don't know who you're competing against, frankly. They never tell you, but, you know, never let. Let anything or, you know, never have, you know, risk a chance. Just put your best foot forward.
- [39:17]
John Middlekauff
So it's almost like a construction company. If they want to build something and four people put in bids, let's just pick a number. $100 million, give or take, and that company picks the guy that did the highest. Let's say it's 115, one of those kind of a blind bid. And it goes like that year to year. When do you officially find out? Is that an owner's meeting when Roger announces that you guys got the Super Bowl?
- [39:40]
Al Guido
Yeah, you're told privately right before, like, generally speaking, they do it at the annual meeting in March. I want to say ours was like two years ago was when they officially announced us. I think we knew probably a couple of months prior to that. But, John, this was even more delicate because the year of 26 also includes the World cup year in the United States. And so you have, I think, 10 cities in the U.S. that are also hosting U.S. bids. And so what was important to the super bowl or to the NFL, I should say, was that we had the capacity, not just monetarily, but that we had the capacity from a political perspective and a corporate perspective on the support to host the super bowl and the World cup in the same calendar year. And we'll be the only stadium that has ever done that in the history of those two events. And so I'm really, really proud of our, our region and our team to pull that off, because, frankly, a lot of people probably didn't want to, you know, undertake that effort, but we did.
- [40:38]
John Middlekauff
Does the World cup entail, like, downtown, the Moscone center, all the different stuff going on as well?
- [40:43]
Al Guido
It's a little different, John, because it's spread out a little bit more in that regard, where you'll have the participating countries or teams, you know, stay mostly in the South Bay, in and around the facility, just given the tournament nature. And so where, yeah, there's probably more events happening in San Francisco than there might be in the South Bay, since you know the market. I can speak to you in that way. The World cup will probably flip, John, where most of the events will happen more in the South Bay than they will in San Francisco just due to the, you know, the event schedule. But the good news is, you know, between NBA All Star, which happened here at Chase center, the super bowl and the World cup, like I mentioned, that's over $1 billion in economic impact in literally like less than a year time frame, which is. Which is really awesome.
- [41:30]
John Middlekauff
So as this stuff's going on right now downtown, the super bowl week as the host team, and obviously you run point for the business of the 49ers. How much is that on you and your guys run and point all this stuff and how much of it goes on Raj and his team? Because obviously it's a huge NFL corporate event. Is that fair to say?
- [41:50]
Al Guido
Yeah, it's fair to say. I would say the Monday through Saturday, it's probably split. Call it 50, 50. Them US game day is a lot of us. And I mean, like the particular parts of game day, right? The stadium operation, we already know how to operate that building. And so they rely on a lot of our staff, the grounds crew. And I think Matt Griner, in my opinion, is the best in the game. Our field at Levi's is known as one of the highest rated fields there. And so to know that Matt and his team are working on that on behalf of the teams themselves, which is, look, it's a little weird because you're throwing a party for, in one case, our division rival, in another case, an AFC team. But I'm proud of our staff, man. They're working their tails off to do a good job on the two on behalf of the two participating teams.
- [42:39]
John Middlekauff
Darnold, FORMER NINER so, I mean, hey, listen, Sam, Sam's.
- [42:43]
Al Guido
Sam's a great guy. And look, I'm gutted. Of course, every year you want to win the thing and we want to put a six Lombardi Trophy in there. But, you know, hard pressed not to be happy for him as a human. He's such a good dude. He was good. He's good with us. And he's had a hell of a.
- [42:58]
John Middlekauff
Year, you know, for your role, for people listening, you know, I think, you know, the GMs and the coaches now are so famous as the number one television show in America. These guys are just famous as the players, especially the coach, like Kyle as CEO, president, running the business side. You know, we talk a lot about alignment. Right. You know, just inside the organization. Your role, working with those guys on a daily basis over the, the aggregate of a season, over the off season. How is your role impacted by their role beside, you know, wins and losses? I'm just saying working with them, how often do you rely on them? Do you ask them for stuff to help you out? Because clearly, you know, from season I saw, you know, Robert Sala taking phone calls. You know, that's, that's always a new coach thing. A little different with Kyle. Who's what he's going to be going on year 10. Him and McVeigh hired the same cycles. They've been here for a while. So it's not like he's got to get on the head, on the horn. It sells itself. But your role relative to the GM and the coach.
- [43:54]
Al Guido
I talk to them all the time. You know, I consider myself their teammate and I'm here to support them and what they need. Right. The reality is our job is, is to win football games and put a Lombardi trophy in there. Like not. That's not lost on all of us, frankly. Like you mentioned, some of the guys we stand on the shoulders of giants who came before us. Like, if we ever forget what our goal is, we're reminded the minute we walk into 4949 when we stare at the Lombardi trophies what our job is to do. But they also understand, John, that look like, you know, if all we do is win, we will have failed. Right. We did. We do have other goals and our fan base has been supportive of us through the ups and downs. I've been in the National Football League 20 years with two different franchises. And I gotta tell you, like, John and Kyle are the best teammates I've ever had. And they understand that there are requirements that sit outside of just coaching or just picking players and that it's bigger than that. But I'll tell you, like when it comes around to Sundays, man, I feel good about our opportunity to win based off the work they do. And John, we have a salary cap in our league. So the truth of the matter is, no matter how high our revenue streams may go or what we do, there's always going to be some level of economic parity.
- [45:01]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, right, but.
- [45:02]
Al Guido
But you're hard pressed. I mean, you cover this league, the teams who Consistently win right are teams that have alignment between their business and their football staff and their ownership team. And Jed York's awesome man. And, and to know that I've been having, I guess what, 10 years with these guys this coming year. The continuity of our group, the getting to know each other really well. We enjoy each other both, you know, at work and frankly outside of work. We're dear friends. I think it matters. I mean, you've been in NFL buildings. You know what that feels like when you got a group that's working hard together for a common goal. And we got one here.
- [45:40]
John Middlekauff
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- [47:30]
Al Guido
Oh, so they're so important, John. And it's hard. It's like, that's a hard job, right? I mean, you think about it, there's few companies in the world, businesses in the world, and the NFL is a business too, that, like, you have this many people telling you what to do every day and. And to have an owner that, you know is patient and understands that none of this stuff happens overnight, that, you know, is not sued by one ounce of media coverage or the other. And I don't say that in a bad thing. Like, I'm gifted by the fact that so many people care about our game. And that's his viewpoint on it too. Like, all of this is actually good and helpful. But I think John is sort of like to have the patience, right, to have, you know, that you talked about. The resources, of course, are important. But to me, when what leadership matters and when your leader, which in Jed, walks in the building and he's confident in the people he's hired, he's supportive, he's patient in getting to where we gotta go. He picks us up when we're down. Right. Like, it's really easy to play the your fault, you know, my fault type of thing. We don't get that. Like, we go through the ups and downs together as a group. There's no finger pointing inside of our room. We all know we gotta get better at every single thing. We have an open and honest dialogue around that, that part. And look, I've been part of two owners, you know, and that, you know, my previous one was great, but I'm really blessed to work for the York family. And prior to them, John, you know, you covered this franchise, the York debartolo family, and what that's meant to the National Football League. Jed certainly leans a lot on his mom, his dad, and of course, his uncle.
- [49:09]
John Middlekauff
Yeah, I recorded that was last night, the AMC debut.
- [49:14]
Al Guido
Yeah, it was a couple. I think it was a couple of days ago, but yeah, I know what you're talking about.
- [49:17]
John Middlekauff
Recorded on YouTube. Okay.
- [49:19]
Al Guido
Yeah, last night was when it got air, but yes.
- [49:21]
John Middlekauff
Okay, from your seat. You know, the GM role is clearly evolved from just sitting in an office and watching tape. And John's. John, I'm sure, wears a lot of hats. What from. From your standpoint, what. Just big picture, what makes that role so difficult? And what do you see that in John lynch that he brings to the table? That just is something that you've been impressed BY in your 10 years or whatever, being around him.
- [49:50]
Al Guido
His ability to connect with Players, I think is really important, John, and not just our currents, but, you know, draft eligible players. Look, you, you spent time in this world, so you're going to know what I say here. The margin of error and, or success is so small in this league, right? Everybody is big and fast and strong and they play a big time football in college. But truly like the people that you select and draft into your room and the culture that that makes up, like, I, I'm really proud to be affiliated with this team because people talk about how good of guys they are, right? They police themselves and how hard they work. Well, you got to know people on an emotional level. And John, playing the sport, broadcasting the sport, and now in this, I think he's just got a really good lens to look at this where it's like, hey, they're not just draftable assets, they're actually humans. And they're humans who play a tough, grimy, gritty game. And I know how to actually understand what's, what's in here, John, not what's on the stat sheet, but what's actually in here in the heart. And I like to think that's what's made us successful in the fact of not only being good on the field, but we drafted really quality players off the field and that's led to having a great culture and able to build us a fantastic brand.
- [51:11]
John Middlekauff
Well, how many businesses in the world at the scale in which the NFL is, is the product, the human capital, right? You know, you look at Apple, you look at Costco, it's all some form of widget, whether it's a phone, whether it's a piece of meat, what, regardless. But football, it's the players, right?
- [51:28]
Al Guido
Yeah, it's, it's 100 and it's, and it's insular in the fact of, you know, they're, they're in there by themselves. It's the ultimate team sport. You're literally getting knocked down. You got to get back up. I mean, character matters. You talked about it, right? Like that's why the ownership matters, because the belief, the going through hard times together and how people, it's always. Look, it's easy when everything's up into the right, whether that's business or on the field. You really find out a lot about people when you're going through the down times. And we went through some, some down times with this regime, whether it was injury related or whether it was the early days and rebuilding the roster. And just to see how hard this group works, it makes it really easy to Go into the office every single day.
- [52:10]
John Middlekauff
I'll get you out of here on this. I get asked a lot of questions about advice and how to get into the sporting world. And, you know, if you're a Hall of Fame player like John lynch or, you know, Kyle's dad's Mike, and then he plays at Texas, and he's clearly just a brilliant, born into the life, like the Kubiak fan. I mean, there's. And then there's Al Guido. You. You played small school football, right, In New Jersey, and whatever. A couple decades later, you're the CEO of the 49ers. You've been the president for a decade. So you get asked this. You probably have people always wanting to work for the 49ers. Just any, I would say, general macro advice to young people that are listening to this that want to, quote, unquote, work in sports. Because I. It's easy to say that, but then you start attacking. Like, where do I even start? And you correct me if I'm wrong. You got your start in ticket sales.
- [52:57]
Al Guido
Yeah. Yeah, buddy. You know it. Well, look, I'm. I'm blessed. I had two great parents. My father and my mother instilled a good work ethic in me. You know, when I was a little kid, I got great coaches, as you mentioned. I was able to play D3 sports. And you got to really love football to play D3 sports. No one's giving you a scholarship or name, image, and likeness to do that.
- [53:15]
John Middlekauff
Were you like. Were you like Debo or McCaffrey? Like.
- [53:18]
Al Guido
I was. I was a slot receiver. I was a quarterback when I got there. And then six, five kid transferred from D1 down, and they quickly moved me to wide out.
- [53:25]
John Middlekauff
So you're like the Jersey Edelman.
- [53:28]
Al Guido
I'll take it, man. I'll take it. I. My advice, John, is like, it's no different than. Look, I got to work for a lot of good people. I would say I was inquisitive around the business itself. I wanted to know everything, like how things worked. I wanted to know how media deals worked. I wanted to know how sponsorship deals worked. I would just ask a bunch of questions, and I would get a lot of people around me. But, look, it's cliche, but it. It hangs as a quote in my. You know, in my office and at my home for my girls. I have three girls, teenage girls. Look, the dream is free. The hustle is sold separately. Everybody wants to be in sports entertainment if you're a sports fan. Like, I was right. I would read every single publication. Growing up, I'd watch SportsCenter seven times on replay, and I would know exactly every word by the end. But just loving it is not enough. Just enjoying sports is not enough. Like, how you treat people on the work ethic that you have, you know, will dictate your future. And I appreciate the platform, John, to come on, because to me, and I tell my kids this, like, anything can happen, right? As long as you're willing to dream it and work hard enough to go get it. And I'm. I'm an embodiment of it. But it is an honor to sit in this chair and to spend some time the other night with Carmen Policy, who got to do it for me and win all those super bowl trophies with Eddie. Like, it gives me something to strive for, man. My hope is that in the. You know, call it the near future, that while I'm here, we get to put another trophy back in for this fan base because, man, they deserve it so much.
- [54:54]
John Middlekauff
So where are you and Rog going to dinner tonight?
- [54:57]
Al Guido
I don't actually know. I think he's doing his State of the Union, so we'll see.
- [55:00]
John Middlekauff
What's up? Okay. Standing invite to that Volume party on Wednesday night. I'll text you later this week. And thanks again for coming on. And congrats on the Super Bowl. Congrats on the World cup. And again, congrats to you personally. That's. That's big time, bro. So awesome.
- [55:13]
Al Guido
Right back at you, man. Congrats to your family. So happy for you and. And you and Colin and the rest of the team. All right, appreciate it.
- [55:19]
John Middlekauff
I'll see you soon. See you, buddy.
- [55:24]
Al Guido
The Volume. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.