Rahimi, Harris, & Grote (HOUR 2) - 07/22/26

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Rahimi & Grote Show 43 min 8 speakers 6 chapters transcribed 1 month ago

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Who is Mike Florio and why is he joining Rahimi, Harris & Grote today?

Ron Coomer 0:00

Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who's got a massive brain.

Rahimi Harrison 0:06

Mike Florio.

Ron Coomer 0:07

He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the Internet.

Mike Florio 0:12

NBC Sports. I'm sorry I'm late. I was talking to Robert Kraft. That isn't the time for an airing of grievances. Pro Football Talk. I got a lot of problems with you people.

Rahimi Harrison 0:21

No, you're going to hear about it. On Chicago Sports Radio, 104.3 The Score. I want to keep talking Legos.

Vinny Rotino 0:29

We love talking Legos and more with Mike Florio. He was also one of our World Cup correspondents. I miss the World Cup. I miss having to watch sports on a random weekday with a game of consequence. But we get games soon. Preseason is about to begin. So is training camp in the NFL. And that is why we love having Mike on, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk. He joins us on Twitch, twitch.tv slash thescorechicago. Mike, how are you today?

Mike Florio 0:58

I'm doing great. And yes, all the soccer haters out there that want to say it hasn't become a mainstream sport. 63 million people in the U.S. watched a game that didn't involve a North American team in the World Cup final. 63 million, twice, more than twice the amount that watched the NCAA College Football National Championship game. Yes, it's a mainstream sport. Whether you like it or not, it is.

Vinny Rotino 1:24

I completely agree. And now, conveniently, I feel like it has given way just in time with the final concluding on Sunday. We've got players reporting to training camps this week. Mike, Bears rookies report on Saturday. What's the latest you're hearing about just people being able to report where and when and how everybody's getting the process underway this week?

Mike Florio 1:45

No one holds out anymore. The latest CBA made it so expensive per day, it makes it impossible for a player who is yet to get his four years of service to avoid losing a year of credit toward free agency. You used to have a little bit of a buffer to stay away and make a point. Now, if you don't show up, you lose that year. Guys who want contracts will show up and not practice the hold in. So we'll be watching for the places where players are there, but they're not practicing as they address their contractual issues. And as Bears fans saw with Brooklyn Smith a few years ago, there is a point where it gets awkward because games are coming and at some point the hold in has to end. So holdouts, Are they going to pass unless any of the unsigned rookies don't get their deals done, which rarely happens now?

Mike Florio 2:38

But hold-ins are the things to keep an eye on as these teams gather and start to practice.

Marshall Harris 2:43

Mike, the way that we consume sports has certainly changed over the years, and now we're kind of seeing some of the fallout of the ESPN NFL Network take over. What do you make of the layoffs, just the way that the NFL Network is going to look from now on, and how this might affect the average viewer?

Mike Florio 3:03

When ESPN acquired NFL Network on April 1, a lot of effort was put into creating the impression that nothing will change, everything stays the same, and in the NFL Network, employees still under contract, they're going to be welcomed in once their contracts are up, we'll talk to them about new deals. And then here we are three months later, it's not just NFL Network employees, it's ESPN employees. In every industry, there are moments that will arise where you have a legitimate, plausible reason to take a broader look at the full workforce and make some cuts. And ESPN is taking full advantage of it. Long-term employees gone, people from NFL Network gone, recognizable names gone, just like that. And it's one thing to do it, but

Mike Florio 3:51

It has been handled so poorly with people finding out about it through media reports, Ryan Clark getting let go while he was on the air because they were concerned he was going to find out from someone else, which is still better than I would submit being fired while on the air. They've got some people in there that are chatterboxes, and there's a cultural issue that I think they need to address. Too many people talking and making this process far uglier for ESPN than it needed to be.