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00:00But hey, it's baseball season sort of right. We had the big signing actually happened late
00:08last night. It will become official over the next couple of days. Juan Soto, the most coveted
00:14free agent since last year. Shohei Otani is set to sign the richest contract in the history
00:19of Major League Baseball, approximately $750 million as he is headed to the New York Mets.
00:28So Soto spends that season with the Yankees, takes them to the World Series, and then essentially
00:34decides to go for what looks like to be a decision between the Yankees and the Mets,
00:38at least according to what has been published. Now, it still remains to be seen as far as
00:44what the Mets will do elsewhere and how the Yankees will pivot from this. Right now, the
00:47Major League Baseball winter meetings are going on in Dallas. So naturally, we'll get
00:52more information over the next couple of days how this ends up shaking out. And, you know,
00:57obviously, very surprising to see this amount of money given to two Major League Baseball
01:01players in back-to-back seasons, one in Shohei Otani and the other is Juan Soto. All right,
01:05college football playoff is now set. The big story coming out of the weekend was that fantastic
01:10ACC championship between Clemson and SMU, which essentially, with Clemson winning in
01:15the last second of the game, knocked Alabama out of the 12-team playoff. So we are headed
01:20now toward what could be the most exciting playoff we've seen in years. We go from 4
01:24to 12 is as you can see, the number one seed is Oregon, followed by Georgia at number two
01:28after winning the SEC championship. And a lot of projections have those two teams facing
01:33off in the final. But we know better. Stranger things have happened in college football.
01:38And so a long time to go before we get there. December 20th is the first round of the college
01:42football playoff and bowl season is upon us as well. All right, Chargers, Chiefs. I mean,
01:48do we even need a script at this point? You know how this is going to go. The Chiefs are
01:51going to win in like the last minute of the game. And that's what ended up happening,
01:54a field goal going through off a doink. AFC West is now the Kansas City Chiefs. Pretty
01:59dull game, all things considered. 19 to 17 the final as Kansas City wins yet another
02:05AFC championship. And really the story for the Chiefs all season long have been these
02:10last second wins. It seems like it just comes down to the end. The Chiefs make a play and
02:15they somehow capture a very short victory. You don't want to bet the Chiefs against the
02:19spread. They're not having a good year there, especially as favorites. Let's hear from Andy
02:22Reed and Patrick Mahomes. Reed having confidence in his kicker. Yeah, so I mean, I've, I've
02:29trust in Matthew, so I was good with where we were. Percentages are pretty high. I know
02:34we've, we've won a game in that same situation on the opposite end, so I get it, but he's
02:40a, he's a solid kicker, so I wasn't too worried about it. Once we got down in there now to
02:46get down in there was, was a nice job by our guys to that play that Pat and Kelsey made
02:52right there at the end with something, so that's not quite the way it was drawn up.
02:57Yeah, it was a naked, so with the back on a slide and they zoned it off and, you know,
03:07Pat had it in his hands, which is important, and on the move, which is important. He does
03:12some good things with that. Yeah, I think just got to be able to hit some of these explosive
03:17plays. I think that's probably the biggest thing. Once you do that, it opens up everything
03:20else, and it seems like we stall out on drives and little things, and I've said that kind
03:25of all year long, but it is close. I believe, I truly believe we are close, closer than
03:29we were this year at this point, and it's just about finding a way to prove it on the
03:33football field on Sundays. We'll play every day of the week, it seems like, the next few
03:37days, but on game days, and then, and then we can kind of go into the playoffs with some
03:42momentum. Right now, the Chiefs have that momentum. They just keep on winning. Meanwhile,
03:47the Los Angeles Rams season continues. They beat the Buffalo Bills 44 to 42, and now have
03:52a shot to make it through the NFC West division title. The Bills are three and a half point
03:56favorites. Total was 49 and a half, and of course, this one flew over the total. 44 to
04:0142, the final record days for a couple of different players. The first was Puka Nkua,
04:07who had over 170 receiving yards and rushed for a touchdown. He was phenomenal. Josh Allen,
04:11though, was the only player in NFL history to rush for three touchdowns and throw for
04:16three touchdowns in the same game, and if you are playing fantasy football, 50 fantasy
04:23points for Josh Allen yesterday. If you had him, you won. If you played against him, you
04:28probably lost. Sean McVay somehow got a win, though, despite all of those touchdowns from
04:33Josh Allen, thanks to his high-powered offense.
04:36Okay, guys, you know, great win by our team. Really proud of these guys. They just did
04:40a good job of continuing to, you know, make plays. I thought Matthew had great command
04:45offensively. I thought we were able to run the football. Our offensive line did an excellent
04:49job, you know, for us to be able to maintain possession the way that we did, and our defense
04:53got enough stops. Obviously, the punt block for a touchdown was huge. It was a great job
04:57by Chase Blackburn. Jake Hummel gets the block. Hunter Long picks it up for his first career
05:01touchdown, but a lot of different things that took place throughout the course of that game,
05:07but that's an excellent team. I mean, you see Josh Allen is an alien. Some of the stuff
05:12that he can do and the things that he can create, we knew he was capable of that. He's
05:15shown that. It's why he is, you know, as well-respected and regarded in this league as he is. It's
05:21all deserved and earned, but our guys found a way to just make enough plays to be able
05:25to come out on top. I'm really proud of this group, and whether you look at it as fortunately
05:29or unfortunately, we got to be able to move on. Guys are getting recovered right now.
05:33We've got a great opportunity against the Niners. We know what a great opponent they
05:37are, and we got to be ready to roll on Thursday night against them.
05:40Yeah, a big game coming up for the Rams, of course. Probably a must-win game against the
05:44Niners because San Francisco also won. We'll get to them here in just a minute. Let's start
05:48again with the NFC West, or continue, I guess that's the best way to say it. Seattle stays
05:52on top of the division, heavily favored now to come out of the West with a division championship.
05:57They throttle Arizona by a final of 30-18. Cleveland went up early on Pittsburgh with
06:02Jamis Winston and company. That didn't last. The Steelers won 27-14, the final. Buccaneers,
06:07by the way, 6.5-point favorites. They beat the Raiders 28-13 as Tampa has now won three
06:13games in a row. We'll hear from Baker Mayfield coming up later. Boy, close game between the
06:17Eagles and Carolina Panthers. In fact, the Panthers had a chance to win this in the end.
06:21Xavier Leguette dropped a pass that would have given them the win. Eagles were 13.5-point
06:26favorites, 22-16, the final. My pick of the year in the Bears, that went up in flames.
06:31San Francisco crushes them 38-13. Kirk Cousins, no touchdowns, more interceptions, and their
06:37defense is giving up points for free. Feels like a gift. 42-21, Minnesota beat Atlanta
06:43yesterday. I was at the Dolphins and Jets game yesterday. The game went to overtime,
06:47very exciting. 32-26, the final. Dolphins were 6-5.5 in some spots. Giants had a 35-yard
06:55game tying field goal block. They lost to the Saints, but they covered 14-11. Jacksonville
07:00goes on the road and beats Tennessee. And tonight, Monday Night Football, we've got
07:04Cincinnati taking on Dallas, if you dare watch. Total 49-1.5. Meanwhile, Alabama Crimson
07:09Tide going and pulling out all the stops. Their athletic director basically saying they're
07:13going to have to look at how they schedule non-conference games in the future after being
07:17let out of the college football playoff. He said it'll be evaluated. Alabama will play
07:22on Michigan, play against Michigan in their upcoming bowl game. Purdue has hired Barry
07:26Odom to try and turn around their program. Kyle Whittingham has decided he's going back
07:30to Utah for his 21st season. And what is old is new again. Scott Frost, who led the
07:34UCF Knights to an undefeated season a couple years ago, is now back on a five-year deal
07:40with UCF after having a tough time at the University of Nebraska. Other signings in
07:45Major League Baseball, it's the Dodgers. Who else? Michael Conforto signs a one-year, $17
07:50million contract. He will play the outfield in case Teosca Hernandez leaves via free agency.
07:55Blake Trinan, the Dodgers, sign a two-year, $22 million contract. Willie Adavis signs
08:00a record-breaking contract for the Giants, seven years, $182 million, as he will play
08:07the infield in San Francisco. And Tyler O'Neal is staying in the American League East. He
08:11goes from Boston to Baltimore, three years, $49.5 million. In the NBA, the MVP favorite
08:18is Nikoli Okic for good reason. Another huge game for him yesterday, 48 points for the
08:22Joker as they beat Atlanta. The Lakers, without LeBron James, get a win over the Blazers.
08:27Golden State gets back on track, 30 from Steph. Warriors beat the Wolves. And tonight, one
08:32game in the NBA, the Knicks will take on the Toronto Raptors, with New York being six-point
08:37favorites in that matchup. Great to be back with Pat Evans from Legal Sports Report. We'll
08:40dive into the latest in the state of Texas. Could we get sports betting there any time
08:45soon? We'll find out. Pat, great to have you back here on Newswire once again. And I don't
08:51have a watch on here, but I was going to point to my watch, which I don't have. Time
08:55is ticking here in Missouri. They got legalized sports betting. You know, this idea that sports
09:00betting would come to Missouri after the legalization in November. There was some talk, oh, maybe
09:04we can get this going in December. Well, that's not going to happen. I don't think January
09:08is going to happen either. So what's the update here? Yeah. So, Craig, I promise there will
09:12be a time we don't have to talk about Missouri. But I mean, it feels like we've been talking
09:17about it since we started doing this almost three years ago, and they've been trying to
09:21legalize it. And I think we're coming to the end. As you know, as you just mentioned,
09:26it did pass during the election last month by a very, very slim margin. So there's been
09:32thoughts that there would be a recount and that maybe it doesn't pass actually. But thankfully
09:39for the industry, it has been certified and has officially been passed at the ballot.
09:47So this is a long, again, long journey. You and I have been talking about it for three
09:50years. First, when it was Missouri-Kansas race and Kansas got it done and launched in
09:552022. And it was the whole border war. And we thought, oh, geez, there's no way Missouri
09:59is going to let them launch it without them launching it. But sure enough, here we are
10:04almost three years later. Actually, three years later. No, not that's 2024. Geez. Jumping
10:09ahead of myself there, Craig. But almost three years later and still nothing. Now, to your
10:15point, once it was passed in November, a lot of people were very excited. Oh, man, we can
10:19get it off the ground right away. Of course, that's not how it works. The regulatory agencies
10:24still have a lot of work to do to kind of get the licensing in order, the applications
10:27ready. The thought right now is, as we're hearing, is the Missouri Gaming Commission
10:34will get emergency application rules out in January. So the applications can be submitted
10:39and get that ball rolling. And it sounds like they want to get off the ground by late spring,
10:45early summer. Of course, that's not a great time to launch because there's not a whole
10:48lot going on for sportsbooks. But hey, it's better than, you know, having to wait until
10:532026. Yeah, no. And I look, we got to get it going soon here because we're going to
10:59get into the next state that I know next year you and I are going to be talking about this
11:03just like Missouri every week. It's sports betting in Texas. And I find it really interesting
11:08here, Pat, that a lot of people cannot bet in Texas, but they sure are trying, according
11:13to your article over a legal sports report. Yeah, they're, they're, they're really trying.
11:19GeoComply recently released some new numbers. What is it? It's 1.48 million users in November
11:28attempted to place a bet in a legal sportsbook in a different state. Probably Louisiana would
11:34be my guess for most of them. And of course, GeoComply blocks that because they're, they're
11:38doing their job. But that was an 87% increase from the last year. So, I mean, the, obviously
11:46the momentum is kind of growing. People are hearing sports betting. Oh, people are talking
11:50about sports betting in Texas. Maybe we can do it. Of course, then they go and try and
11:55then they can't and then they probably get upset. Does this mean a whole lot for the
12:00chances next year? Unlikely as we've talked about ad nauseum and we'll continue to do
12:04so because just like Missouri is the latest state to launch or to be ready to launch,
12:10which we haven't had in a while. And the industry really wants it. Well, Texas is potentially
12:14the largest potential handle in the US and they really want to get their feet in there.
12:21However, of course, 2023, we had a bill to legalize sports betting that was passed by
12:26the house. So great. That's great. But the Senate, it didn't even get a vote. And that
12:32is because Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, super anti-gambling expansion. Same thing
12:38is going to happen this year. They only meet in the legislator every other year, every
12:42odd year. So 2025 is the next one. And Dan Patrick will still be in his position, still
12:48playing roadblock. So 2025 is unlikely, but that doesn't mean this momentum, the people
12:55trying to bet the legislators who do want to keep building the industry continues to
12:59pour resources in. I know we talked last week, I think about Miriam Adelson this year
13:05pouring $13 million into political action committees to try to get more people on board.
13:11And I think this is all just continuing the momentum build. Eventually more and more legislators
13:15will see my constituents want this. We need to do it. I mean, it's an insane amount of
13:21people in Texas that I can imagine want it. An insane amount of money between the Adelson's
13:27and Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban and everyone. So yeah, it's just something that I think
13:35we're gonna have to wait till at least 2027 to actually have really positive news for
13:39the industry. But I think we're going to see a lot of like little inches forward in 2025.
13:45All right, let's close it out with another state that would love to have sports betting.
13:49And they actually have a border. Like for example, Jacksonville is so close to Georgia.
13:54People can just drive over the border, make their bets in Florida, then go back and live
13:57in Georgia. We saw that with New York and New Jersey for a long time. I know that's
14:00happening. How about legalizing Georgia? Any shot of that coming next year?
14:04I think Georgia is one of the two likely states to actually get it done in 2025 along with
14:09Minnesota. And I think, you know, again, just like Missouri, you and I have been talking
14:13about both of these states since we started doing this. I mean, Georgia has been very
14:19close a couple of times. Minnesota has been very close a couple of times. And I think
14:23heading into 2025, Georgia is saying, all right, we need to get this done. I mean, there's
14:28enough of support. It's a bipartisan support. Last year in the Senate, both parties came
14:34together. We're like, this is a great bill. Let's do it. However, there's a couple people
14:38in there who want a constitutional amendment, which then makes people fall off because they're
14:42like, that's a much harder lift. But anyway, one of the sponsors, Brandon Beach, he wrote
14:48an op-ed in the Atlanta Constitutional Journal saying, you know what, the swing voters who
14:53changed the state from Biden in 2020 to Trump in 2024 want sports betting. And that means,
15:01I guess, he assumes most voters want it as well. And he singled out Latino voters, young
15:09male Latino voters who are apparently generally more apt to be sports bettors as well as they
15:15shifted a giant margin from Biden to Trump in 2024. So just a kind of an interesting
15:20anecdote from him in this op-ed, calling for his legislators to get it done and take away
15:26the black market and push it into the light and see what happens there. So again, Georgia,
15:32you and I, between Texas, Georgia, Minnesota, I think you're going to be sick of me coming
15:37on here, whether it's you, I don't know, maybe you like talking to me still, or the listeners.
15:42They might get sick of me, but you know what, we got to do the news.
15:45Yeah, you know, the other thing, Pat, before we close out just this conversation is, and
15:50I know we don't talk about it that often, but it seems like Florida has created this
15:53model for California to follow. I mean, I don't know if that's the way it's going to
15:57end up going, but I have a feeling when it does, that could be another topic for us.
16:01No, I think it definitely will be. And I think we'll start hearing more and more about that
16:05soon. I think the tribes are really kind of coming together and trying to think or build
16:10on what Florida did. And I think you're right. I think that's something that California particularly
16:15will be looking as an option. And yeah, just like Texas, actually probably more so than
16:22Texas, the industry wants in. So they're going to be willing to play ball to figure out how
16:27to get in there. And that is through the tribes realistically.
16:29Understood. All right, Pat, great to catch up with you once again. Have a great rest
16:34of your week. Thanks for coming on Newswire.
16:36Thanks as always, Craig.
16:37All right, Pat Evans from Legal Sports Report. We had some really big games yesterday in
16:41college basketball in case you missed it. The number one team in the country has lost
16:45again. How about this? Kansas loses this time to Missouri, who we just spent so much time
16:50talking about. 76 to 67, the final mark. Mitchell scored 17 points in the game. Also number
16:5625, UConn goes on the road to Austin. They beat the Texas Longhorns 76 to 65. UCLA hands
17:05Oregon its first loss of the season on a game-winning three. And Creighton off to such
17:09a nice start in college basketball has lost one of their better players. Pop Isaacs is
17:13going to have hip surgery and going to miss the remainder of the season. He was averaging
17:1816 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.9 assists through eight games.