Weekend Edition: NFL's 'Isak saga' - A tale of player power & Netflix drama - The Sports Agents

0:03This is a Global Player original podcast.

0:06Gabby Logan:The NFL has kicked off then with the Super Bowl champions Philadelphia Eagles taking on the Dallas Cowboys who are still reeling from the biggest transfer drama of the summer.

0:15Jason Bell:This is the Alexander Isak of the NFL, a huge standoff between Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones, the Dallas Cowboys owner, who is now the centre of Netflix's latest sporting drama, which Chappers endorses and recommends everybody watches.

0:31Gabby Logan:I am. I absolutely love it. Parsons has become the highest paid non-quarterback in history. And we thought that we did transfer drama over here.

0:40Jason Bell:Well, former Dallas Cowboy Jason Bell joins us in the studio to explain all.

0:43Gabby Logan:Welcome to The Sports Agents.

0:59Jason Bell:Hello, Mark. Hi, Gabby. So Jason Bell coming in later for the story of the ISAC of the NFL with a few more noughts on the end.

1:07Gabby Logan:Yeah, I think it's$49 million a season, I think. It's impressive, isn't it?

1:14Jason Bell:It is very impressive. And we thought£3 billion spent in the transfer window was impressive. We had Troy Deeney on to have a chat about why Liverpool have broken with their recent tradition of not spending these kinds of figures. Why they spent£415 million in this particular window. Is there something about the current PSR rules about to change that we don't know yet? The rules to me are just weird. Chelsea are just selling laptops for£10 ,000 to each other. it's like it's mental like these rules don't make any sense so it's like they're the only ones that came through this period in the top six with a net profit weren't they Chelsea yeah 3 million yeah was that another hotel sold no that was all players that was the under 12 boys oh was it under 12 yeah and the car park they saw the car park as well but no I just think look I think they're all very wealthy people they all figure out ways to get around it

2:06Gabby Logan:there are sort of a couple of things you mentioned Christian Perslow so he said to me that he thought But if the rules are to change and that allows more money to be spent by Villa, Newcastle, I don't know, maybe Everton with their new owners, all of a sudden you've maybe got nine teams trying to get into five Champions League places. So the odds get worse. And if Liverpool have got hedge fund manager owners, as Troy says, with their logic and what they demand and metrics and how they use it, they've had the perfect opportunity to not only go for it, bringing players in, but also the opportunity to weaken some of those opponents who might be a threat to them.

2:45Gabby Logan:Newcastle being one of them, it's kind of like being a perfect storm for them. He's always good, isn't he, Troy? Because he's got such experience at playing at different levels. He's got a real knowledge and coach's eye for how teams set up and play. And he's also a massive wind-up merchant. So actually, as a pundit, he's brilliant to work with.

3:10Jason Bell:Yeah, yeah. And it's very clear that some people get telly quicker than others, don't they? And they understand, you know, you work with ex-sports people who all really want to learn and really want to be great. And they, you know, they used to critique. And some of them just, I think, get telly. And he, I think he's very natural.

3:25Gabby Logan:It is very natural. Now, as well as hearing from Troy, we also spoke about Grand Slam track. This is Michael Johnson's venture to try and get more eyeballs on athletics so that it's not just popping up in the four year Olympic cycle or a world championship cycle. The problem is, though, with this, Gabby, isn't it, that a lot of the athletes who have already appeared in Grand Slam track haven't got their money. And in fact, the season never finished. No.

3:54Jason Bell:And so we spoke to Agent Paul Doyle, who had athletes who were involved and haven't been paid, and the Athletics' Adam Crofton. I think there is a school of thought that, you know, Michael probably felt that these people wouldn't let him down. But there is also, I think, a naivety attached to that, that you do need written, binding legal assurances if you're going to contract athletes and vendors and facilities, all of which are still owed a huge amount of money. So, you know, if you really cut it down and boil it down, by Philadelphia, for sure, he was sending people to work without knowing if he could pay them.

4:35Gabby Logan:What would you say to your athletes about whether they should participate or not? I have some athletes that this money that was due to come in from Grand Slam is 70 % of their earnings for the entire year. I feel if they come through and make good on their payments from last year, I would be wholeheartedly supporting.

4:56Jason Bell:And I reached out to Michael as a friend actually the other day because I know it will be hurting him a lot that this is the current situation with Grand Slam track. And as I said before, he's someone who is deeply passionate about his sport and the potential for athletes to actually be recognised and earn a living.

5:14Gabby Logan:You can catch up with every episode of The Sports Agents on YouTube, Global Player or wherever you get your pods. just hit subscribe or follow and please rate and review as well.

5:22Jason Bell:Up next, former NFL player Jason Bell is here as the new football season kicks off after one of the tastiest standoffs we've seen for a while. The Sports Agents. The Sports Agents. With Gabby Logan and Mark Chapman. Jason Bell has joined us in the studio and ostensibly to talk about a trade which has really kind of lit up the excitement and got everybody at Fever Pitch ahead of the new NFL season. But Jason, before we begin, can I just say, if this is not something that is sexist or root, you smell divine. Oh my goodness. Thank you very much. I'm here to impress. You know, when you invite me in here, I want to make sure I'm on time, I smell good, and I have no clue what I'm wearing because it was a gift.

6:09Gabby Logan:But thank you very much. Well, do you know what? I actually associate smelling nice with not just Jason, but with O.C. as well when we used to do, no, but when we used to do the NFL, when we used to do the NFL show together, O.C. always used to, he was always the smartest of the three of us, but he always used to smell incredible. And one day the producer of the show asked him what he was wearing and he said what he was wearing. And the following week he came in with a small bottle of it for the producer and for me, and maybe you got one as well. So then for the next few weeks, we all smelt the same and it was amazing.

6:44Gabby Logan:That's true. And then I thought, oh, this smells great. I'm going to buy myself a bottle. And then I went to buy myself a bottle. And I was like, holy crap. I'd never worn aftershave until I met O.C. And it nearly bankrupted me. O.C. smells expensive, doesn't it? I mean, the man is a prince. Let's start there. Let's be honest. He is. That wasn't a fragrance.

7:08Jason Bell:That was the tears of a Nordic princess from the Viking era. They just bottled it. Yeah, well, I'm glad we've established that anyway.

7:18Gabby Logan:So thanks to the NFL, we all smell lovely.

7:21Jason Bell:Well, we know there's a lot of money in the NFL and that brings us nicely around, trying to make a connection between smells and what we're here to talk about today. We've spent a lot of this week talking about the transfer market in the Premier League. And as a Newcastle United fan, I've spent a lot of time worrying about when our star player, Alexander Isak, would leave and eventually he has. Am I right, Mark? Am I right, Jason, to draw some parallels between what we're talking about today?

7:48Gabby Logan:Yeah, I think you are, because we're talking about Micah Parsons, who has left the Dallas Cowboys, has been traded by the Dallas Cowboys and has gone to a huge rival of theirs. You know, if you look at the NFL, you have the AFC and the NFC, the champions of each that meet in the Super Bowl. So you kind of, to a certain extent, have two halves of the draw. And Dallas have traded Micah Parsons to Green Bay, who are in that same half in the NFC. So Dallas will have to get past Green Bay at some point if they're even to make a Super Bowl. But he is one of the biggest names and one of the best players in the NFL.

8:24Gabby Logan:And he wanted more money. And they weren't giving it him, Jason. And so he asked to leave. And it's not unusual that, but it is with a player of this stature, yes? Yeah, like any good relationship, when communication stops, bad things happen. And that seems to what happened and occurred with Micah Parsons and Jerry Jones, the owner, because Jerry Jones likes to do things his way. He likes to manage these negotiations his way, which is come on in, sit next to me. Let's talk about it. Let's figure out the framework of this deal. And then we'll go to your agent and we'll put it on the table and we'll say, get it done around these parameters.

9:03Well, that didn't happen this time. And Micah Parsons' agent is one of the top agents in the game. And he looked at that first deal and he said, man, get this out of here. This isn't going to work. This isn't happening. This is a joke, right? I understand you had a conversation with our player, but I'm here for that. Oh, Jerry Jones doesn't like that. That's not how he rolls. So once that happened, you saw the roller coaster of events, which was we're not communicating. We're being loud in the media. He was saying certain things about Michael Parsons. He did not like now, Jerry. This is what he does.

9:35It's the noise. And everybody thought he's just trying to steal the narrative, right? He's trying to control the media cycle. He does it. He's a genius at it. But nobody thought it was going to come to this. I was completely in shock, Mark. There was no way you're getting ready to probably the best defensive player in the NFL, like you said, in your conference. I mean, this is a guy you're going to have to go through and a team you're going to have to go through to get to the Super Bowl. It makes no sense except for pride. And that's where we are.

10:06Jason Bell:And obviously money is a big part of this. Did he deserve, in your opinion, what he was asking for and what he was expecting? Yes, he deserved it. And yet you're right. Money is important. But Jerry Jones loves throwing money at guys, especially top players. I feel like he celebrates it more than anything. Osi tells a story about when his friend got the biggest contract in football. Jerry threw him a party after he paid him. So this is, you know, Jerry's the kind of guy, I might not win the game, but I won and pay him more than anybody. And now you have the news cycle for a week, right? He could have stole everything.

10:39You're going to play the Super Bowl champions this week to start the season. He could have been the highlight of the conversation by paying Micah Parsons. Instead, he's the highlighted conversation by letting him leave.

10:50Gabby Logan:And Micah Parsons is now the highest paid player who isn't a quarterback in the NFL. That's right, isn't it? Yes, without a doubt. And it's because he's the guy who impacts the quarterback more than anybody. Let me ask you, you know, you lived over here for a long time now. You see how we are with footballers who demand moves or demand better contracts and how we view that. I think we always are quite negative towards players who ask to move on or ask for a transfer or think they aren't getting paid properly. It always feels to me the opposite. it with the NFL. And I don't know where the Dallas fans sympathies are with now that Micah Parsons has gone.

11:34Gabby Logan:Are they with Parsons? Is the hate leveled at the owner rather than the player? I think they're with Parsons. I mean, he's always been adamant that he wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy. Now, what the impact that players have to deal with is the fact that they're throwing out our salaries all the time. So nobody's going to feel bad for you the same way it is here. But my goodness, what are the owners making? So in this situation, what's happening is Michael Parson was well aware of that. So he kept telling the media, listen, I want to be here. I want to be valued. I want to be paid according to my performance, but I don't want to go anywhere.

12:10I mean, when he left, he said he was mad.

12:12Jason Bell:So this is where it does differ with Isak, obviously, because Isak wasn't saying he wanted to be there. He was saying it's all broken down. And he was in a way controlling at the beginning the narrative by not going on tour and Michael did the same thing. He kind of removed his services, didn't he? But when you say he's talking to media, is it a talking head or is he putting out statements on his social media? Do you see him on shows? He does both. And I'm glad you brought this up because that's a little bit of a problem with Michael Parsons, people say. He had his own podcast this season. He was not scared to voice his opinion on anything.

12:44And being one of the best players in the league, playing for the franchise that gets the most attention, everything you said you know is dissected so yeah he would say it and people had different perceptions of what he was saying and i think here you know when i look at the footballers here man they are superstars i mean they're at the top of the food chain and i i understand why they don't talk really yes i i get it i would be fearful like it's a lot of heat man like nfl guys get away with so much more really we really do we've been encouraged to get in front of the camera

13:20Jason Bell:yeah especially the guys cameras have been encouraged to get in front of you um you know we we see cameras going into dressing rooms that is not you know an unusual thing to happen is it to see players with a towel around them in the in the aftermath of a match talking to a camera you know when we get any kind of unusual access well i mean the ferrari this season with players being spoken to at half time has been a huge yeah yeah that's a big change i'm like wow yeah of

13:43Gabby Logan:course but but but also gabby's you know there are microphones everywhere within the nfl you know they're on the sidelines you know that audio then comes back in documentaries or or whatever profile pieces decades after i mean i've been wanging on to everybody about just how good the jerry jones dallas cowboys documentary is on netflix i don't have you seen it yet jason i mean it is absolutely off the scale brilliant you don't have to like nfl just to be amazed at some of the stories put it in

14:16Jason Bell:my diary you gotta watch it because he's been going on a bit you have to watch it starting tonight i did it on my flight from la and i was locked in oh i'm trying to do it bit by because

14:25Gabby Logan:i'm gonna be so sad when i finished it i'm trying to do it but one of the beauties of it is it goes back to the 70s and 80s and you're still seeing footage and audio from behind the scenes back then that's how far ahead they were you know you can hear sideline conversations between michael irvin and emmett smith who were playing for the cowboys in the 90s it it is

14:50Jason Bell:phenomenal so do you think it's cultural though that we you know you've talked about the fact that he's owned his narrative he's had his podcast he said what he's got to say his agents piled in as well he said i'm sure he's not been shy of media either his agent his agent has kind of stayed a little quiet though he's been he's played the reverse role he's put out a statement but he hasn't been out there too much yet and then what the play this is the thing that i always think the human side of this the player then has to go somewhere in his case to green bay and they've got to deliver without a doubt all this talk and maybe sometimes that's why players decide in the premier league particularly just to not give themselves that extra bit of pressure because we see the big signings this summer, the big Liverpool signings, the analysis that's kind of going on vert.

15:36Jason Bell:And is he doing what he's been brought in to do? Every single step that he's taking on the pitch, is that adding to the value of the club that signed him? Without a doubt. But I've been around top-level athletes most of my life, and I wasn't one. So I was able to observe what they did well. And the one thing that was clear as day, the differentiator, was the pressure. the ones that could handle that pressure it didn't matter what it was listen if you're the highest paid guy in the locker room we're looking at you you better perform if you don't we're like is he worth that i mean so you got pressure from us you got pressure from the fans you got pressure from the owners the team everything but they manage it on the biggest stage they find a way to step up and deliver it's not for everybody now micah parsons is one of those guys though and they're Just an indication of that, Jason, I think he's taken like the number one, hasn't he?