Hour 3: Week 14 ‘Higher Register’ Predictions, plus NFL Executive Hans Schroeder

21:22Rich Eisen:If your city's about to have a big summer moment, this is a great time to maximize your space. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at Airbnb.com slash host. A bandwagon fan. The biggest insult in sports. But this summer, during the FIFA World Cup, it's an invitation, America. Never watched soccer before? Perfect. Think a corner kick is a karate move? Sure, why not? prefer sports where players can use their hands me too just here for the snacks now we're talking so grab a bag of lays and jump on the bandwagon we're undefeated lays the official sponsor of the fifa world cup 2026 the rich isa show podcast guys sit up straight nfl management's about to join us here okay clean up your workspace let me get mine ready hold on a minute joining us here There is none other than the executive vice president of the National Football League in charge of media distribution, Hans Schroeder.

22:25Rich Eisen:Good to see you, Hans. How are you? Great to see you, Rich and crew, and hope you guys had a great Thanksgiving, and thanks for having me on. Come on, man. I'm sure you did. Were you anywhere? Were you home with the fam watching the rest of America? Where were you? We were home hosting about 18 people for Thanksgiving, our three St. Bernards. It was a full house. Everybody watching football, including the pups. So we had an incredible Thanksgiving weekend. It was the epitome of what Coach Madden said about food, family, and football being all together. Hans, you've got three St. Bernards. What are you doing when you're not an executive vice president?

23:07Rich Eisen:And you're mountain rescue? What are you doing? What is this? They're keeping the streets of Rye safe, Rich. It's Rye New York, the tough streets. The mean streets of Rye. If you're stuck in the snow, knock on the Schroeder's front door and ask for St. Bernard help. I love that, man. That is fantastic. I will tell you, they're big NFL viewers, though. They're with me every Sunday, Sunday night, Monday night, Thursday night. They're on the couch with me watching. Brother, I'm telling you, like everyone else, did these numbers even surprise you, Hans? Look, starting just quickly, the season's been incredible today.

23:45You know, we're up 6%. I think we're pacing to be, you know, if not our highest viewed right now, we're sitting behind that 2015 high water mark. So it's been an incredible season overall to date. And, you know, as we went into Thanksgiving, we've had three straight years going into this year of just more and more viewership on Thanksgiving Day. And, you know, this year we had a ton of great matchups and some really fun ones with the NFC East, you know, playing the NFC North with the AFC North playing the NFC North. And we looked at those matchups when we did the schedule last spring and we said, you know what, let's really look at some of these windows that stand apart, whether it's kickoff or Thanksgiving.

24:23And let's see how high up can be here. And look, I think we thought there was a lot of opportunity. We thought, you know, there was audience there that fully hadn't been captured before. But, you know, even to get to the levels of 57-plus million for that game in Dallas or almost 48 in Detroit, we're talking levels of championship games. And so that was incredible to see. And I think reinforcing to us about let's continue to push here. Let's see where our fans are and how we best serve them. So what an incredible day. And finished NBC at their highest game ever Thursday night, too. So just an awesome Thanksgiving all around.

25:00Rich Eisen:And I love the Madden stuff, too, Holmes. You know, I love what a great idea that was. You know, it's four years now and counting. And, you know, it's just great nostalgia for, you know, people my age or even a little bit older and some maybe even younger. And for me to turn to my kids as we're watching. And so they I'm like, yeah, that video game guy. No, no, no. Sit down and take a look, you know, about what he what he is as well or was, you know, it's pretty cool. Well, Rich, it's such a great point. And, like, for, again, I'm in that same sort of age group and sort of you just think about how special Coach Madden was and how many people he brought into football.

25:42But on Thanksgiving and that unique day, and the cool part is he worked for all of our partners at one point in time. He looked clean. And so, you know, it's an idea to give credit where credit's due. I think Pete Abitante and some of the folks at the league, Roger and the commissioner says, like, how can we push? and celebrate Coach here, but our partners have really jumped on board there. And what really brings that to life in the best way is what they do authentically with his presence, with his history on Thanksgiving. And to me, that was really magical how they did that across all three games on Thursday with the tribute from Coach's presence on each of their networks.

26:22It was really cool.

26:23Rich Eisen:That's right. All three of them have video of him in their booths, CBS, Fox, and NBC. And I just loved, I mentioned it the other day on the show here, Jason Garrett's stories that he was able to share, including that menu from a dinner that he was having with Madden talking about Derek Jeter's famous flip play in a playoff game. And I'm saying, you know, you just choose Jeter first and then decide what sport you're playing next. And then they had a draft of other athletes in that regard. And then he had the menu of the writing down of his team and Madden's team in that, you know, you can't beat it.

27:02Rich Eisen:That was great. That was so great, so cool. The keeping of the turkey leg was a bit interesting and how long that stayed in his freezer. He and Brill need to go to that freezer a little bit more. I wanted him to open it up just to see what does a 30-year-old frozen turkey leg administered post-game to him by John Madden. What does that look like? It's a keeper. you know everybody took me the leg right i know i love that han schroeder here the nfl evp of media distribution here uh on the rich eyes and show after a monster weekend for uh the thanksgiving weekend and season uh for for the ratings and uh partners of the national football league here on the rich eyes and show so uh let me hit you on a few other uh subject matters that i'm sure are on your plate i'm sure you're asked about it a lot uh the international series you I've been calling a few of these games.

27:57Rich Eisen:Where do we go from where it currently is? Are we looking to have a full season of international games that you're now going to sell off to another partner potentially? Is that the idea here, Hans? Look, I think the idea starts with just continuing to grow the game, and we think there's so much opportunity ahead of us. We're going to have flag football in the Olympics in 28, and hopefully Brisbane after that. But you, Rich, maybe even better than me, you're there. You're part of it every year. You've seen the games, whether in London or whether in Germany or this past year in Sao Paulo, and that excitement and the energy and what we see in each of those markets where we take our games, for us, it's only reinforced the view of there's more opportunity out there.

28:42And we think, and certainly I believe, it's the greatest game there is. And so the more opportunity to bring that to more people around the world, we think that's a good thing. I think we definitely know we're excited. We'll be back in Brazil next year in Rio. We're also going to be back in Australia, which is a super fun way to start the year in Melbourne with week one. And I think we're working on the rest of the schedule and where else we'll be around the globe. But I think you'll see that continue to grow. The commissioner's been pretty public about his view that there's an opportunity to play more games.

29:13So need a little bit more time to lock in that schedule next year. Hopefully you'll be part of it. Sure. in some way, shape, or form, because you do such a great job with those games. But yeah, I think we're just still on the tip of the iceberg. And look, we're always sensitive. We know we're taking those games and sometimes out of home markets. But, you know, it's an awesome thing to see some of those clubs be celebrated in those different markets around the world. And again, we just think there's a lot more there ahead of us.

29:41Rich Eisen:No, I hear you. I mean, you're meeting fans where they are. I see it. And again, games in Germany, for instance, it's not people who sound like us. They're legit locals that are going to this game that might have fallen in love with it from the NFL Europe days. Well, they're named like me, though. I have met a few Hanses and Schroeders. I have met them. But it's for real. And the NBA shouldn't be one of the only sports that actually sells itself abroad from the United States. and the NFL does have fans where they meet them. And I'll tell you, I do speak to friends of mine who love the four windows of football.

30:21Rich Eisen:They just love, you know, that fourth morning window of football. And certainly it's a little bit early out here in Los Angeles, but it's awesome. And for those of us who work at NFL Network, it's great to see games on our air as well. You know, the question is, are you hearing from partners of the NFL saying, we want to get in on this? So let's get more of these games as fourth window and we'll take a package from you? Absolutely. And look, you hit on a great point. The NFL Network, I think we're up over 30 % this year with those 930 windows. They've had six games in that time slot. And look, I think certainly we have a lot of considerations there with West Coast fans for West Coast teams.

31:01But, you know, we look at that 930 window. It's an incremental way to just give fans more football on a Sunday, which we think is exciting. It's also internationally. Actually, it's in a time slot that gets games into a really attractive viewing period in Europe, also reaches parts of Asia in primetime on Sunday where some of our other games don't do that. So as we think about engaging the world, we really thought that 930 slot and believe that 930 slots becoming more and more, you know, embraced by our fan base and excited that there's just more football on those Sundays. And so, you know, we definitely think it's something we're going to build on.

31:37We've certainly had other partners ask about it. We think NFL Network has done a great job building it. So, you know, we'll see where the future goes. But I think, you know, we're here to stay at 930, and there's probably going to be more of them in the future.

31:49Rich Eisen:Well, I mean, again, speaking on behalf of all of my colleagues and yours as well, you know, at NFL Network, we love it. It's great. And, you know, obviously we love being NFL Network as well. So if you don't mind me asking here, what's the future for NFL Network that you can share with me and everyone else? I know this is sort of the internal stuff that we talk about on our team meetings and things like that. Where do things stand on that front, on the media? Well, we announced, you know, the partnership with ESPN back in August. And I think we've been working hard and continuing in advance through that process.

32:28Look, for me, and having been around, you know, I started my career at the NFL in 2001. One of the first things I did in 2003 was work and help develop the business plan and be part of the team that launched NFL Network. Saw you come on board and many, many others working with Steve, Wernstein and team. It's been amazing to see the ride, but the media landscape continues to change. And so one of the real exciting things to me about this partnership is it's going to find a home for NFL Network for the future that's going to make it stronger. It's going to make it stronger for the network. It's going to make it stronger for the fans and football fans everywhere.

33:05When you think about what ESPN can bring and add to the network with all their production capabilities, all their infrastructure, what they invest in football and what they'll continue to invest and grow from a football fan perspective, We think it's only going to make networks stronger, more programming, more distribution in the future, including on ESPN Unlimited. So I'm pretty excited about how the journey of the NFL network has continued through different phases. And I think the next chapter ahead with ESPN is a really exciting one. So a lot of work to get there. But hopefully, as the landscape changes around us, this is a way to sort of have a bigger and better future for NFL network.

33:48Rich Eisen:Well, listen, I've mentioned this to you off air. I'll say it here on air. Obviously, I echo that sentiment as somebody who's finishing this show on Disney Plus and ESPN app and ESPN radio today and then doing it on Friday and then doing game day morning for NFL Network on Sunday. I'm kind of standing in the middle of of waiting. Is there, you know, I understand this is like Fight Club. Do we know when T's are crossed and I's dotted on this? What do you think? We're still working through the process, Richard. Nothing more I can really add or share there. But we're hard at it and on both ends. And we're going to stay at it.

34:24And again, we think there's a great day ahead for both NFL Network and ESPN. But you're right. You're at this interesting place you can see into both worlds and hopefully see why we think that vision of how it can come together is such a great one.

34:36Rich Eisen:I live it every day. Yeah. I'm not just saying that because we're on live Disney air right now. But I do live it every day. And in terms of that, I love living it every day. You know, my contract's up next year, Hans. I'm going to send you a term sheet. I'm going to cross Lane Kiffin's name out and just put my name in and sign it, send it to you. Just send it back to me whenever you want, okay? And it will be interesting to see who you take with you too, Rich. No, no, I'm not going anywhere. No, no, no. No, no, no. Forget about the leaving stuff. This is the staying. You know, and there'll be some numbers on it.

35:12Rich Eisen:I'm not aware of what they are. You know, I don't know what they are. I've just heard they're good. I'm just going to send it to you. Just again, it's rich lane. Same number of letters. Just going to cross it out. Kiffin's a little longer than eyes and it might be a little bit different, but just I'll sign it. You send it back and then we're good. Right. There we go. Okay. There we go. It's done. This is binding guys. This is binding. Well, you know, I heard it. Feller is, you know, binding. He's, you know, yeah. My, my, my audio executive who was working the board over there, He says he was a notary.

35:44Rich Eisen:So you are now, right? Yeah, absolutely. Got you. Official. See, there we go. Hans ain't buying it. All right. Very good. And the Super Bowl in Santa Clara, once again, Super Bowl 60. That's going down. Any idea? When are we going to hear more cities named? Where are we on that for down the road for future Super Bowls? Hans, anything that you can share? Kelly and team are hardworking at the rich. Obviously, there's a ton of interest. And, you know, everywhere we go, that's another area. You know, you talk about the viewership and how that just continues to grow on Thanksgiving. What's that number looking like?

36:25Rich Eisen:Give me a number. What do you think for Super Bowl 60 based on these numbers, right? I know you don't want to talk. That's Fight Club. I know we don't want to talk about that. We're putting anything in the lead. I just think to your question, like the Super Bowl, regardless of where it is, they continue to make it bigger, better, you know, and you see that certainly how it comes to life when you're in a city over those weekends. But you also see that for our fans and how it comes to life with our partners. So, you know, nothing to share there, but hopefully, you know, that we're excited about sort of the opportunities in the cities that we have ahead of us with Super Bowl.

37:01You know, it's a great selection, a lot of interest, and I think that'll be great. You know, as we look out where we're going to be.

37:07Rich Eisen:Yeah, let me know however I can help hosting here in Los Angeles next year. My house is yours, Hans, as you know, always. Thank you, Rich. That's very kind of you. Who's that photograph of over your left shoulder? Who is that person? That is my father. No kidding. Back in sort of 19, I think, 62, he was a young coach at West Point where he soon worked with Bill Parcells and a bunch of Bill Battle and Ken Hatfield and was sort of a cradle of coaches in the early 60s in West Point. And so I just thought that was a special one. One of our partners sent me that a few years ago. And, you know, he passed a few years ago actually on Super Bowl morning.

37:49But it was something I, you know, wanted his presence. And, you know, he obviously was sort of formulative in shaping my love for the sport and playing the sport and otherwise. So a great way to sort of remember dad every day.

38:00Rich Eisen:Football is family, right? That's what we always say. Hans, thanks for the time, man. I appreciate you coming on here. Anytime. Anytime. Thanks, buddy. Anytime, man. Stay well. Have a great holiday season. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving, and thanks for having me. You got it, man. I'll see you on game day morning, Sunday morning, all four hours. Yes, you will. I will be there. That's Hans Schroeder, everybody. NFL Executive Vice President of Media Distribution right here on the Rich Eisen Show, and I expect a ratings boost just from that. Millions. I wonder if the dogs travel with Hans. St.

38:31Rich Eisen:Bernard's do not travel my dad. Three safer cars. Three of them. That's a lot of dogs. Three of them. It's going to be a big couch. I think you might have to ask the ultimate boss for a Lyft to make that all work. And I don't mean a car. Oh, no. Do you think the term sheet's going to get signed? Absolutely. No.

38:53The notary seal will not be official. Because it wasn't on the actual page. So that entire conversation is like

38:59Rich Eisen:the yellow line on the screen. It's not official. That's what you're saying? Unofficial. All right. Just cross it out. Good try. Cross out Lane Kiffin. Just scroll in. I had to go for it. Rich Eisen and see how it works. I mean, was Hans inviting you to Australia? I took it that way. Oh. Yeah. That's what I picked up. I'll put a shrimp on that, Barbie. Plus three. No, no, no. I don't know who you people are anymore. See, that's what happens, Chris. People get, you know, they get success and then they forget. That's so cold. Or I should have said, as I throw the break, sounds like a great idea.

39:34Rich Eisen:Sure, you guys can come. That sounds great. Thank you. Let me work on that. Give us that 17 % Dallas Cowboy chance. Yeah, roll your break. That'll be great.

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41:22Rich Eisen:The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast. Back here on The Rich Eisen Show, ESPN Radio is presented by Progressive Insurance. See why over 43 million drivers trust Progressive to stay protected on the road. See for yourself at progressive.com. Bert in Ann Arbor, Michigan is definitely not Breer here on the Rich Eisen Show. Been hanging on for almost three hours. What's up, Bert? What's going on, Rich? How are you today? You tell me what's going on there, Bert. What's happening there? So, long-time listener, first-time caller. I can't thank you. You know, I can't thank you enough as a fellow New Yorker, a fellow Los Angelino, and a Michigan man for your work over the years.

42:01Rich Eisen:Damn, look at all of us. We're all part of the same world. Fantastic. With that being said, we both root for extremely struggling franchises. I root for the Raiders. And look, as a Michigan man, I hope this does not happen. But Notre Dame makes the playoff, and they win a national title. Do you think that makes Marcus Freeman think a little bit more about the NFL? Oh, I see what you're saying. That if Freeman accomplishes a mission in Notre Dame, it'll make him more apt to take a job in the NFL is what you're saying. Correct. All right. Interesting. I can't speak for him, but regardless, Regardless, he doesn't have to win a damn thing for the NFL to be falling all over themselves for this guy.

43:00Rich Eisen:Every year, by the way. I mean, every possible year. And thanks for the call, Bert. I appreciate your sentiments and us sharing the same background. And I love how he's like, heaven forbid Notre Dame wins it all. You remember last year, I told him and I told Rodney Leonard, this guy is too nice. I want to root against him for being the Notre Dame guy. I know, right? Certainly since he played for Ohio State as well, I should hate his guts. It's the exact opposite. Can't do it. I think the Giants would fall all over themselves, and any NFL team would fall all over themselves to get him in a meeting room and see if they could convince him.

43:37Rich Eisen:Any NFL team with an opening this offseason will be interviewing. I just don't even know if he would take the meetings. But again, the reason why I'd get out of college is you're just – go to the pros. Go where they actually have rules. and you're in a spot where the rules keep changing. And the rules are even changing about what we're applying to the standard of who makes the playoffs or not. And he's in the middle of all that right now. 844-204-RICH, number to dial. It's Thursday. It's time for Higher Register Thursday. Hit it. Hit it. There's a chance. The Rich Eisen shows. But there could be.

44:17Higher Register. Take of the week.

44:20Rich Eisen:All right, Christopher, you're first up. Give me a high register take of the week for week 14. There's a lot to choose from here. A lot to choose from. And maybe not a sexy game, but I am looking at the road team in this one. Bad loss last week after they were on top of everyone's power rankings. And you know the Cardinals have been pretty frisky this season. They like to wing it around. And I look at this and I just think the Rams are totally fine. There's nothing to see here. Oh, boy. You went high register than the Rams. They're totally fine. They are totally fine. I agree with you. Nothing to see.

44:53Rich Eisen:But you're going higher register. They're at Arizona. Okay. Jake, brisket's frisky. Marv is back. Okay. Getting a little healthier. That's a fantasy thing right there. What do you got over there, TJ? Interesting that you do that. Just saying. A Ram season ticket holder. Totally fine. So you're like, whose house? The Ram's house? The Ram's house? Wow, you don't normally go higher register. Normally it's very declarative as to whose house it is. TJ? All right, guys. So we got a big AFC South matchup this weekend, right? We got the eight and four Jaguars hosting the eight and four Colts. Yes. And, you know, as I'm sitting here looking at stuff, Rich, and just kind of making my opinion and my thought known to you on this, the losing team between the Jags and the Colts, they're going to end up missing the playoffs.

45:40Rich Eisen:Wow. Yeah. They can change their name to Saran because it's a wrap. I'm telling you, one of these teams, whoever loses, reserve the U-Hauls. That's a bold statement. It's over. That's a bold statement. I'm going to go completely out of the realm of sniffing it right now. Team that's trying to get into the sniffing it realm. And they have with a few wins in a row. And they're taking on the Jets. And I know Atlanta couldn't pull off that win in MetLife last week. But the Miami Dolphins really do have a shot at this. they win this one, they've got a game of four to take on the Steelers, to get back to 500, oh, they've got Cincinnati and Tampa, and they're not New England, so, all right, let me rephrase here.

46:28Rich Eisen:So they've got to win eight games in a row? No, let me rephrase. The Miami Dolphins really do have a shot at making this close. I'm right there with you. I mean, I know I'm kind of cutting around the edges here, but the Dolphins really do have a shot at making this close. I mean, if they went out, they're 10-7. 10-7. And the Chiefs are taking on the Texans, and the Steelers could be 6-7. That's right, they are. It could be 6-7 hosting 6-7 next week. 6-7. And now we're really close. Could you imagine if it's 6-7 versus 6-7 on Monday Night Football? Oh, my gosh. Kedj will be so happy. Oh, my God.

47:04Rich Eisen:You'll see every ESPN person going like this. Oh, that jumped the shark. Thanks for listening to the Rich Eisen Show podcast. You can watch and listen to The Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from noon to 3 Eastern on ESPN Radio, Disney Plus, and on the ESPN app. The Rich Eisen Show, the podcast.

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