648. The Merger You Never Knew You Wanted
3 October - 1 hour 6 minsThe N.F.L. is a powerful cartel with imperial desires. College football is about to undergo a financial reckoning. So maybe they should team up? (Part one of a two-part series.)
SOURCES:DeMaurice Smith, former executive director of the National Football League Players Association.Domonique Foxworth, sports analyst and former N.F.L. player.Jeffrey Kessler, partner at the law firm of Winston & Strawn.Oliver Luck, sports executive and consultant.Victor Matheson, professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.
RESOURCES:Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America's Game, by DeMaurice Smith (2025)."Is there a Case for Subsidizing Sports Stadiums?" by Victor Matheson (Journal of Po...
Series Episodes
How Can We Break Our Addiction to Contempt? (Update)
Arthur Brooks, an economist and former head of the American Enterprise Institute, believes that there is only one remedy for our political polarization: love. In this 2021 episode, we ask if Brooks is a fool for thinking this — and if perhaps you are his kind of fool?
40 mins
15 October Finished
649. Should Ohio State (and Michigan, and Clemson) Join the N.F.L.?
Soccer leagues around the world use a promotion-and-relegation system to reward the best teams and punish the worst. We ask whether American sports fans would enjoy a similar system. (Part two of a two-part series.)
55 mins
10 October Finished
Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Update)
In this episode we first published in 2021, the political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that different forms of government create different styles of corruption — and that the U.S. and China have more in common than we’d like to admit.
57 mins
26 September Finished
647. China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers.
In his new book “Breakneck,” Dan Wang argues that the U.S. has a lot to learn from China. He also says that “no two peoples are more alike.” We have questions.
1 hour 1 min
19 September Finished
Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income? (Update)
A lot of jobs in the modern economy don’t pay a living wage, and some of those jobs may be wiped out by new technologies. So what’s to be done? We revisit an episode from 2016 for a potential solution.
36 mins
17 September Finished
