It IS a “Cinderella” run. | The Jeff Ward Show podcast.

March 24, 2026·38 min·3 clips

Cam Scadaboo told the 'Bring the Juice' podcast that CTE is 'an excuse' and asthma is fake — and Ward notes a 2023 Boston University study found CTE in 92% of deceased NFL players examined.

Flag football is getting pulled into the star machine. The host's theory is blunt: NBC has the Summer Olympics in L.A., the NFL has NBC as a media partner, and both sides know what football stars can do for attention. That is the point. He frames the push as business first, football second, with sponsors wanting recognizable names and owners agreeing because star power sells. Would a general manager love it? He says no. Sending star players into Olympic flag football may help the brand, but it also creates a problem for the people paid to protect a roster. The owners signed off anyway, which tells him where the priority sits. NBC gets ratings, the NFL keeps a partner happy, and everyone gets another spectacle to sell. Team USA already beats everybody. The host brings up that objection and waves it off, because the existing flag football team is not why Americans would tune in. Americans watch stars. That is the point he keeps coming back to, and he does not dress it up as a noble sports mission. NBC wants names. The NFL, in his read, is willing to help when the upside is attention, sponsors, and taking care of NBC. The football case sounds thin. The marketing case sounds obvious. That is why the idea can annoy a general manager and still make sense to owners. What bothers him is how easily money and ratings get sold as something cleaner. Olympic flag football may already have players. The push is about giving the event a bigger stage with bigger names.

As heard by us

A blunt sports business take on why star power is driving Olympic flag football.

This is a blunt sports business read on why the NFL keeps nudging star players toward Olympic flag football. It ties NBC's Olympics rights, league media incentives, sponsor interest, and ratings upside into one argument, then lands on a plain conclusion: the business case is…

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You want the NFL's Olympic flag-football star-power play in plain English.

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