Eagles

“They Block Us from Being There” – John Kincade Thinks 97.5 Should Be Able to Broadcast from Eagles Training Camp

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 16th, 2023 · 9:58 AM EDT

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I was dropping my kid off at preschool on Wednesday morning when I heard John Kincade say this on 97.5 the Fanatic:

From Wednesday morning, @JohnKincade thinks 97.5 the Fanatic should be allowed to broadcast from Eagles training camp: pic.twitter.com/BTlEobEdFW

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) August 16, 2023

The original hinting/shading happened during the Adam Schefter segment, but here’s the relevant portion of the above clip, transcribed:

“Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, Atlanta, Carolina, Saints, just a few that I can tell you for fact – they do not restrict opposing radio stations that are not their flagships from being on site and broadcasting at training camp. The Eagles do. The Eagles do that. So when I tell you that it’s different, it’s different. The policy here is different. It is restrictive. To me, that’s a negligent policy. And yes, they block us from being there. We’d love to be there, love to be able to broadcast there. It is not common in the NFL for that to happen. That is an Eagles policy that goes against the vast majority of NFL teams.”

John has made comments like this before. Last year, he lamented what he called “stupid-ass” Eagles policies that he claims limit the availability of players for 97.5 the Fanatic. There’s no official Birds policy that bars players or coaches from appearing on 97.5, but certainly 94 WIP gets first priority on everything.

That’s because WIP is the official radio partner and pays good money for those rights, so they naturally enjoy wide-ranging benefits, like a broadcasting booth at NovaCare and exclusive player interviews and all of that. Just yesterday afternoon, for instance, Fletcher Cox and Nakobe Dean walked over to the Jon Marks and Ike Reese on-site setup and spent 30 minutes on the radio with them.

That’s the Eagles being a good partner, and you would expect nothing less. Same thing with television. They are NBC’s partner and so NBC gets certain privileges that ABC, CBS, and FOX do not. Furthermore, if 97.5 gets a broadcast booth at NovaCare, does Action News get one? You kind of open the door and find a slippery slope awaiting you. Plus, there’s a ton of shit going on down at NovaCare, a million tents and guests and fans and partners and all of that. It’s a pretty complicated operation.

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To be fair, Kincade has never argued that WIP shouldn’t enjoy those privileges. His stance is that he thinks 97.5 should ALSO allowed to be there, even if they aren’t the official rights holder. Maybe, for instance, the Fanatic has a smaller setup at NovaCare, and they get a few guests here and there, not a Jalen Hurts exclusive, but maybe Josh Sweat on Monday and Sydney Brown on Wednesday. Is that fair? I have no clue. You’d have to ask WIP and the Eagles, who are indeed justified in crafting whatever set of guidelines they’d like. There’s also a responsibility for the digital and PR teams to organize those contractually-mandated rights holder interviews and coordinate all of the in-house media interviews and productions (Spadaro’s stuff, Fran Duffy’s video, etc), so naturally some things are just going to rise to the top when you look at prioritization and staffing power.

And finally, at the risk of burying the lede, there’s no dearth of Eagles media coverage here. It’s not like the Birds’ communications staff sits there and thinks, “how can we generate more discussion?” because that’s all anybody talks about from September through April. Maybe Tampa allows the other radio station down there because they benefit from the extra coverage. That’s a thought to consider.

Is there a right or wrong way to do this? You tell me. Should the Eagles allow 97.5 to be on site, or should WIP continue to enjoy exclusivity since they pay good money to be the official radio partner?