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John Ourand & Eriq Gardner
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Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (Thursday is an Inner Circle exclusive)
A professional-grade rundown on the business of sports from John Ourand, the industry’s preeminent journalist, covering the leagues, players, agencies, media deals, and the egos fueling it all. Plus, the latest intel from Eriq Gardner on the sports legal beat.
THE LATEST ARTICLES
Goodell’s Bidding War Begins…
The big question plaguing sports media executives who descended on the Bay Area last week: How much will the networks have to pay to maintain their NFL packages when the league opts out of its deals in the fall and the trillion-dollar streamers push their chips into the middle of the table?
John Ourand
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February 5, 2026
The NFL’s Big Chill
By moving up the timeline of its rights negotiations to this year, the NFL has thrown the entire sports market into chaos, as secondary leagues (and they’re all secondary to the Shield) scramble to make new deals while the networks prepare to dig deeper than ever.
John Ourand
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February 2, 2026
Requiem for an R.S.N. Dream
Main Street Sports’s wind-down this spring will cap the slow-motion decline of a certain type of local sports deal. As teams look to their respective leagues for safety, and the market resets, is there any future for the regional sports model?
John Ourand
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January 29, 2026
Exile From Main Street
The embattled R.S.N. Main Street Sports owns local rights to 29 teams across three leagues, but it’s running out of money and options in its quest to stay afloat. Despite whispers of a mystery investor, a Monday deadline is looming, and leagues and executives are set to flee.
John Ourand & Dylan Byers
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January 26, 2026
The WaPo Extinction Event
The Washington Post cuts, which could affect as many as 300 employees, according to sources, are the culmination of a two-year effort by C.E.O. Will Lewis to fundamentally transform the paper and reverse hundreds of millions in annual losses. In that effort, Lewis has decided to focus the Post’s editorial investment on a few core coverage areas—national security, politics, etcetera—and not sports.
John Ourand & Eriq Gardner
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January 22, 2026
The People v. Darian Mensah
Assessing Duke’s epic lawsuit and a full slate of other football-related cases approaching their day in court with Eriq Gardner, Puck’s resident legal expert.
John Ourand
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January 15, 2026
The ESPYs White Party
ESPN is moving the ESPYs, its moribund 33-year-old awards franchise, to New York, sandwiched between MLB’s All-Star Game and Michael Rubin’s Fanatics Fest. It’s a savvy play.
John Ourand
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January 12, 2026
Fox–TikTok Beef & Hard Rock Life
News and notes on the topics keeping the industry’s hearts aflutter in advance of the CFP, the World Cup, and more.
John Ourand
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January 8, 2026
Gentleman, Start the Fire Sale Rumors
After a landmark settlement, a slew of unfavorable publicity, and the departure of its commissioner, NASCAR may finally have to make real room for outside investment. Could it all push the France family to go full sale? Plus: some Fox Sports kremlinology.
John Ourand
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January 5, 2026
Amazon’s NFL Playoff Jackpot
When the streamer landed a potentially classic playoff matchup between the Bears and Packers this weekend, it looked like the league could be catering to a new favored partner—but executives on all sides of the equation pointed to the thorny decision tree the league stares down this time of year.