SPORTS & MEDIA
Eriq Gardner
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June 8, 2026
Could Brendan Sorsby End the NCAA’s “Pay-for-Play” Era?
The University of Cincinnati is suing to collect $1 million in N.I.L. damages after Sorsby defected to Texas Tech—a ticking time bomb case that could imperil player contracts across all of college sports.
Julia Alexander
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June 8, 2026
All Tuckered Out
A conversation with Peter Rothpletz, founder of the newly launched Verbatim Media, which hopes to do for progressive creators what Fox’s Red Seat Ventures has done for Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly.
William D. Cohan
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June 7, 2026
Lesley’s Choice
In a candid chat, the longtime 60 Minutes star correspondent explained her fraught decision to stay on after perhaps the most bizarre week in the show’s history. “It’s just been obviously the hardest chapter of my career,” she said. “This was by far the worst experience I’ve been involved in, or even witnessed.”
Dylan Byers
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June 5, 2026
Lesley Stahl & The ‘60 Minutes’ Guys Are Staying
In a brief manifesto, Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim acknowledged deep frustrations with the new leadership of the show, but worried that leaving now would make things even worse. An earlier draft of the memo was even more critical.
Searching for Conor McGregor
The UFC is at the beginning of a seven-year, $7.7 billion media deal, the envy of every other emerging sports outfit in the world, and about to reach the ultimate mark of Trump II cultural dominance with a much-hyped fight card on the White House lawn. So where are all its new stars?
Dylan Byers
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June 3, 2026
The ‘60 Minutes’ Adult Daycare Era
Bari Weiss’s takeover of CBS News, just eight months ago, has somehow already produced a decade’s worth of mess, reaching embarrassing new lows with Scott Pelley’s self-mythologizing tantrum and subsequent firing. How long before David Ellison sends in a pro to clean up after her?
John Ourand
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June 2, 2026
The Magnus Carta
ESPN’s indomitable content chief, Burke Magnus, on losing talent to the NBA sidelines, the heat around the NHL, and what he learns from the way his kids watch sports.
Eriq Gardner
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June 1, 2026
The Anti-Netflix Amendment
Tucked inside Congress’s latest college sports proposal is a provocative idea: Some games may simply be too important to disappear behind a paywall.
Julia Alexander
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June 1, 2026
Elon’s Everything Network
In many ways, Elon’s ambitions for X are actually bigger than his terrestrial competitors could ever fathom. The question is whether he can execute on a plan that sounds crazy for anyone but him.
Dylan Byers
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May 29, 2026
Big Nick Energy
In tapping tech columnist/aspiring screenwriter Nick Bilton to run ‘60 Minutes,’ CBS’s Bari Weiss is once again playing the outsider card. But what exactly qualifies him to remake America’s top-rated news show? Just ask him.
Sankey Is From Mars, Petitti Is From Venus
The commissioners of college sports’ two biggest conferences have thrown a stray shot or two at each other this spring over the College Football Playoff. But as just about everyone acknowledges, they both know they’ll have to be much more aligned to tackle the myriad issues they face.
Dylan Byers
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May 27, 2026
Last Action Shapiro
Apart from the many distractions and side projects of The Daily Wire’s now former co-C.E.O.—cigars, a D.T.C. razor business, and a big-budget fantasy series—his biggest business obstacle at Ben Shapiro’s media empire might have been Shapiro himself.
John Ourand
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May 26, 2026
The Optimist’s Case for the UFC and F1 Megadeals
Wolfe Research analyst Peter Supino offers up his candid thoughts and surprising bull case for Paramount’s UFC deal and F1’s partnership with Apple—and why the mega-trend media universe keeps gravitating toward superstars.
Dylan Byers
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May 25, 2026
Life of Byron
Byron Allen, the stand-up comic turned consummate media-deal hunter, defends his post-Colbert CBS late-night deal, his investing philosophy, and his ambition to somehow make BuzzFeed a YouTube competitor.
Julia Alexander
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May 22, 2026
Call My Agentic!
Agentic search will, at least in theory, spell doom for many of the billions of sites on the open web, and usher in a strange back-end micropayment marketplace where agents trade commissions piecemeal. But is that theory undervaluing the power of people and the publishers who know how to connect with them?
Netflix’s 17 Seconds in Heaven
Obviously, the short-lived Rousey–Carano title fight wasn’t the ideal scenario for Netflix’s M.M.A. debut. But it also wasn’t a refutation of the streamer’s “eventized” sports content strategy.
Dylan Byers
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May 20, 2026
The Wolf of Broad Street
James Murdoch’s acquisition of Vox Media’s prime cuts is now official and the end result is far more favorable than it might have been: Eater, The Verge and other Vox sites will get spun off; Bankoff and Wasserstein will stay on; and New York and the podcast networks get an owner who, thankfully, has something to prove.
