SPORTS
ESPN’s Bad Bet
The company’s splashy move into the app-based gambling market faced stiff headwinds from the start. In fact, it likely never stood a chance.
John Ourand
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November 10, 2025
Monday Night Stalemate
As the YouTube TV–ESPN standoff stretches into another week, it’s increasingly clear that the old rule of carriage dispute leverage is shifting. The question is no longer how long YouTube TV can hold out, but how long Disney can sit on its hands.
John Ourand & Julia Alexander
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November 6, 2025
The YouTube TV Offensive
As the YouTube TV–Disney rights feud stretches into its second weekend, a talmudic reading of the legacy behemoth’s leverage, the challenges posed by Google’s dry powder, and the various ways this battle could influence the next skirmish.
Iger & Goliath
The nearly week-old Disney–YouTube TV carriage dispute is arguably a microcosm of the broader challenges facing legacy mediacos as old-world distribution channels give way to streaming, and as social video eats the world.
John Ourand
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November 3, 2025
MLB’s Saturday Night Fever
News and notes on the latest fascinations and frenzies of the sports media business: Fox’s World Series numbers, the Disney–YouTube TV beef, and the roiling NBA gambling saga.
John Ourand
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October 30, 2025
Hans Solo
With more games in more markets airing with more partners than ever before, the NFL is constantly seeking to maximize its rabid domestic audience while minting new fans abroad. Hans Schroeder, the league’s media distribution chief, explains how it’s all working, and where on earth there’s still room for growth.
Zaz Sports Bundle Economics
A wide-ranging chat with renowned analyst Peter Supino about the auction for Warner Bros. Discovery, including the true value of WBD’s sports rights, the potential buyers most likely to bid on the motherlode, a few strange and overlooked aspects of the deal, and much more.
William D. Cohan
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October 27, 2025
A Fanatic’s Notes
Michael Rubin explains how his $31 billion company evolved from an e-commerce merchandiser into the third-largest sportsbook in the U.S., and why he’s in “no rush” for an exit.
John Ourand
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October 23, 2025
Portergate & Its Discontents
Despite the screaming headlines about the Rozier–Billups nightmare, grizzled sports media executives are more sanguine in private—recognizing that sports betting isn’t only an irreversible trend but also an increasingly central part of the economic future of the industry.
Did Apple Overpay for F1?
Apple’s $140 million annual investment in F1 is a huge bet on its future, even as the data suggests its U.S. popularity may have already peaked. Did Liberty Media pull off the deal of the century? Or does F1 make sense for Apple in ways that it didn’t for ESPN?
John Ourand
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October 20, 2025
Shanks on the NFL’s Deal
A wide-ranging conversation between Fox Sports C.E.O. Eric Shanks and MoffettNathanson analysts Michael Nathanson and Robert Fishman about the forthcoming NFL negotiations, reaching audiences outside of the bundle, the creep of private equity into college football, and much more.
John Ourand
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October 16, 2025
Silver Linings Playbook
A special live conversation with NBA commissioner Adam Silver about his new $76 billion rights deal and how A.I. will transform his business.
The McAfee Economic Miracle
Athlete-owned sports media companies, and video podcasts in particular, have become legit competitors to the mainstream sports media ecosystem in the fragmented, omni-channel media universe. But have we reached Peak McAfee?
John Ourand
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October 13, 2025
Cody Campbell’s Season of Magical Thinking
The billionaire oilman, former jock, and Texas Tech trustee has been on a mission to allow conference executives to pool their college football rights and sell them off like Powerball tickets to the streamers. Herewith, the blowback to the blowback.
Can EA Sports Get in the Game?
All the headlines about the Saudis taking Electronic Arts private have obscured its true $55 billion opportunity. As sports becomes more gamified, could the video game maker start streaming live sports?
John Ourand
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October 6, 2025
The Miseducation of Cody Campbell
The former NFL player and billionaire Texas Tech booster Cody Campbell struck a nerve with his radical proposal to overhaul the Sports Broadcasting Act. But is there actually some logic to his quixotic plan?
John Ourand
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October 2, 2025
YouTube TV’s Manifest Destiny
News and notes on the platform’s recently announced temporary deal to semi-ingest NBCU.