SPORTS
John Ourand
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July 24, 2025
The ESPN-NFL Media Deal Is Happening
The NFL is finally close to a deal with ESPN that would give the league an equity stake in the network, and offer ESPN total control over NFL Network and NFL RedZone. I know regular readers of The Varsity have been reading that sentence for the past 18 months now. But, really, the two sides are closer than ever.
Netflix’s Sports Scorecard
With two full years of Netflix audience data, we now have a clear sense of how its series perform. So what’s still working, and what absolutely isn’t? And when it comes to sports, is it better to be “adjacent” or in on the action?
John Ourand
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July 21, 2025
Stream Weaver
A candid conversation with Michael Nathanson, the exalted media analyst and MoffettNathanson namesake, who offers some scintillating hypotheses and observations about the NFL’s next auction winners, ESPN’s economics, and Apple’s sports media portfolio.
John Ourand
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July 17, 2025
How Portnoy Got to Fox
Talks between Barstool Sports’s Dave Portnoy and Fox Sports kicked off with horse racing, but soon moved to something more ambitious: a deal that would give Portnoy and his buds a new platform, bequeath the Big Ten a true-blue booster of their own, and offer Fox the kind of trouble that they could use right now.
YouTube’s Full Swing
From viewership to participation, golf is having one of its best seasons in recent memory. And as it becomes cool(er) again among young people, YouTube is at the center of how it’s connecting with top players.
John Ourand
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July 14, 2025
Commissioners in Cars Getting Coffee
While Formula 1 seems to be grabbing all the headlines these days—from the wildly successful Hollywood movie to a rich new potential rights deal with Apple—NASCAR has quietly reinforced its position as the dominant domestic motorsport. Not gonna lie, as the kids say, it’s not even close.
John Ourand
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July 10, 2025
F1’s ESPN-Apple Bake-Off
Cupertino has its highest-grossing theatrical release ever in Brad Pitt’s ‘F1,’ and F1 execs think it’s time for ESPN to double the racing series’ rights deal. But Bristol doesn’t seem inclined to merge into the fast lane.
A Room of One’s DAZN
With its quixotic, billion-dollar investment in the FIFA Club World Cup and subsequent acquisition of Serie A rights, the niche streamer is doubling down on soccer to penetrate the U.S. market. Unfortunately, it’s too little, too late.
John Ourand
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July 7, 2025
The NFL-Skydance Billion-Dollar Question
Everyone in the sports-media industrial complex has been trying to game out the NFL’s strategy for exercising its change-of-control option in its CBS/Paramount deal. But the current idea gaining traction will throw everyone for a loop—especially the NHL and MLB.
John Ourand
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June 30, 2025
MLB in the Post-Peak TV Era
Sports may be the last remaining jewel of live TV, but the era of the 10-figure rights deals is a thing of the past for everyone besides the NFL and NBA. The current marketplace tells the story.
John Ourand
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June 26, 2025
A Spulu Silver Lining
Venu, the sports frankenstreamer that died on the vine, did have one lasting impact on the sports viewing universe: It gave birth to skinny bundle offerings, like DirecTV’s, that were meant to compete against it.
Netflix’s French Connection
Netflix’s ultimate goal is to transcend its dominant streamer status and simply become TV, itself. That grand plan is now playing out with sports at its center, and a new partnership with France’s TF1.
John Ourand
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June 23, 2025
Gunnar, Germs & Steel
The newly separated TNT Sports will keep bidding on sports packages… but rights holders are wondering if they’ll see big numbers in the Gunnar Wiedenfels era.
John Ourand
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June 19, 2025
Cordella Cutters
NBC Sports president Rick Cordella chats candidly about Peacock’s streaming journey, leveraging premium sports to drive subs, the prophetic decision to carry the Big Ten, why they got into the NBA, and what linear and streaming still have in common.
The Zaz Sports Streaming Fallacy
As the dust continues to settle on the Warner Bros. Discovery partition, David Zaslav’s decision to leave live sports coverage on the curb has baffled the sports media world.
John Ourand
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June 16, 2025
Earnhardt Knocks
Racing legend Dale Earnhardt Jr. candidly discusses NASCAR’s post-pandemic blues, the lessons from F1, and the on-track value structure.
John Ourand
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June 12, 2025
Rolapp Ditches His Bridesmaid Dress
It’s not easy being Roger Goodell’s number two. Now, Brian Rolapp, a longtime resident of the NFL commissioner shortlist, is at the precipice of taking a job with the PGA Tour, instead.