NFL
John Ourand
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May 12, 2025
Upfronts & Downs
Live sports may be the last programming category coveted by both linear networks and streamers equally, but given the miasma of confusion on tariffs and the economy, not even the NBA and NFL can get advertisers to throw caution to the wind.
Peacock’s Hoop Dreams
Comcast president Mike Cavanagh has touted Peacock’s NBA deal as a “launchpad” to streaming supremacy. But it’s not quite that simple.
John Ourand
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April 28, 2025
The Goodell-Harris Doctrine
The real story behind the Commanders’ return to D.C. proper is the NFL’s crafty public-private partnership financing structure that facilitates not only the creation of new stadiums, but also the feel-good stories around them.
The YouTube-Sports Mating Rituals
If you want to understand YouTube’s sports ambitions, stop thinking about the platform as another ESPN or Netflix, and see it for what it is: Google’s video gatekeeper.
Julia Alexander
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April 4, 2025
The NFL’s War on Christmas
This Christmas, the NFL will host three games, further encroaching on the NBA’s own five-game holiday tradition. Is this the latest tactic in a cold war against the NBA, or is a monster day of sports-streaming and couch-surfing big enough for both leagues?
John Ourand
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March 17, 2025
Are You Ready for Some Fox Reunion?
Two years out from broadcasting the Super Bowl, ESPN is yet again shaking up its truck—this time bringing in Fox hired gun Artie Kempner in a happy reunion with Troy and Buck. Coincidence?
John Ourand
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February 11, 2025
ESPN and the NFL Enter Deal Heat
Once again, ESPN and the NFL are in renewed negotiations for the former to take on the latter’s media assets. What’s changed since the last time these dance partners played footsie? More linear decline, Flagship, and maybe the Draft going up for bidding, too.
John Ourand
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February 7, 2025
And on the 18th Game, Goodell Rested
As I’ve previewed before, the NFL commissioner and the league have long fantasized about the billion-dollar possibilities of eliminating another preseason contest and adding an 18th regular season game. Murmurs emanating from New Orleans suggest that the public negotiations have begun.
John Ourand
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January 24, 2025
The NFL’s Playoff Slump
Ratings for NFL playoff games are down close to double digits so far this season, a surprising reality that has spawned all manner of business philosophizing—some of it banal, some of it quite sage.