Sports Media With Richard Deitsch

Episode 303 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features The Ringer Editor At Large Bryan Curtis and Ben Strauss, sports media reporter for The Washington Post. In this podcast, we discuss The Pat McAfee Show move to ESPN will his show will air live weekdays on ESPN, the ESPN YouTube Channel, the ESPN App and ESPN+; why ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro brought McAfee to ESPN; how McAfee’s show might or might not change; morale at ESPN amid layoffs; why politics won’t be any issue for McAfee’s show but other things might be; whether McAfee will continue to use non-ESPN insiders, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 302 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Mark Shapiro, the President and COO of Endeavor, the Hollywood entertainment and sports giant. In this podcast, Shapiro discusses what makes someone a differentiator in sports media talent in 2023; why WWE was the right property for Endeavor; the domestic rights deals for WWE’s Raw and Smackdown programming coming up in 2024; how the WWE can expand within the Endeavor ecosystem; working with WWE CEO Nick Khan; how Mark sees the legacy companies heavily into sports streaming; Netflix becoming part of the sports ecosystem; the nexus of sports gambling and media; the strategies Apple, and Amazon have used in sports; why Adam Silver is in such an advantageous position with the upcoming NBA rights negotiation; the upcoming college football playoff negotiation; how ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro recalibrated ESPN’s relationship with the NFL; the explosive growth for women’s sports and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google

Episode 301 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Sports Media Watch founder and editor Jon Lewis. In this podcast, Lewis and Deitsch discuss the NFL schedule release; a look at each network’s schedule; how we think it impacts viewership; potential mega-games; the Christmas, Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day games; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 300 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features NBC Sports NFL writer and broadcaster Peter King. In this podcast, King discusses covering pro football for 39 years; the NFL schedule release; how the league puts the release together; Amazon Prime’s Black Friday game; flex scheduling; the Eagles as a prohibitive favorite and why Peter is so high on the Lions; Tom Brady as a Fox NFL analyst; California and New York’s attorneys general launching a joint investigatio into allegations of employment discrimination and a hostile work environment at the NFL; the NFL’s navigation of sports gambling and why a disaster may be looming; starting the MMQB at Sports Illustrated and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 299 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features The Boston Globe sports media writer Chad Finn and Sports Business Journal assistant managing editor/digital Austin Karp. In this podcast Karp and Finn discusses the NBA’s best first round playoff viewership in nine years, averaging 3.4 million viewers over 43 game telecasts across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and NBA TV; the Warriors-Kings Game 7 drawing 9.8 million viewers for Game 7, the best first-round game since 1999 (24 years); best teams in the finals for viewership; the NHL’s average viewership of 914,000 viewers for the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, TNT and TBS, up 19% from last year and what should we extrapolate from this; best matchups; on three months after the Super Bowl, Fox finding out that it set a viewership record; media layoffs; interest in the Kentucky Derby; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data an

Episode 298 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah. In this podcast, Jeremiah discusses covering the 2023 NFL Draft; how he prepares for his role on the NFL Network; correctly predicting prior to the Draft that the Texans would trade up for the No. 3 pick; what the upcoming post-Draft weeks are like for him; whether he would consider working again for a team; calling the Chargers as a radio broadcaster; hearing from NFL people during the Draft; finding a work-life balance; self-analysis of his work; getting peed on by a puppy at this year’s NFL Draft, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 297 of the Sports Media Podcast features NBC Sports senior writer Tim Layden and The Athletic senior writer Dana O’Neil. In this podcast, Layden and O’Neil discuss covering the Kentucky Derby; the differences in covering horse racing versus traditional sports; how the Derby Week precedes for them; their favorite Derby memories; Forte being a big favorite in the 2023 Derby; other horses to look for in the Derby; whether horse racing writers should bet on horse racing and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 296 of the Sports Media Podcast features CBS Sports NFL analyst Amy Trask and Washington Post staff writer Ben Strauss. In this podcast, Trask, the former CEO of the Raiders, discusses the growth of the NFL Draft; how she watches the NFL Draft today; how she thinks NFL front offices feel about the mock draft; teams giving out NFL Draft misinformation; the search for quarterbacks; Dan Snyder’s tenure; gambling suspensions in a league filled with gambling deals; Wrexham’s incredibly journey, and more. Strauss and Deitsch discusses the ESPN layoffs that were announced this week; why they are happening now; how this will impact high-salaried employees; longtime public relations staffer Mike Soltys announcing that he was part out of the layoffs and why that was a brutal decision; Ben’s piece on how cable changed sports and what happens when fans cut the cord; the local sports TV model; how consumers will be impacted; a potential price point for an all-inclusive direct-to-consumer product and more. You can

Episode 295 of the Sports Media Podcast features ESPN national NHL reporter Ryan Clark and Austin Karp, managing editor/digital of Sports Business Journal. In this podcast, Clark discusses the league’s biggest storylines for the postseason; how a national writer decides on what to cover for the postseason; how much the ESPN name carries weight in hockey; being based in Seattle; the teams that are press friendly; how the war in Ukraine has impacted the season; Pride Night; Stanley Cup predictions; and more. Karp discusses the second season of the media rights deal the NHL has with Warner Bros. Discovery and ABC and ESPN; ABC/ESPN averaging 583,000 viewers for its regular season; how that number jumps when you exclude NHL vs. NFL windows; ABC’s NHL viewership; TNT averaging 364,000 viewers for its regular season games; what the numbers mean in context; the best Final matchup based on viewership, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about

Episode 294 of the Sports Media Podcast features Michael Nathanson, the co-founder and senior managing director of research firm MoffettNathanson. In this podcast, Nathanson, one of the top analysts in the country when it comes to the media sector, discusses the health of sports rights deals writ large; what the floor is on the number of pay-TV households in America; how 2023 TV advertising spending will impact sports spending; the media rights future of the College Football Playoff; why Michael thinks Fox could be a player for the NBA; why Adam Silver might want to expand reach by going with a broadcast network as one of his upcoming media partners; the rights future of the women’s basketball tournament; how the WWE sets up for media rights; sports as a driver of consumption and consumer spending; the short and medium term outlook for Fox as it relates to sports; whether the YouTubeTV-NFL deal makes sense; why Netflix is likely to enter the sports space; Premier League clubs collectively agreeing to withdraw

Episode 293 of the Sports Media Podcast features Alan Shipnuck, a longtime golf writer who is a partner and executive editor at the golf media company, the Fire Pit Collective. He is also the author of “Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar.” He is followed by Howard Beck, the longtime NBA writer whose work can today be found at GQ.com. Beck has written for the New York Times and Bleacher Report among other publications. In this podcast, Shipnuck discusses how challenging it is to cover the Masters; how a writer functionally covers the event; the LIV media deal; the future of Tiger Woods, and the sport as a TV play without Woods; the new TGL league, which will take place on Monday nights and has major stars signed up; forming a golf media company; and more. Beck discusses his recent piece, “Why NBA MVP “Voter Fatigue” Is (Mostly) a Myth”; what it’s like being an awards voter; whether writers should vote for league awards; what we expect from viewership in the NB

Episode 292 of the Sports Media Podcast  features ESPN play by play announcer Ryan Ruocco, who calls both the Women’s Final Four and the WNBA for ESPN, and the Yankees and Nets for the YES Network, and Chantel Jennings and Sabreena Merchant, national writers for The Athletic covering the WNBA and women’s college basketball. In this podcast, Ruocco discusses calling the most-watched women’s college basketball game of alltime as the voice of LSU-Iowa; why the women’s basketball growth has happened; the impact of Caitlin Clark; the footage of Angel Reese taunting Clark; the terrible officiating in the title game; his WNBA and Nets schedule; the MLB  pitch clock and more. Jennings and Merchant discuss covering the Women’s Final Four in Dallas; the record viewership; the upcoming women’s tournament media rights; why trash-talking and taunting are good for women’s basketball; Sabreena’s women’s college basketball too-early top 25 with LSU at No. 1; our No. 1 bet, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple

Episode 291 of the Sports Media Podcast features a roundtable discussion with The Boston Globe sports media writer Chad Finn and Sports Business Journal assistant managing editor/digital Austin Karp. They are followed by Alex Sherman, a media reporter for CNBC. In this podcast, Karp and Finn discuss LSU’s win over Iowa in the NCAA women’s basketball championship– the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever; what the viewership numbers mean in context; the future of women’s basketball as a media play; Jim Nantz signing off from the Final Four; the men’s tournament viewership number; the shortening of MLB games thanks to the rule changes; news-breakers on Sports Twitter; and more. Sherman discusses the WWE merging with UFC to form a new publicly traded company controlled  by Endeavor Group;  why Endeavor wanted this deal; why WWE wanted it; whether there are legit synergies between the two; the valuation of the deal; the upcoming media rights for ‘Raw’ and ‘SmackDown,’ and UFC; the WWE’s intellectual

Episode 290 of the Sports Media Podcast features WWE announcer Michael Cole, who has been one of the signature voices of WWE since 1997 and also works as the company’s Vice President of Announcing. In this podcast, Cole discusses working with Pat McAfee and how McAfee has helped rejuvenate his day-in passion for calling the product; his preparation for WrestleMania 39 from SoFi Stadium, which airs April 1 and April 2 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Peacock in the US and WWE Network elsewhere; covering Presidential campaigns for CBS Radio prior to working at WWE; why he believes members of the Bloodline storyline should be nominated for an Emmy Award; how the hours leading up to WrestleMania for him are very mundane; the prospect of people gambling on WWE matches; how one approaches a job when performers are breaking tables next to you; what he is looking for regarding broadcasters he hires; why he will not work on-air after a certain age, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, S

Episode 289 of the Sports Media Podcast features ESPN broadcaster Holly Rowe, who is covering the NCAA Women’s Basketball Final Four in Dallas this month. In this podcast, Rowe talks about the growth and evolution of the women’s basketball tournament; why viewership numbers are up; the title game being on ABC; the uniqueness and star power of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark; the impact of South Carolina’s success; why women’s basketball coaches are unlike other coaches when Rowe interviews them at the half or quarter breaks; how she prepares for the trophy ceremony; signing a long-term deal with ESPN to continue to have prominent roles on ESPN’s College Football Playoffs, college football regular season, NCAA Women’s Final Four, NCAA Women’s College World Series and WNBA coverage; being named a 2023 Curt Gowdy Media Award Winner (for electronic media) for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame; how her health is following a diagnosis of stage 4 desmoplastic melanoma, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on

Episode 288 of the Sports Media Podcast features ESPN investigative reporters Nicole Noren  and T.J. Quinn. In this podcast, the two reporters discuss their reporting over a four-year period on University of Utah athlete Lauren McCluskey a 21-year-old heptathlete who was murdered in 2018 by a man she briefly dated; the institutional failure by the university campus police and other institutions; how to report this kind of story and get public records; the resources they were given for the story; using surveillance videos to tell a story; how you navigate getting publicity for this without being exploitive; what has happened since at the University of Utah, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 287 of the Sports Media Podcast features a conversation with Fox Sports lead MLB broadcaster Joe Davis and Britt Ghiroli, a senior writer for The Athletic covering MLB. In this podcast, Davis discusses calling six games of the World Baseball Classic including the semifinals and finals; what it was like to call Shohei Ohtani striking out Mike Trout to give Japan the title; how he prepared to call the event; calling on Stephen Nelson to help with pronunciations of the Japanese team; where he would play the WBC heading forward; how the rule changes will impact him as a broadcaster; potential places for Ohtani in 2024 and more. Ghiroli discusses what will make the WBC a better event in 2026; the international interest in the event; MLB’s plans to fix the RSN mess; the city and team best for baseball when it comes to Ohtani’s future home and more.  You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https

Episode 286 of the Sports Media Podcast features two guests. First up is Kevin Harlan, the CBS Sports, Warner Bros Discovery Sports and Westwood One Audio play by play broadcaster. Harlan is calling the NCAA Tournament this month. He is followed by Jeff Pearlman, the best-selling author of ten books, the writer of the “Jeff Pearlman's Journalism Yang Yang Substack” and host of the “Two Writers Slinging Yang” podcast. In this podcast, Harlan discusses his now-viral call of Furman’s upset of Virginia; why he was uncomfortable with that video getting out; how he prepares to call four games in a single day; calling NCAA Tournament games in Las Vegas; calling the Super Bowl on radio; working with his daughter, Olivia Harlan Dekker, and more. Pearlman discusses his column on journalists not paying sources, how he looks at things such as reporters taking subjects out to dinner; whether we were complicit at Sports Illustrated attending parties where subjects were invited; reporting for his upcoming book on Tupac Shak

Episode 285 of the Sports Media Podcast features The Boston Globe sports media columnist Chad Finn. In this podcast, Finn and Deitsch discuss CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery’s plans for the NCAA Tournament; NBA analysts working the Tournament; Ian Eagle replacing Jim Nantz next year; what Aaron Rodgers on the Jets would mean for league schedules; whether Rodgers changes viewership numbers as a Jet; ESPN’s management changes; Diamond Sports declaring bankruptcy; officials to accept bets; the WWE’s potential plans to get gaming officials to allow people to bet on scripted matches and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 284 of the Sports Media podcast features WWE star Rhea Ripley and CBS Sports senior writer and college basketball analyst for CBS Sports HQ Matt Norlander. In this podcast, Ripley discusses how a WWE performer navigates interviews where some people want her in character and storyline and other interviewers want to talk about the business of wrestling; being part of a major media and cultural event in the calendar — WrestleMania — which takes place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on April 1 and April 2; how to promote her brand; what kind of media training she has received; how she determines whom or with what outlet she will speak to; navigating social media; scripted vs. improvisation, the rush of an arena of fans hating you; and more. Norlander discusses the most challenging part of covering the NCAA Tournament; the access he receives; why there are more national writers covering college football than college basketball; how basketball coaches and administrators feel about college football dictating th