In the 38-minute sports media podcast, Andrew Marchand & Jon Meterparel dissect NBC’s gold medal winning presentation and what is next for Los Angeles ‘28.

Plus, MLB’s streaming ideas, coaches and managers making fools of themselves, the Final Four TV slot that could be up for grabs soon, Adam Schefter-Ian Rapoport as “The Avengers” and the excellence of Kate Scott.

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

THE RUNDOWN …

* Rick Cordella, Molly Solomon, Mike Tirico, Amy Rosenfeld and NBC have the Olympic formula down

* Kate Scott shines on Paramount+

* Kenny Albert wins a gold for hockey calls

* UCLA coach Mick Cronin’s embarrassment and good questions

* Broadcasters, stop using the word, “right”

* NBC’s Men’s Hockey coverage hit from pre-to-post

* Olympic Broadcasting productions had some difficulties on game winners

* Behind the scenes at NBC’s facilities

* Is hockey the hardest for play-by-play

* Fox is on the clock for the World Cup

* LA Olympics will be different

* Rob Manfred’s comments on his full streaming plan

* Assessing Ian Rapoport’s “The Avengers” idea, pairing with Adam Schefter

* How Schefter ended up teaming with Chris Mortensen

* The “controversy” over Marchand’s tweet simply stating ESPN will broadcast women’s sports games with Sunday Night Baseball gone

* NBC is putting together a fine team with SNB if you are missing ESPN

* Giants manager Tony Vitello sounded amateurish

* The significance of Nate Burleson filling in for Ernie Johnson on NCAA Men’s Tournament

* The difficulties of working the NCAA tourney

* Sign-up for “Off The Record” on Feb. 26 with YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Kevin Clark is The Main Event

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 43-minute sports media podcast, Ian Rapoport joins Andrew Marchand to discuss his future with NFL Network moving to ESPN and his contract being up in May. Plus, what Rapoport thinks about possibly teaming with Adam Schefter. And more.

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

THE RUNDOWN …

* Rapoport on how he became a diehard Mets’ fan and 1986

* How many texts per day for Rapoport

* Rapoport went to Columbia and wanted to be a lawyer

* What interning on ESPN’s '“SportsCentury” was like

* A few gutsy moves that led him to football

* The tremendous story how he landed at the Boston Herald

* The unplanned way he ended up at NFL Network and then an insider

* How NFLN helped Rapoport with his lack of experience

* The stories Rapoport broke that he is most proud of

* The stories Rapoport wishes he had a do-over on

* The big scoop this year that friends were asking if he were hacked

* The Manscape suspension was funny, but really a great lesson

* How does Rapoport feel about the ESPN-NFL deal

* Marchand said that he was told that Rapoport’s contract is up in May, which Rapoport confirmed

* How Rapoport thinks he and Schefter could be like ‘The Avengers’

* His relationship with Schefter

* How far along is he in the process in talking with the Jimmy Pitaro and Burke Mangnus-types at ESPN

* What was it like working for Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football

* How did the Pat McAfee relationship happen

* What happened with the Jordan Schultz incident last year at Starbucks

* How Mike Florio had the story right away and how his good buddy, Mike Garafolo, was on the photo

* Have Rapoport and Schultz made up

* Why the insider game is important ….

* Rapoport on where the scoops come from

Some Relate Pods … Adam Schefter … Adrian Wojnarowski…. Peter King … Jay Glazer … Peter Schrager … Adam Schein … Ramona Shelburne… Tyler Dunne

* Sign-up for Off The Record on Feb. 26 with guest YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Marchand & Meterparel

* One-time 60-second setup so all episodes go to your pod player

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 40-minute sports media podcast, Andrew Marchand & Jon Meterparel dissect how a streaming Super Bowl will be in the NFL opt-out negotiations, Adam Silver’s comments on the future of watching games, Barry Bonds possibly to Netflix and Sam Darnold’s SportsCenter dreams.

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

THE RUNDOWN …

* Why a streaming Super Bowl will be discussed in the NFL opt-out negotiations

* Sam Darnold wanted to be a SportsCenter anchor, but had to settle for winning a Super Bowl

* The Prime Video ABA documentary hit

* Silver’s AI comments sounded like alt-casts

* Meterparel musings mentions John Fanta and not doing radio on TV

* Why the ESPN Super Bowl is monumental

* The conference championships seem like a potential new bargaining chip

* Netflix does well internationally with major boxing matches

* Japan and MLB is a perfect match for the streamers

* What do we think of the Weds kickoff for the NFL season

* How should NBC’s Super Bowl 124.9 million viewers be looked at

* Assessing NBC’s Ilia Malinin’s coverage

* What have we thought of the NBA’s new TV packages at the All-Star Break

* What could eventually be Amazon Prime Video’s No. 1 big name NBA crew

* Meterparel’s Valentine Day or All-Star skills competition and then Marchand’s

* Listening and commenting to Silver’s AI impact on personalization in viewing

* Where could Chris Paul end up in TV and what’s his potential

* What do we make of the possible Barry Bonds and CC Sabathia Netflix hirings

* Will Stephen A. run for president

* Smith could do well on a debate stage, but …

* Next year’s Super Bowl is on Valentine’s Day

* Sign-up for Off The Record on Feb. 26 with guest YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Ian Rapoport is the Main Event

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 45-minute sports media podcast, Andrew Marchand and John Ourand project where the NFL TV rights will end up, for how much and how long the deals will be. This is after spending Super Bowl week talking to scores of executives.

They delve into the potential pivotal pressure-point package, Netflix and YouTube’s real interest … and will Amazon Prime Video pick up a Super Bowl and/or a Conference Championship. And what impact will all this have on leagues like MLB, the NHL and others.

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

THE RUNDOWN …

* The opening salvo about the cost of the NFL and the fallout

* One prime time package may be the linchpin

* The dilemma of a lame-duck broadcaster for four years

* Their views on if Netflix will want a weekly package

* Why Prime Video seems most likely for a streaming Super Bowl

* The likely length of the new deals

* How many extra Super Bowls will the NFL put out there

* Marchand & Ourand disagree over the significance of an ESPN Super Bowl

* ESPN’s portfolio is at its zenith

* The naivety both Marchand & Ourand felt when they separately found out the new NFL deals probably won’t be longer than the old ones

* What type of money could the NFL pick up

* Looking at ESPN’s cards

* Should ESPN/ABC be in on Sunday Night Football

* Could the same platforms be in, but nights and packages change

* Where is Amazon Prime Video shopping

* The YouTube wild card

* How David Berson is now like the “Benjamins” commercial

* Lachlan Murdoch’s comments saying how Fox will “rebalance” around NFL opt-out negotiations

* How will the current Fox and CBS packages look

* What does NFL Projection 1.0 look like

* Gary Bettman and Brian Rolapp wanted to go early in their negotiations

* The networks have to find money

* Why Marchand still thinks MLB has a potentially good hand for 2029

* The NFL and NHL are not in the same conversation

* Sign-up for Off The Record on Feb. 26 with guest YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Marchand & Meterparel

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 32-minute sports media podcast, Andrew Marchand & Jon Meterparel determine the winners and losers of NBC’s Super Bowl coverage, including how Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth, Maria Taylor, Melissa Stark, Tony Dungy, Fred Warner, Noah Eagle did and more. Plus, Olympics’ reaction and a Papa Clicker Book Review.

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

The Rundown …

* How do we grade NBC’s overall performance on the Super Bowl

* What is Fred Warner’s TV potential after his Super Bowl studio work

* How did Maria Taylor do as the pregame host

* Why Tony Dungy’s failure to reveal his Pro Football Hall of Fame vote is no good

* Colin Cowherd had a tough week

* YouTube TV’s new sports bundle is a big deal for a lot of people

* What Tirico does really well and his incredible spotlight

* Assessing what Cris Collinsworth did well … and not so much

* The Tirico and producer Rob Hyland relationship

* How did Kaylee Hartung and Melissa Stark do on the broadcast

* The oddity of the Stark-Drake Maye interview

* Noah Eagle continues to soar

* Peter King’s feature and the fan stories stood out

* Dissecting the Randy Moss comments on Hall of Fame votes

* Marchand’s yellow card in the Mets’ clubhouse at 25

* What to make of ESPN’s “Handoff”

* What was the week like for Marchand in San Francisco

* Marchand is all-in on Waymo (with video)

* How did Dan Hicks deal with the Lindsey Vonn injury

* The drones are one of the big hits of the Olympics

* Why Gold Zone works

* Papa Clicker’s review: 101 Lessons from the Dugout: What Baseball and Softball Can Teach Us About the Game of Life by Harley A. Robart & Ken Davidoff

* Sign-up for Off The Record on Feb. 26 with guest YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Mike Greenberg is the Main Event

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 54-minute sports media podcast, ESPN’s Mike Greenberg explains how he went from a kid who wanted to be a Broadway star to idolizing Howard Cosell and Bob Costas, which led him ultimately to ESPN

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

The Rundown …

* Greenberg wanted to be the star of Broadway musicals

* If Greenberg knew as a kid, you could be a Theo Epstein, he may have pursed that

* What was ESPN like to him when he was growing up

* A great story about seeing Cosell

* Why Stephen A. is closest thing to Cosell today

* Costas reaching out to Greenberg

* The Costas voicemail that he wished he still had

* How Greenberg went from Northwestern to sports in Chicago

* How Michael Jordan & Suzyn Waldman impacted Greenberg’s career

* Greenberg’s best Jordan stories

* Being offered $5,000 for his media credential to a Jordan game

* The great story on Jordan’s focus

* Marchand has written good and bad things about Greenberg

* Greenberg’s big break into ESPN

* Greenberg first turned down doing “Mike & Mike” on ESPN Radio

* Why it was such an amazing break that he teamed with Mike Golic

* Why at ESPN a personality really has to go against the mold to become a star

* Why Greenberg said you can’t fake it on a talk show

* The trait Greeenberg doesn’t have to be a hot take guy

* Why Stephen A. Smith is the closest to Cosell now

* What happened at the end of Mike & Mike

* How they reconfigured “Get Up” after its slow start

* How his friend, Seth Meyers, gave him some advice

* Why Greenberg is more of a John Stockton broadcaster

* Some amazing advice how to lead a show as a host … and a producer

* Why he got emotional hosting the NBA Finals pregame

* When Greenberg went back to radio he was absent a lot because of TV, Marchand would call the show Mike (without Mike)

* Mike (without Mike) starring Chris Carlin …

Related Podcasts

* Inside the future of sports radio & Craig Carton’s return with Chris Oliviero

* How Christopher (Mad Dog) Russo became the greatest sports talk show host of all-time

* Boomer Esiason & one of the greatest playing/media careers of all-time

* Colin Cowherd’s journey from obscurity to stardom

* Michael Kay’s legendary New York career from The Boss to the booth

* Growing up on WFAN, Adam Schein & the creation of a complete sports talk show host

* Sign-up for Off The Record on Feb. 26 with guest YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Marchand & Meterparel

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 39-sports media podcast, Andrew Marchand & Jon Meterparel dissect Mike Tirico and NBC’s big week as they lead the country through the Super Bowl and the Olympics. Plus, the NFL-ESPN Mega-Deal’s implications.

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

The Rundown …

* Mike Tirico’s big decision

* Analyzing the Caitlin Clark move for NBC

* Bob Costas, Tom Verducci and production standout performance on MLB Network’s Game 7 retrospective on Dodgers-Blue Jays

* MLB and Main Street Sports’ big issues will impact a lot of teams

* ESPN’s Cam Newtown’s … Shae Cornette’s save

* Tirico’s rare ability

* Assessing Cris Collinsworth’s approach

* The great ‘heist’ of NBC hiring Tirico from ESPN

* Tirico wanted to be the next Marv Albert

* Kaylee Hartung compared to Melissa Stark

* What NBC has prepared for the Super Bowl pregame

* What Fred Gaudelli does really well to keep things simpler

* What The Main Event guest from last week Drew Esocoff will be thinking on Sunday

* The fascinating and humble career arc for Esocoff

* Big Bunny or Bad Bunny?

* Predictions for the Super Bowl ratings

* The implications of the mammoth NFL-ESPN NFL deal

* What will it mean for on-air people

* Where could it lead to and what does it suggest for what is next

* How will ESPN handle the new NFL programming

* How Molly Solomon changed the Olympics on NBC

* What about Costas succeeding Kevin Connors on Sunday Night Baseball with the games moving from ESPN to NBC

* NBC is on verge of adding big names for MLB, which is hard in this day and age

* You want the new Sunday Night Baseball to feel big

* What is one more idea for CBS to improve the Jim Nantz and Tony Romo tandem

* The Meterparel Research Group conducted a survey of college-aged students reaction to Nantz and Romo

* Sign-up for Off The Record on Feb. 26 with guest YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Mike Greenberg is the Main Event

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 45-minute sports media podcast, NBC’s Super Bowl director, Drew Esocoff, details what it is like to be in charge of the biggest shots with 120 million plus watching. The Seahawks-Patriots will be his eighth Super Bowl.

Esocoff is the guest on “The Main Event with Andrew Marchand”

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

The Rundown …

* What is it like to be in the NBC director chair for the Super Bowl

* What is the difference between his first Super Bowl compared to his seventh Bowl

* Coming out of Colgate, Esocoff didn’t start in sports media

* How Colgate alums, Woody Freiman and Doug Wilson, helped Esocoff regroup at ABC Sports

* He ended up at Sports Phone as he had on-air aspirations

* Bill Fitts and Ellen Beckwith gave Esocoff his break with an ESPN entry level spot

* Al Trautwig, Howie Rose, Chuck Cooperstein and Howie Karpin were among the Sports Phone alums with Esocoff

* How his big break at ESPN happened and the tremendous environment for a 25-year-old

* He ended up on Baseball Tonight and Top Rank Boxing on way to college football & the NFL

* How the presidential election impacted his ABC Sports schedule

* How he joined Monday Night Football

* What was Dennis Miller like

* Praise for Eric Dickerson’s attitude

* Hanging with John Madden was as memorable as doing the games .. it was “magical”

* Madden made it simple and fun

* How does the communication work during a game between the director and the broadcast team

* What Esocoff’s goal is as a director

* Bill Fitts’ rule

* A normal Sunday Night Football game has 170 people, while a Super Bowl has around 220 on game coverage

* The camera people have to be on the lookout

* How Esocoff looks at using crowd shots

* Dick Ebersol’s point on where your shots should be

* The emotion of the shots on both sides need to be shown

* Esocoff is going to do some part-time NBA for the first time in a long time … the game has changed

* What is Esocoff’s advice to young people wanting to direct

* Ithaca College vs. Syracuse in media

* What should executives be looking for to find the next Drew Esocoff

* It’s the producer’s show, not the director’s

* What is the intensity like for Esocoff that goes into a Super Bowl compared to a regular game

* How Esocoff builds his monitor wall for the Super Bowl

* The great Super Bowls that NBC has had …

* The reason patience is important when directing; especially in football

* How the replay director communicates

* Cris Collinsworth and Andy Freeland prepare four prep tapes with one each on each team’s offense and defense

* Esocoff was a substitute teacher in Elizabeth, NJ and Todd Bowles was a student

* What is Esocoff’s favorite moment of his career

* Why Esocoff is not quick to retire

Related Podcasts

* How a Hall of Fame producer changed sports TV … Fred Gaudelli

* A legendary World Series producer says goodbye …Pete Macheska

* How an ESPN Original navigated the Worldwide Leader in Attention … Chris La Placa

* Rick Cordella explains NBC’s NBA logic & how sports drives Peacock

* From TNT to NBC, Greg Hughes & the public relations stories of a lifetime

* The dynamic ways Mark Shapiro sees the future of media

* From Steve Jobs to Roger Goodell: Hans Schroeder & the NFL’s power in media

* Sign-up for Off The Record on Feb. 26 with guest YouTube’s VP of subscriptions Christian Oestlien

* On Deck: Marchand & Meterparel

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 36-minute sports media podcast, Andrew Marchand and Jon Meterparel analyze what CBS can do about Jim Nantz and Tony Romo going forward and go inside how Tom Brady’s improved.

It is “Marchand & Meterparel: Everybody Loves Sports Media.”

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

The Rundown

* Will CBS be confident in Nantz & Romo for its next Super Bowl in two years

* A nice job buy FS1’s Nick Wright

* Learning something from ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown

* Why does Nantz do the AFC Championship post-game ceremony and not Tracy Wolfson, Nate Burleson or James Brown

* Stephen A. Smith’s big mistake on the Patriots

* What did Brady do well during the NFC Championship game

* Why Brady is lucky to have Kevin Burkhardt as his partner

* Inside Marchand’s talk with Brady for his Athletic story

* How Brady is a good Fox teammate behind-the-scenes

* The Raider conflict dissected

* Nantz and Romo giving each credit for obvious foreshadowing

* The Nantz-Romo uncle-nephew dynamic

* CBS probably won’t make any changes, but Marchand offers up one somewhat plausible idea to improve their NFL setup

* Ian Eagle & J.J. Watt are better than Nantz and Romo

* The Dick Stockton “solid, but not spectacular” story

* Booger McFarland is good on NFL PrimeTime with Chris Berman

* Where does Berman rank in NFL highlights delivery

* NFL-ESPN deal trending toward closing in April

* What do we make of Bob Costas succeeding Kevin Connors as the host of Sunday Night Baseball

* NBC is trying to make Sunday Night Baseball feel bigger

* Who is next to comeback …

* At Ithaca College being taught the importance of the letter “W”

* What to make of Netflix’s Alex Honnold building climbing and Elle Duncan’s debut

* Interesting to see where Paramount+’s UFC and Zuffa Boxing go after debuts…

* Tribute to ABC/ESPN’s Geoffrey Mason

To sign-up for our live event on Feb. 26th featuring YouTube’s VP of Subscription Products, Christian Oestlien, click here.

* On Deck: Drew Esocoff is The Main Event

* Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com

In the 56-minute sports media podcast, Fox Sports’ NFL insider Jay Glazer goes deep about how he made $9K per year to being an NFL insider on Fox and all the friends he has made along the way.

Glazer is the guest on “The Main Event with Andrew Marchand”

For access to our twice-a-week podcasts sign-up as a free or paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com

The Rundown …

* Jay Glazer started out his career doing stand-up comedy, interning at WFAN, working on “Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous with Robin Leach,” bartending, boxing and bouncing as he was “broker than broke”

* Eric Spitz, Steve Cohen and Len Weiner gave him a break at FAN

* How good was Glazer at stand-up

* Glazer was kicked out of the first college he attended …

* How Glazer decided with no experience to go into the Giants locker room and grind, working “100 hours” a week

* Glazer was driven by never wanting go home again

* When he got kicked out of college the first time, he signed to box with friends and ….

* How Glazer infiltrated the Giants locker room by caring about others

* How he warned Tyrone Wheatley not to pick a fight with the fans

* Glazer lived in terrible conditions as he tried to make it in the business

* Glazer telling Michael Strahan to hustle more and Strahan going right back at Glazer

* Funny story of how Steve Serby convinced New York Post sports editor Greg Gallo to hire Glazer for $9K per year

* Strahan and Glazer appearing at synagogues

* Serby calling Glazer at 1 a.m., while Glazer was playing “which bill should I pay” roulette

* Glazer cutting himself as a bouncer at Studio 54

* How Serby called Gallo to get Glazer a college basketball job

* How Glazer got his big break by trying out for the New York Post with a Wheatley story

* How Gallo offered him $250 per story

* If Glazer didn’t have scoops, he wasn’t paid by The Post

* How agent Maury Gostfrand led to his CBS job

* The CBS NFL insider job came down to Glazer and a Denver Post writer named Adam Schefter

* He got the job for $50K and then it went from there

* How the Strahan-Glazer relationship started over being the only two “morons” laughing over an incident

* Glazer did not have enough money to take public transportation back from the Giants facility so Strahan and some other notables would drive him

* Glazer never asked Strahan for a dime

* The Subway commercials with Strahan, Michael Phelps and Glazer, among others … It included a Super Bowl ad

* The original breaking news battles with Chris Mortensen and company

* How Peter Schrager took Glazer’s advice to heart

* Glazer’s respect for Schefter

* Fighting with ESPN for stealing his stories

* His favorite scoop of all-time was ….

* The scoop got him accepted by Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson after that one

* He had the Matt Ryan to Atlanta story for three weeks

* Glazer’s relationships with Sylvester Stallone, The Rock, Guy Fieri and others

* Glazer has been very active in mental health

* Glazer tells a chilling story about saving someone’s life

* Lovie Smith and loyalty

* How much did Marchand make when he started at the New York Post

* How all the hours of overtime were not always counted

Some Related Podcasts

* How Chris Russo became the greatest sports talk show host of all-time

* How Adam Schefter became the most prolific NFL insider in history

* How Woj became a Hall of Famer

* Ian O’Connor tells the stories of legends

* Peter King’s legendary NFL stories

* Mark Kriegel, Mike Tyson & making the of the baddest man

* How Joel Sherman became a New York baseball institution

* How Tyler Dunne made his NFL longform Substack work

* Peter Schrager, the king of connections

* Kobe, Woj & Ramona

* Frank Isola’s trip from New York sports media institution to the national spotlight

* Sponsor: WSC Sports … Tell them Marchand sent you

* On-deck by Tuesday: Marchand & Meterparel: ELSM