The Varsity

MLS commissioner Don Garber joins John live from the University of Maryland’s Povich Symposium to chart the league’s MLS 3.0 blueprint. They discuss MLS’s rising fortunes, including its $21 billion collective valuation, and dig into the much-scrutinized Apple deal, now ending ahead of schedule. Garber stands by the partnership and lays out why he thinks MLS is well-positioned for the streaming age.

It’s been 20 years since How I Met Your Mother premiered, and just over 10 years since the finale. Josh Radnor, who played “Ted” for nine seasons teams up with series co-creator Craig Thomas for this episode-by-episode rewatch podcast. For the superfans, HWMYM (listen to the trailer to learn how it’s pronounced) will get into all the secrets, theories, and pineapples, but we'll also use HIMYM – and our relationship to it two decades later – to talk about life and love and art and everything in between. How We Made Your Mother… a flashback podcast for a flashback show.  You can listen to all episodes of season 1 now, and join Josh and Craig as they dive into season 2! 

Puck superfriends Julia Alexander, Eriq Gardner, Dylan Byers, and John convene for a rollicking debrief of the most pressing sports media plot lines of 2025: YouTube’s unstoppable march toward inevitability, Netflix’s bold leap into live sports, the boom-bust mood swings of prediction markets and sports betting, and much more.

Explore how prediction markets skirt state authority and pose risks to consumers at AmericanGaming.org/predictionmarkets (http://americangaming.org/predictionmarkets)

Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger joins John to discuss the chaos engulfing college football: ballooning N.I.L. bills, the slow march toward collective bargaining, and the fiscal headaches pummeling athletic departments. Plus, he and John look ahead at how the sport may evolve over the next three years—including what an expanded College Football Playoff might really entail.

Varsity favorite Andrew Marchand reunites with John to debate the week’s biggest sports-media plot lines: the NFL’s holiday-week stacked matchups and Amazon Prime’s outsized role in juicing viewership; MLB’s new media-rights math; ESPN’s quiet strategic wins; and whether streamers like YouTube are ready to jump into the next bidding war. Plus: what Netflix poaching ESPN talent like Elle Duncan really signals about the streamer’s accelerating pivot into sports.

NBC Sports’ Matthew Berry—also the founder of Fantasy Life—returns to the pod to chew over the biggest forces reshaping sports media, from A.I.’s slow commoditization of editorial talent to which major league is most likely to fall behind in the sports rights arms race. They also dig into the industry’s obsession with younger audience, reflect on Berry’s leap from ESPN to NBC, discuss the continued evolution of Fantasy Life, and much more.

Axios’s Sara Fischer rejoins the pod for a rundown of the sports world’s biggest shakeups—from the YouTube TV-Disney standoff and YouTube TV’s crafty deals with Fox and NBCUniversal to the NWSL’s growing pains and the looming Warner Bros. Discovery fire sale. They also dig into the rise of independent creators and how Vox and Netflix are making plays amid the podcasting gold rush.

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman joins John to discuss the league’s boom times—from surging TV ratings and record-breaking crowds to the league’s ubiquitous media strategy and upcoming expansion into Boston, Denver, and Atlanta—and why the forthcoming men’s World Cup could to supercharge everything.

Steve Bornstein, the architect behind both ESPN’s golden age and the launch of NFL Network, joins John to remember the late, great Paul Tagliabue—the commissioner who helped turn football into a billion-dollar religion. Bornstein also offers a seasoned view on today’s sports media circus, from the streaming wars to A.I.’s slow invasion of the industry.

NFL’s top media executive Hans Schroeder joins John to discuss how the league is approaching their next wave of media rights negotiations, what the streaming era portends for the Sunday model, the surprising staying power of traditional broadcasters, the NFL’s global game plan, and much more.