The Varsity

Jon Kelly joins John to map the many fault lines in today’s sports media circus, from cable's slow bleed to the sports rights land grab by streamers like Netflix and Amazon. They also dig into YouTube’s NFL experiment in Brazil and why MLB’s golden age may be gone for good.

NBC’s veteran sportscaster Mike Tirico joins John to yap about the upcoming NFL season that’s already brimming with soap opera-esque storylines—most recently the Cowboys shipping Micah Parsons off to Green Bay. Mike and John get into the ripple effects of the blockbuster deal, the NFL’s sustained brand dominance, Tirico’s next act leading NBC’s play-by-play NBA coverage, and much more.

NBC’s Mike Florio returns to the pod for a wide-ranging NFL season preview, tackling the biggest off-the-field questions facing the league: the NFL's in-house justice system, the league’s potential 10% ownership stake in ESPN and its impact on coverage, the NFLPA's leadership issues, the potential expansion to 18 games, and much, much more.

Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt joins John to make sense of the sport’s ongoing upheaval—from playoff expansion madness and conference realignment to N.I.L. and the huge debates over the transfer portal. They also delve into ESPN’s continued GameDay supremacy over Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff (even after the Portnoy stunt), plus the Bill Belichick of it all.

Ryan Spoon, president of Yahoo Media Group, joins John to announce the launch of the Yahoo Sports Network. He outlines the company’s strategy to serve content across mobile, web, YouTube, and FAST channels like Samsung TV Plus and Fubo. Spoon also discusses partnerships, the shift from linear to streaming, and Yahoo’s collaborative approach in a competitive sports media market.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan joins John to discuss the deepening tensions between MLB owners and the players union, highlighted by Bryce Harper’s recent altercation with commissioner Rob Manfred. Passan weighs the odds of a potential work stoppage and explains how a salary cap could reshape the future of baseball.

Axios’s Sara Fischer returns to the pod to help make sense of the biggest sports media plot lines from the past few weeks: Paramount’s $7.7 billion deal with UFC, ESPN’s respective bombshell pacts with the NFL and WWE, the network’s forthcoming D.T.C. product, and much, much more.

Josh Pate, college football’s favorite late-night philosopher, joins the pod to break down his new distribution deal with On3/Rivals and Yahoo. Josh also retraces his winding path through the sports media ecosystem, and addresses a host of other topics affecting the college sports business.

Nick Khan, president of WWE, joins John for an exclusive interview about the company’s blockbuster deal with ESPN to bring WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and its other premium live events to the network’s forthcoming streaming platform. They dig into what makes WWE such a coveted media property, the company's ongoing international expansion strategies, their partnerships with Netflix and Peacock, and much, much more.

Sally Jenkins, perhaps the best sports columnist in the business, joins John for a candid conversation about her decision to leave The Washington Post after 25 years and join The Atlantic. She reflects on her rise through the ranks, Bezos’s generous buyout offer, the uncertain future of The Post, what she hopes to tackle in her next chapter—and much, much more.