Previewing the Biggest Sports Media Stories of 2024 | Marchand and Ourand Podcast

On this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand preview the biggest sports media stories of 2024. The includes the return of Marchand’s “Brady Meter,” which gives the odds on whether Hall of Fame QB Tom Brady will call a game as Fox’s top NFL analyst. The two also discuss to options for Greg Olsen, the analyst Brady is replacing.

Other topics include predictions about the NBA’s media rights deal, which is expected to be completed in the first part of 2024; ESPN’s direct-to-consumer plans, which are expected to come at some point in 2025; Disney’s push to find investors for ESPN next year; and the likely outcome from all the chaos surround regional sports networks right now. Other topics include: Streaming company strategies, the Paris Olympics, the CFP media negotiations and Orioles broadcaster Kevin Brown.

Chapters:
00:45 WHOS UP WHOS DOWN
07:51 TOM BRADY
14:53 NBA MEDIA DEAL
21:40 ESPN DTC
25:40 ESPN NEW PARTNERS
31:33 RSNs
35:39 STREAMERS

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John Let’s look ahead to 2024 John John our good buddy there John out R Andrew Andrew I’m still here one more show one more show to [Music] go and we’re back the Marian and Oran Sports media podcast looking ahead to 2024 I’m Andrew marshan Sports media columnist for the New York Post he’s John Oran the media reporter for the sports Business Journal and John uh lot to look forward to in 2024 uh but we should just start with who’s up and who’s down no yeah let’s do it man who’s up Who’s down all right John why don’t you lead us off all right our who’s up and who’s down is about who we think is going to be up and down for 2024 and I’m G to give my who’s up to Molly Solomon Molly is the executive producer and president of NBC Olympics and she is going to be responsible for everything you see on screen about the Olympics I think she’s great she was a coordinating producer of the Olympics under dick EOL of course she went on to the Golf Channel where she was executive producer and then Andrew she came back to the Olympics in 2019 and this is what she got the covid summer of Olympics in Tokyo another covid Olympics this time the winter ones in Beijing I think they were probably the two worst Olympics of my life both in terms of viewership in terms of the difficulties about producing those games so this coming summer the Olympics are going to Rebound in a in a gigantic way they’re going to be in Paris Molly Solomon is gonna have a lot more viewers taking a look at what she’s able to do and and what what she does I think the Olympics haven’t been a big deal since 2016 that’s when they were in Rio they’re going to be a really big deal this year they’re going to be a really big deal in 2026 when the winter ones are in Milan and then you get the granddaddy of them all in 2028 when they come back uh to Los Angeles uh so this summer easiest prediction to make look for viewership to be up big time it’s going to be up huge because it’s going to be in in uh in Paris which is a a much better venue uh for the American TV audiences uh the quality I’m sure is going to be fantastic I have no doubt that Molly and her team are going to shine my who’s up is Greg Olen for 2024 say wait what Tom Brady is expected to arrive in September the $375 million man to take Olsen’s job Olsen who’s making around $10 million a year is going to go down to the number two team uh lose a lot of money three million dollar a year around there uh to be on the number two team but I honestly think that olon is in a tremendous spot because even if Brady’s good there’s going to be people who don’t like him and they’re going to look at Greg Olson they’re going to say I love Greg olssen and where he’s put himself and where he’s going to be going forward is there’s going to be jobs over the next five 10 15 years top jobs that Greg Olsen is in position for and I think he’s gonna only going to grow in popularity uh I do think at the moment we’ll get into it a second Brady is going to do it uh but he might not do it forever is he going to do it for 10 years I’m not sure about that so Olson he could stick at number two and and wait for Brady but other jobs may become available and I think when you look at it uh he’s in a very small class of EX players and coaches who if these top jobs for game analysts the ones that are paying so much money the $375 million for Brady 18 million for Romo and Aman Greg Olsen Travis Kelce possibly Shawn McVey and Mike Tomlin if they stopped coaching those are the people that would most likely be at the top of the list of Executives if they’re going to fill those positions so I think yes it’s a little bit zigging where everyone’s zagging I think olon is going to be a big year for olon uh because the backup quarterback especially one has already been successful is the most popular person in the business or on a football team and I think Greg Olson’s going to be there so he gets my who’s up for 2024 I think we you buried some big news in there I think you lowkey have a big change in The Brady meter exclusive to the Martian and Oran Sports media podcast is has a Brady meter changed you said that you think topics let’s save it for the first the first topic is Tom Brady as we look towards 2024 so let’s save the Brady meter for the uh for the first topic awesome all right I’m gonna go with Who’s down my Who’s down is Richard Clark uh back in November he was named the executive director of the college football playoff the top item on his to-do list find a media deal to pay for the cfp expansion and the bad news is that his timing stinks Andrew the market for sports rights right now is as tight as I’ve ever seen it uh we’re not seeing the bubble burst for the biggest leagues like the NFL or the NBA but this tightening Marketplace directly led to the implosion of the Pack 12 a power five conference it’s the reason MLS essentially left TV outside of a small deal with Fox Legacy Media companies they’re losing subscribers they’re tightening their belts and the big digital players they’ve remained totally disciplined in their approach they’re they’re not getting involved in any of these bidding wars so as Richard Clark tries to find biders to take a couple of early round cfp games of the next years I can tell you there’s not a lot of interest ESPN holds rights to the semis it holds rights to the the championship game for the next two years and I can’t see any of the Legacy Media companies or any of the digital ones wanting to pay to grab any of the early round games over the next two years especially if they’re not going to get a semi or or or one of the finals so another easy prediction for 2024 ESPN is going to strike a deal to carry those those early season games for the next two years and what happens after the ESPN deal ends you know that’s still two years away everything is changing so fast the market get better are do Legacy Media companies are they going to start to spend to try try to get Sports rights again it’s it’s way too early to make that prediction J my Who’s down is Kevin Brown Orioles broadcaster always who’s up on this show first off let me State I think Kevin Brown does a very good job that’s one but number two John Oran as you know you’d probably know if you’re listening announced last week that he’s going to Puck uh so the you know our partnership is in TBD mode um and so this is a big negative for Kevin Brown because John uh unfortunately for the podcast you know pretty much what most people said this is the biggest negative of the podcast talking about the Orioles all the time always talking about Kevin Brown uh and so for Kevin Brown that’s a tough blow uh with John I think you’re taking like a month hiatus here in January and then off the puck and so uh for the Pod um bad news for Kevin Brown as John Oran fleas Kevin Brown ratings are going to remain through the roof in the oran household uh over the next year probably two as long as Adalie rushman is on the team for for for that long at least let’s move to the topics topic number one Tom Brady the Brady meter let’s hear Master of the board Chris Mason Andrew in your who’s up you said that Tom Brady almost certainly is going to do at least one year maybe two does that mean the Brady meter has moved yet again number one let me say the Brady meter until it’s at 100 and that means he’s doing the game the Brady meter is still in play but the Brady meter at this point [Music] 79% wow in Rising believe the last Brady meter was at in the mid-50s if if I recall maybe 60s but yeah all right think 64 that’s a big jump that is a big jump keep track of this but now it’s at 79% I think Brady is studying up on uh broadcasters seeing how they do things what he likes what he doesn’t like what also has been noticeable uh is how active and critical he’s been on social media in terms of talking about the the sport which does not uh indicate someone who is shrinking away from the idea of calling games I think Brady at the moment uh appears as if he’s going to do it uh and he’s going to be one of the bigger topics going into the NFL season because he’s considered the greatest of all time uh and now he’ll be in a broadcast Booth so I always say this I don’t really like to judge anyone before they actually do the job I don’t think that’s fair fully that said um we do have our opinions will he be good will he not be good uh What says you I think he’s going to be an excellent analyst in in the booth he’s somebody who during his whole career uh studied the game so he knows the games very well you think about Tony Romo when he first came out and was able to predict plays because he he played against all those defenses like Brady’s going to be able to do that and then some because he puts in that work and has his entire career and he’s already very good on on social media he’s very good in interviews I would be really surprised if he comes in and is a sort of a bland replica of of himself so my Brady meter on whether he’s good or not I would would put it way high I think he’s going to be very very good in the booth what’s fortunate for Brady and I’ve said this before is he’s gonna be working with Kevin burkart and burkart is unselfish and wants to make his analyst look good uh which is really important when you talk about any ex-athlete if you if you ask me what the most important thing for success is that may be number one you know you need good producing uh you need this the natural ability and the want to do it so probably starts that’s probably one is is what you know your self motivation and and how badly you want to do it and what you have to say and personality Etc but the the other criteria and the other you know of utmost importance is your producer and your playby player and they have a good strong team at Fox overall from producing from Brad zeger executive producer to their crew there which includes the two Richies Zion and Russo he’s going to have a good support team uh which is going to be really important and I think that will really help him uh be successful uh because they’re going to try to make you know him successful and teach him what to do and what to say and how to get in and how to get out um but there’s going to be a lot of scrutiny uh it’s going to be interesting there’ll be columns written off the first game he does uh I think he’ll be maybe the most scrutinized analyst of all time and you just look back you know I make the point I would say Summerall like I say Al Michaels is probably the best ever because like Summerall as great as he was um kind of a systems quarterback a little bit because if he wasn’t with Madden huge personality um you know filled in a lot of very colorful um some are all style if he’s doing the fifth game I think people would be like kind of boring you know but I don’t know Andrew you’re showing your age don’t you remember Pat summer and Tom Brookshire they they were the number one crew on CBS for for my whole whole childhood just about I sumerall was an elite play-by-play person even even before Madden came there I’m not taking anything away from Pat sual I just think a little bit of a systems guy because he had Madden and it was a perfect team like that it’s like Montana and rice that was a perfect combination or bich and Brady like I as you know player and Coach I don’t think you I’m not really taking anything away from him I just think if sumerall had a different analyst he may not have been as great he did the most Super Bowls along with Al Michaels 11 Super Bowls Summerall is great I’m not saying he’s not but I just think if you look at like him compared to Michaels overall uh Michaels uh showed an ability to do it with different partners um and I just think that uh sumerall was helped a lot by Madden and Madden was help my point was actually for of course you twisted it was that uh was that Madden uh and Summerall worked together and Summerall created that space that others might not have if a play-by-play person and I I could name names would have wanted to you know be the center of attention Madden it would have been tough because then you’re fighting for airtime and sommerall was just willing to just say a little thing have a quip here and it was excellent obviously had the voice that was uh tremendous so I want to go back to your who’s up uh which was which is Greg Olson uh there are only so many leite analyst positions in the NFL he is obviously capable of being a lead analyst in the NFL where is he most likely to wind up in your opinion yeah I’m not going to give story ideas to people um I think there’s a couple of places though if you look at it I I think you can make an argument uh over the next five six years there could be change over at every place if you look at the contracts and how things are uh shaking up I I think there could be change I really do I think you could make a case that again it might not happen that way uh you know before we just had this explosion you know a year ago uh there weren’t changes for a long time but I think there will be opportunities um and he’s well positioned he’s not even 40 yet and you’re talking about uh these jobs where he’s already making $10 million a year and you he’s not going to get 37 and a half ever you might never get 18 but to get from anywhere from 10 to20 million to work half the year uh one day a week games and you know obviously a lot goes into it um and it’s hard like I I will say this like calling the NFL and calling play byplay that’s probably the hardest job in sports casting you football might be the hardest I’d have to really put more thought into it but uh he he’s been able to do it and you know he and Burkhart they’ve they’ve seamlessly uh succeeded uh buck and Amman let’s go uh Andrew to number two our favorite topic I think this has been a topic for the past last eight shows at least may maybe even more NBA media rights deal but let’s do it a little bit differently because we’re what what we’ve been talking about is where they are right now in December but come June of 2024 when the deal is done what say you who who’s going to be the last ones left standing for that deal I mean I just did Sports clicker 2.0 uh for New York Post Sports Plus uh which is like a mock for for this stuff and so I would say right now Tuesdays belong to Turner during the regular season Thursday belongs to Amazon after the NFL ends uh then ESPN has the biggest package still uh with the NBA Finals uh and then they don’t do Wednesdays anymore uh try to get more Marquee games uh and then uh this is the Wild Card I’m right now putting NBC in there I think they’re going to need if they want to get to the money that they want they’re going to need four entities uh and so I have NBC getting in there I think Adam Silver and the NBA are nostalgic uh with NBC they have some long-term relationships with NBC and I think the idea of having broadcast if that’s NBC getting a finals NBC getting a Conference Finals um I do think uh the idea of being on broadcast is very appealing to the NBA going forward um but I think all those play want to be more disciplined so it could be interesting um I know you’ve put Google YouTube as a possibility Apple has been trending the wrong way could change you know there’s always u-turns in these things um and we’re a long way from a decision from a full decision so so things do change but right now that’s what I would say how about you yeah I agree I think Amazon I think it’s going to go to one streamer Amazon’s going to be that streamer it’s going to be on Thursday nights uh with Amazon uh a quick little uh prediction here um you know how Amazon for their Thursday Night Football works with NBC and NBC helps to to they have Fred gelli and they help to produce those games look for Amazon and and Warner Brothers Discovery to get together so so Warner they can share uh production perhaps even share Talent uh in some cases but that would be like the the Tuesday Thursday piece ESPN really wants to keep the finals uh the idea of uh doing alternate fin with NBC is something that they don’t want to have so I’m going to make a prediction that NBC is going to be on the outside looking in because I think ESPN is going to pay up enough in order to control all aspects of the finals and and one of the uh the Conference Finals and I you think only three places I think only three I think your point is good in order to get the more money you’re gonna have to get more Partners but all of a sudden if ESPN has to start sharing the finals like does that money come down a little bit that’s obviously it has to go up when you do the equation yeah exactly so so you’re a master negotiator from what I understand and so uh you know how that works so if they were to lose a finals and then NBC adds in a finals then the numbers would have to be higher to have four entities absolutely but and so my prediction is that it will say three packages and it’ll be uh Turner uh Warner Brothers Discovery Amazon and ESPN turn and NBC wants it I think NBC is going to make a big run for it but I think that they’re going to be boxed out by uh ESPN and then the streamers we have a thing at the streamers at the end here but do you have when you rate the other streamers as the wild cards right Apple Netflix Google YouTube give me the order right now where you see them in terms of potentially getting involved for the for the NBA I would I would rank Netflix uh at the bottom of that uh I did the story uh way back when that they had very early talks with the NBA about possibly the inseason tournament and they were going to create something around that that those talks haven’t gone anywhere uh and it’s unlikely that that uh Netflix is going to be part part of these live rights uh negotiations uh Apple is intriguing because of the worldwide aspect of Apple could uh the NBA say we’ll give you worldwide rights on Friday nights and then you can put it in China you can put it in Russia you can put it in every single Market in the world via the Apple device or Apple TV plus uh that I think that’s unique really the wild card that I’m trying to keep my eye on is Google YouTube they love their Sunday Ticket deal uh they’re they’re starting to get addicted to Sports in the same way that Legacy Media companies have been uh and I think that there’s they’re somebody just to keep an eye on so I would put them right under Amazon that has already shown that they they like sports they value Sports and they’re willing to uh to pay for sports even if they have remain disciplined would you agree with those rankings uh yes um you said them so like backwards that I can’t even I couldn’t follow it fully okay so number one my number one is Amazon one Amazon we already have them I’m saying of those other ones Amazon we still we both Google YouTube Apple Netflix in that order yeah I agree I agree with that you got that one wait we’re supposed to disagree I thought I guess this is a case where we’ll have to agree to disagree I disagreed when you reported Netflix and I said oh that sounds like all I reported was that they talked that’s all I reported I didn’t say they were doing the deal the internet takes as a done deal aggregators can we put aggregators if you talk to somebody Deal’s done I it’s good to get reporting done I’m not saying this I’m saying this in general it’s good when you have something early but and you you your your reporting was was fine and good I mean you you didn’t say anything was you said they talked but they’re going to talk to everybody that’s the one thing go I do want to be clear about that that that story was it was more than like oh they they talked I I I went through what Netflix’s pitch was which is sort of like and and so sports leagues it was important to them to know that in addition to live rights they want to do the the you know the the documentary style programming that Netflix has become known for around that so the pitch is not just we’re going to do your games and we’re we’re going to go to 200 million subscribers or whatever the Netflix uh subscriber number is it is a we’re going to do it and then we’re going to do shoulder programming around it Beyond pre- and postgame shows or Beyond so like Studio shows okay fair enough all right that’s gonna be interesting to see how uh that works out let’s move to topic three ESPN is a double topic direct to Consumer also ESPN’s new partners where do you want to start there John yeah I I didn’t want direct to Consumer on this uh final show by the way where’s my steak dinner I don’t we have to have the Pod going for for to have the steak dinner look at you look at you trying to to to let me let me talk to let me talk to my lawyers first lawyers are involved Lu lawyers are involved you lost you admit you lost I I no no no until it actually happens I will say this I I I had this nugget the other day in my newsletter there’s a chance it could happen in 2024 I I still think 2025 but there’s a chance to it happen in 2024 put that in your first Puck article New York Post I still I I I still don’t know how they can do it with h with with the cable operators they have to do new deals with like the Direct TV and and with Charter and it’s it’s a it’s a I’m still saying 2025 just but again it’s looking like it’s gonna be 2024 is in play at the end of 2024 is in play most likely I’d still say 2025 and most likely going to cost $25 to $30 initially 25 to 30 that’s what that’s the number that you’re having for what for ESPN for ESPN the mother ship and let’s just show everyone listening it would still be available on cable but’s what what is a mothership is that ESPNU that’s everything you get all the ESPN you get everything from ESPN $25 to $30 per month and and does me they’re still doing the this is this is in flux so one of those things where it’s in flux but right now I’d go25 to $30 per month that’s a a little bit lower than I was expecting like I I thought that it was going to be uh priced in the 30s or in the and they’ll raise it after they’ll get you in and they’ll raise it after I’d probably go a little bit lower personally I’d probably go like 1999 I get it you could argue that devalues what you have but I just think you want to get as many people under the 10 we just saw all I mean the whole thing they just opened up the esvn books they the the cable channel still brings in billions of dollars in profit it’s like I’ve been telling you for a year that they they’re going to say I I that the ESPN when they open up the books it’s like yeah everyone would take those books like they’re they’re making a lot of money yeah not as much as they were and it’s going a little bit the wrong direction but the idea that ESPN’s not well positioned I think is not a again it depends what you mean like are they going to be as dominant as they once were I mean basically every Media company is not as dominant as they once were the digital players which we’re going to talk about those are the most they have the most money by far and can do whatever the heck they want in this world and basically run the world now from Apple to Amazon to Netflix those type of companies the long-term places like Disney and ESPN they’re trying to figure it out but to think that they’re not well positioned I think again they have to make a lot of good decisions but if they make the right decisions they’re going to be just fine again maybe not as dominant but just fine I don’t know if if what I said made it sound like they’re not well positioned of course they’re well positioned they they’re the you know most watched uh cable TV channel on on the dial like they they’re the ones that can do it I’m not I’m not sure if I see what the advantage is to be a first mover in in this case in terms of like just taking the channel direct to Consumer but uh Bob Iger since he’s been back has been all over uh direct to Consumer and and uh and wants to wants to own that so that that’s uh that’s that’s part of the strategy there and it does appear right now like right now if we were making the bet I wouldn’t be making the bet so it does appear that I will be losing the the bet I think from show number one on on when they’re going direct the consumer uh uh but I’m still holding out that maybe maybe at some point they’re going to say let’s protect these this billion the two or three billion dollar profit that we’re getting from the the cable channels o over here instead of did you take the puck job to so you could cover your gambling [Laughter] debts ESPN Partners uh you know we’ve we’ve reported this and they they you know a lot of people have in the media in terms of they want to have Partners two partners um I think is what they want uh I think ideally it could be a digital player and maybe one of the leagues it also could be a digital player in a mobile company but I think right now I think they if they could do it you know they’d want to do a digital company um you know these Apple Amazon Etc and then one of the leagues get um a relationship where they’re partners with one of the leagues what do you think right now if I’m going to make a prediction uh I don’t think they’re going to get anybody the this year in 2024 Bob Iger and CNBC sort of started walking back selling you know the the entertainment assets uh started walking back a little bit the the the need for to partner up on ESPN um I don’t think the leagues uh uh see any benefit getting involved with with ESPN uh in in a financial uh decision they’ve of course all talked to ESPN about this because perhaps they can work out a better deal from it uh and we’ve talked about this before you know the idea of Apple investing in ESPN Apple can buy and sell Disney a couple times over like I don’t see you love saying that I know I think that would have been like a drinking game throughout the whole pod as many times as you said that you be drunk what’s that or or adley rushman uhley rushman oh then you’d be yeah adley rushman and saying Apple could buy and sell and also your other thing was Amazon like should have like the Super Bowl they should own everything a three trillion doll company Andrew it’s a three trillion time time these just happen in a second let’s not get into that one yeah yeah so anyway I I I just don’t see the momentum right now for uh for for ESPN adding a a uh a new partner um financially one or two uh I know they’ve looked they’ve talked to a lot of people but uh I’m skeptical about it happening what say you yeah I don’t think they’re in a rush I think it was important that Iger recently said that they don’t necessarily need a partner I think that probably uh makes it so like setting the ground work so if it doesn’t happen uh they could just go alone and I think they could go It Alone uh because their ESPN here it’s programming right that’s what ESPN has and you’re leasing this programming and we can talk about the Stephen A Smiths and the Pat mccafes and the van pelts Etc and they’re important but you’re talking about the games they own that’s where the value the major value is um and you look at their portfolio and it’s uh the best one of anyone like Fox Sports has the great portfolio uh NBC and CBS have a lot of tremendous events but in terms of depth and the vastness and top quality they have it all especially since they’ve added a Super Bowl now or two Super Bowls in this coming package of the next decade depends on what you’re looking at from ESPN the idea that ESPN’s going anywhere it’s not um the idea that not that it was really comparable even at one point it was you go back to like the early to mid 80s you know SI SP Illustrated was kind of ESPN’s main compet you know big one of the biggest competitions and you kind of looked at and obviously if you just told somebody today it’s like that’s almost hard to believe but I don’t see ESPN going like the way of Si at least not for a long long time right they going to make a lot of money they’re well positioned and when as we go through this transition content becomes even more important I mean everyone’s hurt in terms of your long-term um media companies you are they’re hurt by the digital world where people can reach basically the whole world direct to Consumer is almost zero in terms of distribution and it used to be um dating back to when the printing press was uh invented uh you know only some people had the ability to uh distribute now it’s much easier but they still have a huge head start with the amount of money they have and the amount of content that’s why they did that it was 40 billion dollars plus worth of deals you know over the last five years so then they had this war chest and it also boxed out Apple um and it boxed out Amazon to a large degree and so those places can only do so much I don’t know if those places want to be in uh major sports on all levels I think doing a a agreement with ESPN makes some sense I’m gonna agree with you totally like yeah ESPN’s not going anywhere uh and I think ESPN could be in trouble if one of those three trillion doll companies decided that they wanted to go all in on Sports but but they’re not going all in on Sports what you’re what we’re seeing with with Amazon is that they’re they’re doing Thursday Night Football they’re not they’re not coming in and trying to grab they they had the opportunity to get the Sunday Ticket and passed on it they they’re not grabbing everything that’s that’s available to them same thing with uh Apple Apple’s being very disciplined about doing that so when they come in and do say a WNBA deal as as uh Amazon did it’s for a a select number of WNBA games it’s almost like an oldtime broadcast TV uh package and then you have a company like ESPN and a brand like ESPN we have kids we we know how strong that brand still is among you know uh PE people my age and people my my kids age and like that’s all that all that other content is is there available for for ESPN backed by Disney that that like you said they’re gonna have the Super Bowl they’re likely I would be shocked if they don’t have uh the NBA Finals you know whether or not they share it is is an open uh question but they certainly will H have that the college football playoffs they have the championship games there so yeah is ESPN going anywhere no not no time soon of course not John let’s move to topic I guess this would be four uh because ESPN was a double topic rsns uh Sinclair I kind of feel like last podcast you want to do a Who’s down for Chris Ripley who’s the CEO of Sinclair who you’ve uh made the Who’s down like he won the award for you you just trampled on him through throughout this podcast in fact I think he might be behind Puck hiring get you out of the podcast how do we get him out of here I will say this uh possibly my greatest ever prediction was my very first Chris Ripley Who’s down because that that train wreck of Sinclair buying the rsns then trying to like talk convince teams to let them pay less taking a and just essentially running the rsns into into the ground is you know we were on that Andrew from the very beginning uh and I think you know when I uh putting the rsns on on the topic list there is one thing I want to say there is still a value to the local sports rights the value probably isn’t as big as it as it used to be but we’ve talked odd infinitum about Diamond Sports Group which is in bankruptcy uh we talked a bunch about Warner Brothers Discovery Sports which got out of the RSM business and entirely uh and so those are big stories but what we really didn’t spend a lot of time talking about are the NBC rsns which are profitable not as profitable as they used to be but they’re still profitable we didn’t spend a a lot of time you tried to because you know New York and all that stuff but talking about the Yes Network or nessen or the Dodgers Network or the Lakers Network there are a lot of independent uh Regional Sports networks that still are profitable still bringing a lot of money again I’m not an Oscar my head’s not in the sand about this there’s a clear trend line of of where this is going with cord cutting and subscriber numbers that are dropping but the idea that the regional Sports Network business is totally imploding and that teams are going to all of a sudden be without rsns this season that’s happening with diamond it happened with Warner Brothers but it’s not happening with with a a whole host of teams and rsns that aren’t affiliated with winter brotherz Discovery or with diamond so where’s the go what happens with this what happens with this is that the um uh teams uh here’s another drinking game I think my bingo card is about to get get filled uh but we interviewed uh Adam Silver and he uh he talked about all the teams had had to be ready for pain because uh the local local media rights which all these teams depend on is it’s going to be rolled back so so when we talk about a bubble bursting it is bursting in in in the uh local sports Marketplace and so teams now have to figure out how to try to get that money back uh to to to uh RSN levels or and and a possible way is you know you have a lot of uh local broadcast groups scripts nextar you know they they’re they’re coming in to to try to buy rights they’re trying to get them on the cheap and they’re not paying what rsns are but it is a way to sort of get that get that money going so there there are avenues for people to watch your local uh local teams their businesses to be had about doing that teams have to have to know across MLB NBA and the NHL that they’re going to get less money over the next you tell me how many years five years or so uh moving forward and and that’s going to be a problem that I think you’re going to see a knock on effect of with that with player salaries with uh back office people that work for for teams and and and leagues because that you know that that’s local media revenue is uh is a big contributor to uh to to all those teams well let’s pull the streamers in which we have as a topic let’s pull them pull them in right here you know when we were talking about the NBA and our predictions I do think that solving the RSN issue could be a factor in the NBA talks uh because you do have the these problems you do have ESPN wanting to be the solution you have Amazon and Diamond Sports with Diamond Sports you know looking for its Lifeline uh and then you have apple uh and could be there could be others as well who want to be a Lifeline direct to Consumer um work with the leagues and and and that’s where the value I mean that’s the major there is Major value for the tonnage leagues that Major League Baseball the NBA the NHL you know they’re trying to plan that and I do think they could could become come into the national rights because the another thing that could go away with the RSN fading is that the idea that you know there you can only have so many national Windows because of the rsns so you know could the Lakers especially when they’re good with LeBron Beyond even more um because that’s you know there’s a lot of value in that that it’s like it’s like having a series and like you’re you’re adding another week of shows to that series instead of having I think it’s like 17 games they could have now you know maybe you can get up to to 30 uh and then they have like an RSN kind of deal for the other 50 um and so I just think there are a lot of factors and I think the streamers could be and when I call when I talk about streamers you could talk about peacock as well Paramount and CBS right now they’re not involved in the NBA um and don’t appear to be but they could all you know want a component like we talked about NBC earlier yeah NBA wants the uh broadcast side of it but NBC is going to want the peacock side of it so they’re going to want a peacock element I think like you look at the big 10 deal that you know Fox orchestrated um with all the networks but you look at what they did in basketball uh with the big 10 um what peacock did and that’s kind of an underrated part of it now they put a big number up there and those Saturday games especially this year I think they’ll improve next year weren’t great and I don’t think they probably were thrilled with that schedule uh but you know with the expansion there should be more good games and NBC picking I think fourth each week or third you know third or fourth each week uh could get better games going forward but peacock I mean they had number one versus number three the other day uh on peacock and you know yeah you you old man complained about you know having trying to find these down Rick Cordell was my Who’s down absolutely but did you hear from Rick uh I heard from NBC yeah okay and what happened oh they just they just noted that they heard that’s all I they just called they just called to congratulate me on Puck that’s all oh that was nice thinkk yeah the thing about the podcast too people should know when we first started doing like who’s up Who’s down John was like be like Who’s down like Dan Mason great guy NBC you put him as a Who’s down I’m like what people care about that does a great job hard worker and you had to throw him under the bus I know you did it like you’re gonna say like it was like nice and you’re kind of kidding around no that wasn’t nice Dan Mason was was down I I just explained this to uh to somebody who shall go unnamed but was a who’s down within the past two months you get streak cred for Who’s down nobody wants to be who’s up that’s like a brown knows to be who’s up you want to be Who’s down you totally want to be Who’s down on this pod I mean Chris Mason please Master of the board can you give me something this with him being nuts you want to get nuts come on let’s get nuts what you’re crazy no want that has been back in the day Rudy marsky had the dreaded oops you’re like saying oh I want to have the dreaded oops cuz I get USA Today you know the big media column no but see this is good it’s pre cred it’s it’s totally my pitch and people have bought into it so don’t kill me on this Andrew come on I need names all right even off air of uh you selling ice cubes uh on you know the North Pole there whatever they bought that somebody bought that you really want to be Who’s down I I you know in my mind I believe that they all bought that yeah okay fine there you go that’s how that’s how I sleep at night I just want to add one final thing to to your point uh Fanatics by the way you know somebody that’s a streamer that’s been kicking the tires I don’t know how serious they they don’t appear very serious right now but it’s also potential companies that aren’t necessarily media companies that that could be circling uh on these uh but the one the one thing the one message to fans is that if you’re a fan of these teams you’re going to be able to watch the games it’s it’s going to be great for you you’re going to be able to watch the gamees exactly how you used to or you can get them direct to Consumer there going to be more ways for you to to to watch these games we had Rob Manford on as a big yet he talked about blackouts and getting rid of the blackouts uh NBA always talks about that so the blackouts which are RSN created um um system because they’re paying a lot of money for these rights and they they don’t want anybody encroaching on these rights as rsns give up of that exclusivity the blackouts are going to go away so so the fans complaints about blackouts are are going to be up so everything is chaos right now and the teams are going to be losing some money but for fans there’s going to be more ways for you to to watch to watch all these games moving forward all right well John listen it’s been my pleasure doing the podcast with you uh we don’t know exactly what the future holds uh there we don’t even know exactly yet in terms of next week uh we’re figuring everything out if we do have it I do have a guest host that is a um pretty good broadcaster maybe one of the top broadcasters in the business lined up uh to replace you as the first guest host um but don’t know if we can he’s on he’s doing it but uh I’m not sure we can have the same rate that he gets from ESPN for Monday Night Football what a disgusting event what does that mean wasn’t is that what he said when uh Randy yeah I think it was disgraceful yeah so Joe B but we’re not sure I’ll tweet it out what’s going to happen things you know John um just High tailed it and so we’re still trying to figure out everything um in terms of what’s next I want to be uh very sincere uh about this Andrew like the the Pod has been a highlight of my career I I I can’t believe how much fun I’ve had I’ve had doing this for the past uh two plus years uh and just doing it with you it’s been a hoot I’ve enjoyed literally you can tell how many how many weeks I took off and uh and you can decide from that how much I enjoyed this I love doing this PO it has been a total labor of love and it’s been a been a lot of fun uh I would be remiss because it’s a I’m heading over to Puck I would just be remiss if I didn’t uh uh give my eternal thanks to the master of the board Chris Mason I was on early you were a little bit late a little Primadonna on on my final show Andrew coming on so I was talk talking to Chris and he is the easiest person to work with and he is very good at what he does and that is a that’s an incredible combination uh to have uh AC Wyatt also uh you know spj is so lucky to have AC Wyatt he he was at ESPN for a long time and the videos that that uh you know what he puts in it gives spj a really a sort of professional quality uh for for its videos and I’m hugely grateful to AC and then uh the the only other person I want to shout out I don’t I’m not going to go on for for long I I you know how I hate to name names like you know Terry left or Michael Smith and you know and that type stuff but I uh a Mador my boss for uh 18 years at he’s a guy that hired me at SBJ he was my first editor at SBJ I uh he came to me with the idea of the podcast he was a totally supportive of the podcast he is somebody who’s a really he’s a great friend uh and uh and we love each other and uh I just wanted to give a shout out to Abe on that so it’s a after 18 years it’s hard to leave uh SBJ it really is uh I’m looking forward to Puck opportunities to Puck but uh this has been a hoot man yeah I want to concur on all those um because I was gonna say something about Chris AC and Abe they put that together also on the post side you know Chris Shaw and his whole team Chris Shaw is the executive sports editor he’s the one who came to me and said would you want to do a podcast with John uh back a couple years ago now uh so you know that has been a very fun and good pairing and I’ve enjoyed it and uh you know John’s a great guy and that’s um very important when you work with somebody uh you know how they are uh on the podcast and off the podcast so I feel like we only did this for two years so I can’t go overboard I mean it’s been very nice some of the responses we’ve gotten we had the hundredth show all you guys are like let’s do a whole like celebration I’m was like Noah that’s not for that’s not for me but you guys can do a celebration I I don’t know like some of these radio stations or ESPN they celebrate every five seconds and it’s just sort of like all right enough about you but um but in all sincerity and you know the people you mention people I mentioned there’s more we could mention um who who are involved uh but uh John I appreciate uh every week and uh I wish you the best of luck with Puck and we’ll see what’s uh what happens down the road all right let’s get to the bloopers Chris Mason thanks for listening [Music] wait just you on here this my last one I thought like we’d have a whole like U like filled filled room for this Chris they can’t wait to get rid of me I don’t want this on the on the blers personally but um so please don’t use this you cannot control Chris Mason the master of the board Andrew and now my printer is not working which is very frustrating it makes it more difficult to do this give me one second I want to try to get that to work just trying to hold on to what we’ve had you do topic number one and then Chris you come in with the Brady meter um all right well I think you should say it though no okay yeah okay yeah okay all right let’s all right why I say topic number one then you say the Brady meter all right really really now last podcast we really have it down let me get my my run printed out I I printed out 30 so we can sell them there’s like 15 rundowns here and like PR it in work I try to print out like 10 times y’all can sign them and then put them on uh eBay we’ll sign them we’ll devalue the [Music] paper