Mike Ryan announced on Thursday that he was leaving his role as executive producer of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz.
Rumors of Ryan stepping aside from that position had been rumored for quite some time. The Dan Patrick Show even poked fun at those rumblings, with Patrick joking that he was trying to poach Ryan to replace Andrew Perloff, who left for CBS Sports Radio.
But Thursday’s annoucement wasn’t a rumor or speculation. The news came from Ryan himself via Twitter.
Ryan went on to say in that Twitter thread that he wouldn’t be leaving the Le Batard Show completely and would still be involved. Maybe he’ll still have a prominent on-air role, but he won’t be executive producer any longer.
But Ryan has been a longtime part of the Le Batard Show, going back 15 years to when the show was local on Miami’s 790 The Ticket. So this is a big move both for that crew and the loyal listeners to the show.
Since Ryan is sticking around, you would expect the Le Batard Show crew to have fun with this news and they did not disappoint.
As Ryan mentioned, he’ll be taking on new responsibilities at Meadowlark Media. The Le Batard Show tweet called this a promotion.
Considering the number of projects the company is taking on with podcasts, documentaries (both for TV and streaming, as well as audio), and scripted projects, he could be involved in any number of endeavors. And that sure seems like a reason why he would need to step away from the daily grind of producing a daily radio show (or podcast).
For one thing, he has a musical to help produce. Is it a coincidence that Ryan made this announcement while such an ambitious, risky project is in development? Maybe his role in “The Big Game” production is even larger than imagined.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
