For all the talk of a shrinking media landscape and censoring of right-leaning voices, two of the biggest media stories of the week disputed that very notion. These two stories also happen to mix sports and politics and signal the direction that the industry is indisputably trending.
First, there was the news from Tuesday that Sage Steele was leaving ESPN after 16 years with the network. In her post on X, Steele explained she wants to exercise her First Amendment rights “more freely.”
This comes after she filed a lawsuit against ESPN last year over allegations that her free speech rights were violated. Steele alleged the sports media outlet retaliated against her for comments she made in an appearance on the Uncut with Jay Cutler podcast.
She told Jay Cutler, a former NFL quarterback, that her company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate was “sick,” and also commented that she finds former President Obama identifying as Black “fascinating” because he was raised by his white mother and grandmother.
Steele was removed from ESPN programming for a week over her comments. She has been one of the few sports media personalities willing to express her conservative beliefs on her personal social media platforms, or other platforms, away from ESPN.
However, as media fragmentation continues, options are becoming more plentiful in some cases, especially for high-quality talent. This means that personalities like Sage Steele will have options if she wants. That’s not to say her next platform will be as sizable as ESPN, but she will be able to find work if she so chooses.
And Steele’s personal news leads into one of the other top stories of the week: OutKick’s continued growth in the digital space. OutKick saw its highest year-over-year growth in July, with more than 6 million unique visitors coming to the conservative sports site. That figure is a 119% increase compared to the same time period in 2022. In total, the outlet saw 24 million multiplatform views.
As OutKick invests more in its video/digital platforms, the growth potential for all conservative-leaning platforms including the aforementioned Daily Wire, TheBlaze, and others means there will be opportunities for not just news broadcasters, but sports broadcasters as well. OutKick has a heavy sports presence, The Daily Wire has leaned more into sports, hiring former ESPNer Allison Williams, who left the network after her refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine, while TheBlaze has brought on Jason Whitlock.
The fact that conservative-minded sports fans don’t even want to go to behemoths like ESPN anymore for their sports coverage is a sign of the times in a 50/50 country, but the opening for conservative outlets to penetrate the sports landscape is also possible because of ESPN’s missteps.
ESPN has to shoulder plenty of the blame for willingly, and/or allowing, its top personalities to dive head first into the pool of liberal hot takes, while in notable cases it stifled those handfuls of employees with differing points of view. If history tells the story properly, ESPN won’t have anyone to blame but itself.
Regardless, smart media minds and outlets have taken advantage of the situation. None are going to be competing with ESPN any time soon, but they don’t have to. They’re providing high-quality content for millions of viewers and seeing incredible year-over-year growth.
So while Sage Steele was this week, someone else notable will be next. And they’ll have opportunities as well. That’s the American way, anyway.
Pete Mundo is a weekly columnist for Barrett Media, and the morning show host and program director for KCMO in Kansas City. Previously, he was a fill-in host nationally on FOX News Radio and CBS Sports Radio, while anchoring for WFAN, WCBS News Radio 880, and Bloomberg Radio. Pete was also the sports and news director for Omni Media Group at K-1O1/Z-92 in Woodward, Oklahoma. He’s also the owner of the Big 12-focused digital media outlet Heartland College Sports. To interact, find him on Twitter @PeteMundo.
