When Shannon Sharpe left FOX Sports 1 last summer, he was a broadcast free agent and took several months to announce his future plans. Since that time, Sharpe has grown his own independent media company, Shay Shay Media, by partnering with The Volume and hosting both the Club Shay Shay and Nightcap podcasts, along with appearing on Monday and Tuesday editions of First Take on ESPN.
Colin Cowherd founded The Volume and launched the company in 2021 with several podcast and digital media offerings across multiple platforms. Last summer, Cowherd stated that the company is valued at approximately $100 million for which he continues to create content and operate while hosting The Herd on FS1 and simulcasting on FOX Sports Radio.
Last summer, Cowherd recognized there was an opportunity to sign Sharpe despite him leaving FS1, the network for which he also hosts his aforementioned program. Sharpe worked with Skip Bayless on Undisputed, which was immediately followed by The Herd both broadcasting from the network’s studios in Los Angeles, Calif. Within a discussion on The Colin Cowherd Podcast alongside Food52 chief executive officer Erika Ayers Badan, who formerly held the same position for Barstool Sports, he explained the sentiment surrounding his brand when Sharpe became a free agent.
“It was a double-edged sword when FS1 lost Shannon Sharpe,” Cowherd said. “It definitely really punctured my network, our network, but I remember telling my staff, ‘We’re going to do whatever it takes to find the money to pay Shannon Sharpe,’ and we created a show, Nightcap with Ocho, Gilbert Arenas and Shannon, and it’s been good for everybody. He wins, we win.”
Cowherd remembers telling Logan Swaim, the head of content at The Volume, that Sharpe was similar to quarterback Matthew Stafford hitting the open market and the Los Angeles Rams being able to sign him. Another comparison that he presented was Jim Harbaugh, who recently left the University of Michigan following a College Football Playoff National Championship to return to the NFL and coach the Los Angeles Chargers. Sharpe is a three-time Super Bowl champion and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, widely considered to be among the best tight ends to ever play in the NFL.
“I was literally like, ‘Do I have to buy him a Range Rover?,’” Cowherd said. “I didn’t know. I’m like, ‘He’s a Hall of Famer. What do I do? How do I get him?,’ and then I didn’t want to intrude on his life, so I had to wait for three weeks before I made an offer.”
Earlier in the conversation, Cowherd articulated that he believes the industry is in the fifth inning of sports betting and either in the fifth or sixth inning with sports podcasting. While speaking with Ayers Badan, he wanted to get her thoughts on that prognosis and the factors that are at play within both areas. Within her answer, she explained that there is an issue with new talent trying to break into the business and being able to make an impact. In fact, she asked Cowherd when the last time someone in music quickly gained eminence and notoriety to catapult upwards in the pop charts, an answer that he could not formulate.
“You’re not seeing the come-ups of stars the way you did two years ago, four years ago, five years ago,” Ayers Badan said. “One of the things that made Barstool so powerful was we had built enough scale so that we could launch our own stars inside of Barstool – and you will do the same – but unless you have that platform; unless you have that lily pad to launch from, it’s becoming very hard to get talent, so I think that will affect both the sports betting business obviously, but certainly the podcasting business.”
Ayers Badan said she believes success can be a small accomplishment and is both hard earned and hard fought. Being able to do things differently, as Barstool Sports achieved during her tenure as chief executive officer, aligns with the way in which she envisions the manifestation of such a concept.
“Look, when I got to Barstool, I just didn’t want to get fired,” Ayers Badan said. “I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’ve stepped into.’ Everyone was like, ‘This is going to be your last job because there’s no way this is going to work,’ but success was, for us, it was really always about learning. Like, ‘Can we do something we don’t think we can do? Can we go someplace where we’ve never been before?’”
