97.1 The Fan and Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties announced a multi-year extension to see Ron Stokes continue as the men’s basketball color analyst through the 2028-2029 season. Stokes played for Ohio State from 1981-1985.
“I am thrilled, honored and blessed to have the opportunity to continue my role as the expert analyst for the Ohio State men’s basketball radio broadcast,” Stokes said in a release. “These past 26 years have flown while having the privilege to call some exciting action on the court. I appreciate The Fan, Learfield, Ohio State, Paul (Keels), Skip (Mosic) and Buckeye Nation for all the support.”
“Ron lives for Buckeye Basketball,” Station Manager Cody Welling said. “His dedication as a former player, advocacy as a representative of the brand, and his passion to interact with the community, players, and our fans makes this an easy decision for all involved.”
“We’re delighted to have Ron continue in his capacity on the Ohio State Sports Network,” said Todd Knisley, Vice President & General Manager of Ohio State Sports Properties. “There’s no better person to bring Ohio State Men’s Basketball to life for our listeners on The Fan.”
WWL and station owner Audacy, announced a new multi-year agreement with both the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans today.
Since 1995, WWL has been the flagship station for the New Orleans Saints. Under this new agreement, WWL will expand its sports broadcasting repertoire by becoming the official radio home of the New Orleans Pelicans. Along with game coverage, listeners can also tune in to pre-game and post-game shows about both the Saints and Pelicans. Additionally, there will be weekly shows dedicated solely to these two teams.
“We are honored to extend our partnership with the New Orleans Saints and excited to bring the New Orleans Pelicans into the WWL family,” said Dan Barron, Senior Vice President and Market Manager, Audacy New Orleans in a release. “This agreement reaffirms our dedication to providing fans with the best sports broadcasting in the region. We are proud to be the go-to source for Saints and Pelicans coverage and are excited to bring every thrilling moment to our listeners.”
“We are thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with WWL,” said Gayle Benson, Owner of the New Orleans Saints and Governor of the New Orleans Pelicans. “WWL has been a trusted voice in our community for over a century, and we are confident that this agreement will enhance the experience for our dedicated fans. With WWL’s extensive reach and experienced team, we look forward to delivering exceptional broadcasts for both the Saints and Pelicans for years to come.”
WWL Radio’s signals on AM 870 and FM 105.3 reach a broad and diverse audience across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle. At night, WWL AM 870’s 50,000-watt signal extends to over 38 states.
A new partnership between SiriusXM and the National Baseball Hall of Fame has been announced. The collaboration will result in a podcast that focuses on the legendary players who have been honored with enshrinement in Cooperstown, NY.
Starting on June 8th, listeners can tune in to “The Road to Cooperstown” every Saturday at 9 am ET on SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio channel or through the SiriusXM app. This first season, which will air from June until October, will feature a series of in-depth discussions between host Jon Paul Morosi and various members of the Hall of Fame. Podcasts of the show will drop each Tuesday and be available on all major podcast platforms.
The first show will feature Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench. Some of the other guests will include Ozzie Smith, Cal Ripken Jr., George Brett, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Craig Biggio and Joe Torre.
“Induction into the Hall of Fame is the greatest honor in all of sport, and each one of our 346 Hall of Famers faced and overcame challenges en route to a plaque in Cooperstown,” said Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “‘The Road to Cooperstown’ brings these stories to listeners through the voices of the legends themselves, sharing with fans the amazing character and skill that made them the greatest players in the game’s history. We are proud to work with SiriusXM to bring this engaging and inspiring series to listeners around the world.”
“A visit to the National Baseball Hall of Fame creates a very special connection between the fan and the game’s all-time great players,” said Eric Spitz, VP of Sports Programming for SiriusXM. “We’re producing ‘The Road to Cooperstown’ to create that same kind of connection for fans around the country through SiriusXM. And we’re the perfect medium to do it. After all, fans have connected with their favorite teams and players through radio broadcasts for more than a century. On this series fans will not only learn more about the living legends of the game, but hear them in their own words talk about the ups and downs of their careers, and what drove them to be great.”
The basketball world is currently preparing for the NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks to determine which team will hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy as league champions. At the same time though, there has been palpable discussion pertaining to the future of the National Basketball Association on television with the league’s television media rights deal set to expire at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season.
The league is now reportedly closing in on deals with The Walt Disney Company (ESPN/ABC), NBCUniversal and Amazon collectively worth $76 billion over 11 years, nearly tripling the league’s existing yearly media rights revenue. Joe Flint, Amol Sharma and Isabella Simonetti of The Wall Street Journal reported this development within the negotiations and outlined more details about the deals with each company.
The Walt Disney Company is the only incumbent among the three rightsholders the league is reportedly setting to have broadcast games for the 2025-26 season and beyond. The company would reportedly retain its NBA package, albeit with fewer games, while continuing to air the NBA Finals for a price point that averages payments of $2.6 billion a year. The deal would also reportedly allow the company to air games on its forthcoming direct-to-consumer service, currently known as ESPN Flagship, set to launch next year.
The report states that NBCUniversal is nearing a deal with the league to pay $2.5 billion per year to show around 100 games per season, half of which would exclusively air on Peacock. NBA games would then air on NBC on Tuesday and Sundays when there is not a conflict with Sunday Night Football games. NBC tried to obtain broadcast rights for the NBA Finals, which it previously broadcast for 11 years, but was unable to secure the series as part of its contract.
The company would then likely raise its subscription price for Peacock upon acquiring the league, The Wall Street Journal reports, attributing the information to a person familiar with the planning. Moreover, executives within NBC entertainment are reportedly preparing for “significant budget cuts” since the NBA would take more prime-time television windows.
Amazon would reportedly pay $1.8 billion yearly for regular season and playoff contests, along with the NBA In-Season Tournament and Play-In Tournament throughout the year. The streaming provider would also reportedly be within the rotation of the conference finals, which would be split among the media partners throughout the deal. In addition, the deal would include the rights to WNBA broadcasts; however, it remains unknown which networks would televise those games as the league burgeons in popularity.
With the report of these three media companies broadcasting NBA games, the incumbent Warner Bros. Discovery would be ostensibly shut out, thus ending a live broadcast relationship with the league that dates back to TBS for the 1984-85 campaign. Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly has the right to match, although the specifics surrounding such an ability are ambiguous. John Ourand of Puck News has reported that there is an outside chance the league could create a fourth media rights package for the company, which expressed that it looked forward to reaching a deal that made sense for all parties at its annual Upfront event last month.
Warner Bros. Discovery was unable to renew its package during a 90-day negotiating window that ended in late-April, during which both incumbent rightsholders reportedly gave the league permission to create a streaming package with Amazon. The report states that Warner Bros. Discovery was granted a chance to commit around $2.2 billion per year for a deal with the league but walked away because of disdain for “the price relative to the value of the package.” The company believes that the NBA has allocated much of its valuable content from its package to Amazon, which reportedly had the outlines of a deal in place upon the expiration of the exclusive negotiating window.
Within the report, Warner Bros. Discovery is said to be planning how to utilize money to bid on other sports rights should it lose the NBA. The company would also be interested in acquiring CBS from Paramount Global to gain exclusive rights for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, along with becoming a partner with the National Football League. Paramount Global and Skydance Media have reportedly agreed to a merger deal pending final signoff from National Amusements president and chairman of the Paramount Global board of directors Shari Redstone. It remains unknown if potential new ownership would look to divest CBS or other properties within the portfolio upon an acquisition.
As the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Cubs opened up a two-game series this week, 670 The Score’s Parkins & Spiegelshow did a broadcast from the radio booth at Wrigley Field. They knew that a few doors down would be John Schriffen, the first year White Sox television play-by-play voice who hosts Danny Parkins and Matt Spiegel have been quite critical of.
As the show took a break, Spiegel, who had gone viral for a take on Schfriffen messing up the name of former White Sox executive Bill Veeck, decided on behalf of the show to walk down and introduce himself. If you have been paying attention, chances are you can guess that did not go exactly as planned.
“We had said this would be an opportunity for us to see John Schriffen, he is a couple of booths down,” Parkins said to Spiegel. “Obviously we have been talking about his interesting choices as the White Sox broadcaster. He has so far turned down interview opportunities. You went viral for the critique of Bill Veeck. You said that you wanted to be the one to go make the intro for the show…you wanted to be the one to do it and I wasn’t going to deny you of that.”
“I’ve thought a lot about what kind of critiques are fair, what kinds of critiques are not,” Spiegel replied. “I think most of us want to have a direct conversation and a direct communication even with someone that we are critical of because that is the nature of what we do.”
Parkins then explained that during the break while he was reading a story, Spiegel had gotten up to walk down to the TV booth for the White Sox and asked him how that went.
“So, anyway I walked down the hall,” he said. “I opened the TV booth and there was John. I stepped up and extended my arm and I said, ‘Hey John Schriffen, Matt Spiegel from 670 The Score.’ He…patted my arm on the side with the back of his hand and said ‘Hey buddy, how you doin’ and walked out. So, that was the extent of my interaction. I tried to extend the hand and he did not want to…So, I may try again to further the conversation at some point, I probably will try again, but that’s a pretty direct ‘not interested’…he turned down the handshake, that’s his prerogative. I’ll try again and if he wants to MF to my face, I am right here for it.”
Recapping the interaction, Parkins said, “Turning down a handshake, that’s dirty pool. That’s pretty bush league. You don’t have to come on but extending the handshake and him blowing past the handshake and walking out of the booth, that’s just weak.”
As JJ Redick gets set to call his first NBA Finals series as part of ESPN’s lead broadcast booth featuring Mike Breen, Doris Burke and Lisa Salters presented on ABC, he reportedly could be elsewhere for the start of next season. The Los Angeles Lakers are reportedly “zeroing in” on the 15-year NBA veteran guard to serve as the new head coach of the team, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic. While a final decision has yet to be reached, Charania expressed that the indications demonstrate Redick to be the leading candidate at the moment. Redick had a face-to-face meeting with the Lakers three weeks ago, the report claims, the first candidate in the process to do so.
Redick is preparing to broadcast the NBA Finals matchup between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks, a series that has drawn considerable anticipation and excitement from basketball fans around the country. Outside of his work with ESPN, which also includes appearances on studio programming such as Get Up and First Take, Redick also owns and operates his own company, ThreeFourTwo Productions. Moreover, he hosts both The Old Man and the Three with Tommy Alter and Mind the Game with Lakers forward LeBron James. On Wednesday’s edition of GoJo and Golic on the DraftKings Network, Redick was asked about the report and if he had interest in coaching in the future.
“My focus right now is on calling the NBA Finals,” Redick said. “I am so fortunate that I’m in this position and I get to call these Finals with Doris and Mike, and I mentioned the State Farm thing that I just did on YouTube. My day-to-day right now is consumed with calling games, the 19 different podcasts I feel like I have [and] my obligations to all of our partners, so my focus is on the NBA Finals, I will say that. In terms of Shams, that will be addressed once the season is over, so I’ll just say that.”
Mike Golic, co-host of the morning program and former ESPN Radio host alongside Mike Greenberg for nearly two decades, classified Redick’s answer as a traditional radio tease and commended Redick for a job well done. Additionally, he extended an open invitation for Redick to break any news about his future on the program when he was ready to address it, a sentiment that was backed by co-host Mike Golic Jr.
“We know you’ve got a lot of outlets JJ,” Golic Jr. added. “We know you’ve got your own podcast and stuff like that, but we really feel like when you want to break some news, we can be the platform to help you do that.”
“I don’t mean any job, I mean Shams,” Redick said. “After the season. We’ll wait on that one.”
The NBA Finals featuring the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks commence this Thursday, June 6 from TD Garden in Boston. Mike Breen, Doris Burke, JJ Redick and Lisa Salters will be on the call starting at 8:30 p.m. EST on ABC and available to watch on the ESPN App. ESPN will have four hours of pregame studio coverage before Game 1 of the NBA Finals airing on ESPN from 3 to 5 p.m. EST and on ESPN2 for the hour thereafter.
NBA Countdown will be hosted by Malika Andrews and feature analysts Stephen A. Smith, Bob Myers and Michael Wilbon, along with guest analyst and New York Knicks guard Josh Hart for the first two games. Senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski will also join the program throughout the NBA Finals series, which begins at 7:30 p.m. EST on ESPN and moves to ABC at 8 p.m. EST.
Longtime myTalk 107.1 afternoon hosts Lori Barghini and Julia Cobbs are set to retire from the show later this month. We now know Brittany Arneson and Kendall Mark will fill their shoes.
The Hubbard Radio station made the announcement Tuesday that Brittany & Kendall will debut on Monday, July 8th.
Arneson is no stranger to the Minneapolis station. She previously hosted a weekend show from 2014-2016 and later returned as a fill-in host in 2019. She has also worked at classic rock station KQRS in two separate stints in the Twin Cities.
Mark joins myTalk 107.1 after serving as the morning traffic reporter for Fox 9 TV in the market. She also served as a co-host on The Jason Show — a daytime television show hosted by myTalk 107.1 morning host Jason Matheson — since 2019.
“I’m sad for us, but I’m very excited for you,” Matheson told Mark as she announced her departure from the television show Tuesday.
Fox News has announced Mary Katharine Ham has joined the network as a contributor, making her first appearance on America’s Newsroom Wednesday morning.
She previously served in a similar role with the network from 2007-2015. She later worked at CNN, where she claimed she was suspended for speaking about the infamous Jeffrey Toobin incident in a public capacity. She shared that a “secret ban” was imposed upon her by Jeff Zucker, which was revealed to her by Chris Licht.
In addition to her contributor role with Fox News, she’ll continue to write a column for OutKick. She will also continue to host her Getting Hammered podcast with Vic Matus.
“I am indeed back on the team! It’s gonna be so fun to be back with so many longtime Fox friends on-air and behind the scenes,” Ham wrote in a post to X. “Media can be a crazy business, but there are moments it makes bonds that matter. I truly got the best end of that deal when the viewers watched me grow up on-air, get married, have kids, go through some of the worst life can dish out, and then so many supported and prayed for my family and me all these years. I hear from them often and I’m excited to see more of them in my new gig! Truly too many to name, but grateful for y’all.”
Thank you for the kind words! I am indeed back on the team! It’s gonna be so fun to be back with so many longtime Fox friends on-air and behind the scenes. Media can be a crazy business, but there are moments it makes bonds that matter. I truly got the best end of that deal when… https://t.co/4016onPUqwpic.twitter.com/HbfjGZPcEM
An established author, Ham wrote a 2015 book with Fox News Radio host Guy Benson called “End of Discussion: How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makers America Less Free (and Fun).” She also has bylines in publications like the New York Post, USA Today, and The Atlantic, among others.
As Erika Ayers Badan was commuting into New York City to work as chief executive officer of Barstool Sports, she noticed that her DMs were being flooded with inquiries from industry professionals and driven newcomers with different work-related questions. Whether it was about workplace culture, meetings or having the confidence to fail in the quest for success, she recognized the inquisitive probe amid an altered paradigm in which full-time, in-person roles have rendered themselves more seldom to find.
Ayers Badan found time on her commute to review these questions and began to compile her analysis pertaining to the theory behind work and its evolution over several years. The work environment looks different from the time she began in the business, and this exercise, which functioned as a creative outlet, effectively permitted her to devote time to her passion and expertise amid a turbulent time in the office. This project evolved into a new book titled “Nobody Cares About Your Career: Why Failure Is Good, the Great Ones Play Hurt, and Other Hard Truths” set to be released on June 11.
Barstool Sports has built a legion of consumers with its ability to attract and retain an audience while the media ecosystem continued to innovate towards digital platforms. The company previously sold a 36% stake to then-branded PENN National at a valuation of $163 million in 2020, making PENN its official gaming partner. Under the terms of the deal, PENN would increase its ownership to approximately 50% the following three years; however, it ended up purchasing the remaining stake for almost $390 million last February. PENN Entertainment owned and operated Barstool Sportsbook, which made Barstool Sports part of a public venture in a highly regulated environment.
“That was a complete 180 from where we had been and was challenging,” Ayers Badan said. “And I also think it was challenging for PENN because PENN wanted Barstool to be Barstool, but not in a way that risks their relationships with the street or their relationships with the regulators, and that was challenging across the board, I think, for everybody.”
Throughout her eight-year tenure as chief executive officer of Barstool Sports, Ayers Badan was aware of the company’s ability to straddle the proverbial line and controversial nature of the brand. As a result, she knew that the entity needed multiple revenue streams to protect against objectionable events and occurrences. For example, if someone wrote a blog post that disconcerted advertisers, Barstool would have a lucrative commerce business to recoup the losses.
Over time, the company added several verticals to its offering, including areas surrounding pay-per-view events, subscriptions and content licensing. The company abstained from being obstinate in its mindset but also stretched itself thin, made mistakes and was able to always remain dynamic and optimize its process to deliver results.
“There was so much tension inside of Barstool, which I really argue is what kept it very sharp is there was a tension of trying to do too much,” Ayers Badan said. “There was a tension of what the advertisers wanted versus what the content people wanted, [and] there was a tension of resources.”
Ayers Badan learned of the job opening in the first place while meeting with The Chernin Group, an investment firm that purchased a majority stake of Barstool Sports in 2016. The conversation was part of a fundraising process for Bkstg, a startup company focused on music artists creating content directly for fans. Although the acknowledgment of such an investment came off to her as a throwaway comment, she opened the application and spoke about what she loved about the brand and what could be fixed. She left the meeting with a sentiment of anxiety, assuming that the company would find someone with an MBA working in sports that fit the profile.
“The way that Dave [Portnoy] would write a blog and then create a T-shirt was, I thought, really smart and very captivating,” Ayers Badan said, “and he brought people along with his journey, and then they wore and promoted his journey for them, and I thought that was incredibly powerful and incredibly captivating.”
Prior to joining Bkstg, Ayers Badan was the chief marketing officer of AOL and had responsibilities pertaining to business-to-consumer and business-to-business work. Even though she had realized a dream job, she perceived herself not to be fulfilling her potential, nor enjoying the work itself. Possessing the fortitude and courage to move on came from previous experience and lessons learned, and the willingness to pivot proved beneficial to her career.
Through a friend, Ayers Badan was introduced to company founder and president Dave Portnoy and met him in the West Village. It was evident that Portnoy was looking for a business partner, something that Ayers Badan knew was not always the case with company founders, and she actively pursued the job. Nearly two months later, Portnoy was in Times Square wearing a tuxedo and announcing Ayers Badan as the first chief executive officer of Barstool Sports.
“What was really interesting about Dave was that while he had this larger than life, wild, raucous personality, he was really rational and he was very thoughtful about what he was building and also really honest about what he was looking for and what he knew and what he didn’t know,” Ayers Badan said. “No one hid anything about Barstool, so when I got there, it was a little bit of a gong show for a while, but that’s actually what made it so special, and that’s really what I loved about it because Barstool had all of the right things, and it just needed to have honestly like scaffolding built around it.”
Surpassing 74 men vying for the job, Ayers Badan was maligned and disgraced by several women executives in the business world. Some people indicated that she was engaging in career suicide, but she was confident that it was the best thing she had ever done before starting. The rejection was difficult and the company offended many people, resulting in the brand being stigmatized and castigated on numerous occasions.
“No one was coming to help me and no one really cared if we succeeded or not, and frankly they would have been just as happy, if not happier, if we didn’t succeed,” Ayers Badan said, “and so the only way to earn respect was really to set [out in]… building Barstool and to stop worrying about what everybody else thought about what I was doing or what we were doing or who I was or who we were, and I think that focus was really important.”
Ayers Badan views herself as a collaborative leader who enjoys seeing people challenge and push one another. Earning the pseudonym “Token CEO,” of which she hosted a podcast by the same name, she sought to understand the processes within Barstool and make improvements without sacrificing the identity of the brand.
“I don’t think what was unique about me as a candidate was that I was a woman,” Ayers Badan said. “I think what was unique about me was I didn’t think it should change who it was. A lot of times, that meant protecting our content people and the creative.”
The varied revenue stream gave Barstool more latitude to fail without sacrificing the stability of its business or the bottom line. Over her time as chief executive officer, the company built out its digital media platforms and accrued large followings on several different outlets. Throughout the process, she remained vigilant and patient in crafting an entity that would withstand challenges and capitalize on opportunities.
“I think media companies are so desperate for the revenue and they put too much cost going in if that makes sense, and they’re also not diversified the way they need to,” Ayers Badan explained. “It’s almost like, ‘If cable’s going well, why learn the internet?,’ and it’s like, ‘Well, cable’s going okay,’ but we always wanted to be everywhere. We were so ambitious about growing audience that we followed the audience first – we didn’t follow the business model first.”
Barstool Sports has demonstrated a penchant for creating and maintaining a community of invested devotees who have genuine interest pertaining to the company itself. Although the brand was first founded in 2003 as a weekly sports publication, it has added coverage of entertainment, pop culture and other subject areas within its portfolio through podcasts, digital series and special events. The company has thrived in brand conversion among those in the younger demographic with an ensuing capacity to move product and generate positive return on investment for advertisers. An aspect of that success is attributable to its programming and personalities, some of whom include Dan “Big Cat” Katz, PFT Commenter (Eric Sollenberger), Ria Ciuffo and Kevin “KFC” Clancy.
“Barstool found Frank The Tank on ranting about New Jersey Transit,” Ayers Badan said. “You look at Brandon Walker; you look at Miss Peaches. I think Dave really has the ability to find people who are inherently funny, even if not intentionally so.”
Even though she never intended to be a talent for Barstool Sports, Ayers Badan was frequently on camera by virtue of being in the office. In fact, she launched a podcast during the pandemic and also appeared on select Barstool programming. Barstool Sports, which has offices in New York City and Chicago, frequently captures content outside of the studios and creates moments surrounding the workplaces themselves. One series in particular, titled Surviving Barstool, traps employees in the office as they battle to win a cash prize.
“I remember meeting with Dave before I even took the job, and Dave’s vision for New York was one part like instead of going to Saturday Night Live, you came to Barstool Sports if you were a really funny, talented person, which happened,” Ayers Badan said. “And then the second was The Truman Show where the camera was just on 24/7, and the camera was on 24/7 and I was there, so it kind of happens organically.”
Beyond the office walls, Barstool records a plethora of content around different locales, including Portnoy’s popular One Bite pizza review series. The company has also thrived in the live event space, serving as the exclusive title sponsor and broadcast partner of the Arizona Bowl for several seasons, purchasing the Rough N’ Rowdy boxing promotion and calling the Battle of the Badge NYPD-FDNY hockey game. When PENN Entertainment owned Barstool and was considering its own media strategy, Ayers Badan believes that the company could have taken the approach on bidding for media rights with a professional sports league.
“Barstool can produce live sporting events in a way that is uniquely Barstool and incredibly funny and comical,” Ayers Badan said. “I think the way Barstool promotes live sporting events has all the requisites, and it has a lot more.”
Live sports broadcasts, Ayers Badan presumes, represent the only viable outlet in broadcast and cable television concurrent with the rise of streaming platforms. Because of the storylines and drama within the games, it is oftentimes appointment viewing for fans. As a result, she is optimistic about the future of the business.
“I think you’ll watch sports in places perhaps you hadn’t before,” Ayers Badan said. “You’ll get commentary in a way that’s decentralized. You won’t watch the pregame show – you’ll go on TikTok – so I think it’ll become more disintermediated, but I think the business will always be strong because the audience is there.”
The partnership with PENN Entertainment, while it had some beneficial moments, caused Barstool Sports to have to adhere to the demands of the parent company. This occurred when Ben Mintz was fired after using derogatory language on a show despite Ayers Badan, Portnoy and Katz trying to save his job. Since then, there have been examples of media companies embracing irreverent, nonconformist behavior and licensing programming from independent content creators.
“Audience is more fragmented than ever, and traditional media and the gatekeepers have been more disruptive than ever, and when there is such intense fragmentation – I think you’re seeing it really this year in the TV Upfront, which is the erosion of cable is here,” Ayers Badan said. “It’s not starting to erode; it’s eroding, and I think companies are having to make bets on people because the driving forces in media right now are individuals and influencers.”
PENN Entertainment ultimately entered into a 10-year agreement with The Walt Disney Company to launch ESPN BET and subsequently sold Barstool Sports back to Portnoy for $1, along with various provisions related to revenue sharing and market competition. It represented the second company sale within a year, and Ayers Badan felt that she had achieved her purpose in being brought on.
“I think that Dave is the right steward of Barstool, I felt great about Barstool being back under Dave and I felt like we built something that’s going to last the test of time,” Ayers Badan said. “The infrastructure and the system and the energy inside of Barstool is so strong, and I feel so good about that.”
At the beginning of the year, it came as a surprise to many people that Ayers Badan resigned her position as chief executive officer of Barstool, and she ended up leaving the sports media industry entirely. Ironically enough, it was when she was writing the chapter, “Do I Stay or Do I Go?,” in which she began considering leaving the company. All of this was occurring as Portnoy was in the process of reacquiring ownership of the company.
In the end, she felt that nothing would surpass what Barstool Sports did in 2023 and was confident in the direction of the company under Portnoy. Moreover, Ayers Badan was looking for a new challenge with a startup brand in a new category, substantiated in joining Food52 as its chief executive officer.
“I was getting approached a lot by sports betting companies, sports companies [and] sports leagues, and I was like, ‘If I’m going to stay in sports, there’s no place better than Barstool, and if I’m going to stay in entertainment, there’s no place better than Barstool,’” Ayers Badan said, “but I also was like, ‘Gosh, I have all this energy and I really am a student of the game and I’d like to see if I [can]… play a different sport or [if I] can play on a different field,’ and that really was the driver.”
The process of building companies and making an impact in the marketplace energizes Ayers Badan and keeps her invested in her career. Although it was an arduous decision to leave Barstool, she felt staying too long would be a disservice both to herself and to her colleagues. While she is enjoying her new role with Food52 and anticipating the release of her book, Ayers Badan could return to sports media in the future as the industry aims to continue driving profits amid market segmentation and a demand for niche offerings.
“It’s a real challenge – it’s a completely different space,” Ayers Badan said. “It’s foreign in some ways and familiar in others, but I really loved my time in sports and I love the energy of sports. I would love at some point to come back. I’m still on the board of the PLL – I’m really passionate about what they’re doing – so yeah, I’d love to come back.”
The Presidential election is in about five months. It’s a big one.
Interestingly, in every election cycle, our culture finds a way to frame the race as the most important of our lifetime.
It’s as Groundhog Day as it is Truman Show.
By the way, I always — I mean always — get sucked in.
This time is no different, except that despite my discerning, sometimes cynical, and mostly mature outlook, I embraced the concept even earlier and with more intensity.
It really feels like this coming election will have a tremendous impact on what our country is going to look like and how it is going to behave moving forward.
How concerned am I? Very. Civil War concerned? No.
I don’t worry about the civil war scenario for several reasons. We can save that conversation for later, but the essential issue is geography. Where would the physical battle lines be drawn anyway?
There’s no north/south dynamic. Regardless of side, the so-called enemy would be everywhere. I am laughing, but mainly to keep from crying.
I say this without taking a side. Of course.
However, as I gear up for this incredible — some would say historic — stretch of time, I finally am willing to take a side on one particularly thorny issue: Telling people what else I listen to.
It might seem silly to you, but when I started in talk radio, I was encouraged to never mention either NPR or SiriusXM. I sort of understood that the former was the direct in-market competition and the latter was the Voldemort of radio – all-powerful and never mentioned. Podcasts almost seemed right under the surface, too. If I encourage people to listen to anything else, it would mean they would not listen to us.
I don’t listen particularly often, but with content distribution the way it is, I follow the institution, so I see a lot of their material. When it’s worthwhile, shhh, I read or listen to it.
Yes, I have it. Yes, I use it. And yes, I enjoy it. I like being able to access cable news networks, and of course, listen to the golf, music, and out-of-market NFL. Same with millions of other people, by the way!
I am done tiptoeing around it.
It was an odd, mostly apolitical story that sealed the deal for me. It was a morning when I was having a real-estate-focused interview. Like in many parts of the country, rent is becoming such a large household expense that a lot of people are having difficulty making ends meet.
On top of that, most people can’t afford to buy, either. Both prices and interest rates are high compared to the last 15 years. In Connecticut, the solution to build more units is complicated by intense regulations, high prices, and a lack of open space to utilize.
Anyway, in my prep work, I stumbled on a CT Public story with the headline, “CT Ranks Worst In The U.S. For Renters, Study Finds”. I had not seen the study, and it was a perfect piece of content to set up my interview.
I said to myself, I need to talk about this, and I did. But I also sort of mumbled it – “This story from CT Public really puts it in perspective.”
Afterward, I felt a little dirty about how I handled it. Why should it matter? Why can’t I just talk about it?!?!
Later, while doing what always gives me clarity (insert what you want to, but I mean walking the dog), I realized how dumb the whole thing is. If it’s worthwhile, if it’s worthwhile. If I need to credit the enemy, I need to credit the enemy (not of the people, just of my show).
Even though it was about real estate and not presidential politics, I realized at that moment that if I am going to be on top of the most important election of our lives, I better be able to reference everything out there with a clear conscience.
Don’t avoid mentioning something from MSNBC for fear of being labeled liberal. Same for Fox News and a conservative moniker. If NPR does something of value, stop avoiding the reference. Just talk about it! (I am pumping myself up to do it, as much as encouraging you).
And truth be told, even when the election is over, it should still hold true. God forbid, admitting that I listen or watch something else should not translate into an open endorsement for our listeners to go there … at least not during my show.
