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TV Could Be Formidable Player in NFL Coaching Carousel

Demetri Ravanos
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TV Could Be Formidable Player in NFL Coaching Carousel

Coaching carousels are not what they used to be. Just when we thought things were settled in the college world, Nick Saban goes and retires, setting off a chain reaction that lead to openings with Alabama and Washington. On top of that, we are all now waiting to see if Jim Harbaugh will make a decision to return to the NFL and start a third round of college coaching searches.

Speaking of the NFL, with the playoffs’ opening round in the books, that league’s carousel is spinning. The eight open head coaching jobs will start to be filled slowly but surely in the coming days and weeks.

Qualified candidates are weighing their options and asking themselves and their agents important questions.

“If David Tepper is going to pay the next Panthers head coach over eight figures a year, can I put up with the worst owner in the NFL?”

“Washington seems like a great job, but is new ownership enough to bury the toxic reputation of the franchise completely?”

“Will I get any patience in LA or are the Chargers a playoffs or bust situation?”

When the coaching carousel spins in any sport, there is one group of suitors that we rarely hear from but that should be more aggressive. Why is the sports media not active this time of year as well?

The amount of money doled out by the networks to NFL broadcasters in recent years has not gone unnoticed. Surely, it helped Sean Payton’s decision to step away from Saints and from the sidelines entirely in the 2022 season easier. It is also probably weighing heavily on Mike Tomlin’s mind as he tries to decide what he will do in 2024. 

All of the NFL’s media partners are trying to out-prestige each other. I mean, if Tony Romo, who never even sniffed a Super Bowl is worth nearly $17 million per year to CBS, isn’t Tomlin, who has won one and been to another and is just as charismatic, worth at least that much?

Broadcasting can not only offer an equal or better paycheck to the right guys. It also offers a much more peaceful life. What is likely standing in the way of that realization is the desire to grind and be the engine that drives a team to victories and championships.

But competition is fierce in the broadcasting world. If you don’t believe it, try being on this side of the business and receiving countless press releases every Monday about ratings that are a “season high” or “best in x years”. 

NBC took a gamble site-unseen on Drew Brees the broadcaster because the network thought his star power would bolster Sunday Night Football’s appeal to the audience in the future. FOX is making the same bet on Tom Brady for the same reason. Everyone knows that even if ratings for every NFL broadcast are great, someone has to come in last and they are all going to put in effort not to be the one.

Players have already discovered this. Alex Smith, Robert Griffin III and Richard Sherman have all signed deals in recent years that have left the possibility to return to the league open if an opportunity presents itself. It is probably an easier decision for players because their fates are much less certain. All three of the aforementioned players could take a TV gig and say that is how their playing days ended rather than face the reality that maybe teams aren’t interested anymore.

As a society, America is more attuned to its mental health needs than ever before. Coaches are okay with admitting when they are burned out. That is kind of why we are all wondering what Tomlin will do.

So far, networks have not been afraid of being a short term solution for a charismatic coach. Look at the deal FOX did with Payton, or the number of years ESPN was willing to sit in limbo until Jon Gruden finally decided to leave the Monday Night Football booth to return to the Raiders.

The networks know their jobs have appeal. In the past, both ESPN and Amazon have approached Sean McVay about leaving the Rams to join their analyst roster. They just haven’t figured out how to close the deal on a successful, sitting head coach.

Even if fans of one team might be disappointed, football fans overall would benefit from someone with credentials and charisma choosing the booth or the studio over the sideline. Look at Football Night in America. Are you telling me that NBC’s pregame and halftime shows wouldn’t get immediately better if the network could sub in Mike Tomlin for either Tony Dungy or Jason Garrett? 

Decisions made about NFL broadcasts are largely about pleasing the NFL and making the league feel seen and appreciated. That doesn’t mean fans don’t have their opinions on quality. In recent years, CBS made an effort to get younger on The NFL Today and bring someone with more recent, more relevant experience to the dais. Enter Nate Burleson. FOX did the same, first with Michael Strahan and then with Rob Gronkowski.

It’s an easy move to make when it comes to former players. Someone like Bill Cowher is a rarity. He stepped away from the sidelines at 50 and has been an authoritative and informed voice on modern football at CBS, but even he has been out of the day-to-day grind for 17 years now.

Certainly there are aspects of a coach’s job an the insight a former coach can provide a broadcast that never change – how you motivate a team after a devastating loss, how to deal with a star player nursing an injury, etc. But the way the game is played is changing all the time. If your broadcast consistently sounds irrelevant or out of touch, fans are going to notice and in the age of social media, they are going to let you and everyone else know it.

Relevance and expertise is part of the formula for any sports broadcast to be successful. When we are talking about the most popular product on American television, they are crucial.

Jumping into the coaching carousel and trying to pluck an ideal candidate off of the sideline seems like an innovative idea for broadcasters. It’s not. What would be innovative would be for a network executive to be motivated enough to make it a priority and decide that he or she is not taking no for an answer.

2024 Edison Research Share of Ear Shows the Good and Bad of Radio’s Future

Garrett Searight
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2024 Edison Research Share of Ear Shows the Good and Bad of Radio’s Future

After 10 full years, the Edison Research Share of Ear study remains one of the best barometers of radio’s overall health. And not just radio, but audio as a whole. And while radio may be seeing a drop in usage from traditional methods, audio remains a strong medium overall.

Many in the industry are often told by outsiders that radio is dead, or at minimum, it’s in the process of dying. Certainly, there are challenges for the medium, but there are also encouraging signs for audio content creators.

Over the decade-long data procured by the company, Edison Research has shown a decline in traditional AM/FM radio listening, which co-founder and President Larry Rosin called unsurprising.

“(The latest Share of Ear data) doesn’t show a collapsing. We updated it quarterly, and every quarter it’s just a little lower than it was before,” Rosin said of terrestrial radio listening. “So over 10 years, it’s just gone down. It was something like 53% of all listening when we started, and now it’s like 36% of all those things.”

While losing almost a third of its audience over a decade might sound like a bloodletting, when juxtaposed with losses cable TV has seen — dropping 9% of its viewers annually — shows the changes in the medium aren’t as drastic as some may believe. Rosin noted the results “aren’t disastrous” and that AM/FM radio remains the dominant player in cars.

However, the biggest change in the past 10 years of the study relates to mobile phone usage. According to Rosin, 55% of Americans 13 and older had a smartphone in 2014 when the Share of Ear study began. Now? That figure has risen to over 90% of all demographics have a smartphone, which Edison Research shows has completely shifted the way we consume audio content.

“The two biggest sea changes we’ve documented in Share of Ear are the rise of phone as the primary device for audio consumption and the switch from linear audio consumption to on-demand audio consumption. And we watched huge leads — as of 10 years ago when the AM/FM radio where it was set as a listening device far ahead of the phone — and we watched those two lines cross. Then linear listening versus on-demand, we watched those two cross,” Rosin said. “The first crossing came in 2022, and the second came last year in 2023. And those are the two most significant changes we’ve documented over the course of these 10 years. It ripples through everything.”

It isn’t often that trends completely flip on a dime. With that in mind, Rosin believes we’re likely to continue to see audio consumption from mobile devices increase.

“The odds that one of those will even slow down, let alone reverse I’ll take any bet that anyone wants to make on that,” Rosin argued. “I think we can all certainly logically see it as unlikely…These people? They’re phone first, they’re digital first, they’re on-demand first. I know radio people who still think that (those aged 13-34) sort of hit a certain age threshold and sort of reverse innovate to radio, and I am deeply skeptical.”

In some of the latest data released by the company, a whopping 84% of Americans aged 13 and above listen to some form of ad-supported audio each day. That figure includes AM/FM radio, Spotify or Pandora free tiers, SiriusXM spoken word channels, or free YouTube videos.

But while that figure continues to decline for terrestrial radio, AM Radio continues to take hits. With many news/talk stations airing on the band, the Edison Research President the format is overdue for an update of its metrics and begin turning toward the future.

“(News/Talk) certainly got into a groove in the late 80s, but I have bad news for everyone: that was 35 years ago,” Rosin shared, noting that it was a smart move for companies to commit to an all-conservative lineup, before noting that many of listeners drawn to the format by Rush Limbaugh are now aged out of the key demographic. “If they were 35 and Rush came on, which would have been right down the middle, now you’re 70 years old. 35 years later, time marches on.”

Rosin added that other talented hosts have hit the genre, but many are simply impersonating Limbaugh. He later made a comparison between the format and a long-ago form of entertainment.

“If you’re my age, I’m 61, you’re far, far, far too young for vaudeville. Vaudeville was something that my grandparents enjoyed. My grandparents were born right around the early 1900s. You can sort of see that happening with the news/talk format right before your eyes. If you’re today’s 25-year-old, you would think of it as something grandpa listens to.”

After a decade of data, Rosin still believes in the power of the study with each quarterly update, noting that the results bear out some hard truths for radio groups, but an overall signal of health for audio.

“Honestly, I think Share of Ear is the single most important thing I’ve done in my entire career,” Rosin said. “It had no precedent, no one knew the relative size of the audio sector until Share of Ear, and it’s endlessly fascinating data. And with regards to radio, what it shows over the 10 years is — and I don’t think it surprised anybody — it shows a story of consistent decline, in terms of its share of all audio. We don’t see any significant change in the amount of audio people listen to.”

Report: Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan is Leaving

BSM Staff
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Report: Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan is Leaving

Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers is stepping down from her post.

Ryan Glasspiegel and Andrew Marchand of the New York Post first reported the news Monday night. No reason was given for her departure. Neither Ayers Badan or Barstool founder Dave Portnoy have commented on the report.

Ayers Badan has been with Barstool since 2016. She helped lead the sports and entertainment outlet after it was acquired by The Chernin Group.

Barstool then moved from The Chernin Group to PENN Entertainment in 2020. PENN bought a 36% stake of the company and then fully acquired the brand in 2023. During the summer of 2023, PENN sold the company back to Portnoy for $1. PENN then entered a business partnership with ESPN, creating the newly launched ESPN BET.

Erika arrived at Barstool an experienced executive. She served previously as chief marketing officer at AOL for two years and as president and chief revenue officer at Bkstg.

Since joining the company, Ayers Badan has served as a board member for WWE, Torchy’s Tacos and the Premier Lacrosse League.

NBC Sideline Reporter Kathryn Tappen Tells 810 WHB Her Secrets to Keeping Warm

BSM Staff
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Kathryn Tappen was a part of NBC’s broadcasting team for the Cleveland Browns-Houston Texans game on Saturday afternoon. Unlike some other games being played during “Super Wild Card Weekend,” Tappen’s game did not have a storyline which involved weather. That evening her colleague, Kaylee Hartung, had to work the sidelines for Peacock in Kansas City, where the temperature was below zero and the windchill factor made it feel almost thirty below.

This morning, Tappen did her regular visit with the Border Patrol on 810 WHB in Kansas City. While still trying to thaw out, host Steven St. John asked Tappen right off the top, “What’s the coldest game you have ever worked the sidelines for?”

“It was a Green Bay Packers game on New Year’s Day, two or three years ago, and it was -13 degrees,” Tappen said. “My audio guys, god bless them, they had huge jugs of broth and they just kept handing me cups of broth.”

Tappen then gave her recipe for staying warm on the sidelines during those bone chilling assignments. “I’ve got gear,” she said. “I am legit decked out on those sidelines. I’ve got tricks. I wrap the ice bags from the hotel around my foot before I put tube socks around it, because that keeps your foot insulated. Then you put your boots on. I’ve got all my ski gear on. If you lit a match near me I’d blow up, becuase I have heated everything from top to bottom.”

Tappen then added, “The hard thing is speaking in the cold. Sometimes you just kind of sound like a drunken sailor trying to put your words together when your lips are completely frozen and you just can’t get it out.”

Before getting in to her analysis of the weekend’s games, Tappen said, “I was very happen to be in Houston on Saturday, I’m not going to lie!”

Kay Adams: Mike Tirico ‘Let the Crowd Shine’ on NBC Sunday Night Wild Card Broadcast

BSM Staff
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Sunday night’s National Football League playoff game between the Los Angeles Rams and Detroit Lions had considerable implications that spanned beyond the current season. For the Lions, the organization was trying to snap a streak of nine consecutive playoff losses and 32 straight years without a playoff victory. Narrowly escaping the Rams by one point in a 24-23 final score, the Lions did just that and will host another home playoff game at Ford Field next week. Viewers of the matchup listened to Mike Tirico deliver the play-by-play just one night after he was on the call for what proved to be a record-setting Peacock exclusive NFL Wild Card game broadcast.

Joining Mike Tirico for the Rams-Lions game was the traditional Sunday Night Football team of color commentator Cris Collinsworth and reporter Melissa Stark. There were various crescendos throughout the game that ended up going down to the wire. In the end, the Lions were able to hang on and celebrate a moment several decades in the making. Tirico punctuated the moment with a final call stating, “And Detroit, for the first time in 32 years, your Lions have won a playoff game. Have at it.” In the moments thereafter, Tirico allowed the crowd to do the talking, utilizing the sonorous roar of the crowd to tell the story of this seminal occurrence.

“Is there anyone better than Mike Tirico?,” Kay Adams said on Up & Adams on FanDuel TV Monday morning. “Quick shoutout to the only person – I’m just going to say – the only person I would trust in this moment because he took the back seat in key moments, and he just let the crowd shine.”

Tirico will likely be back on the broadcast during next week’s divisional series when the Lions face an opponent to be determined. There remain two Wild Card games to be played, both of which will occur on Monday afternoon, that will evince the next round of the playoffs.

While she was watching the game, Adams observed the amplified noise of Ford Field and how it was transmitted through the broadcast. She also conveyed that the NFL was “at its best” during the game, leading to a historic moment that many fans have waited to see throughout their lives.

“He let us all hear it and feel like we were part of it,” Adams added. “Not everybody does that, and there was no one better to call that game. Thank God it was him.”

Relatability is the Key to Success for 77WABC’s Sid Rosenberg

BNM Staff
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Relatability is the Key to Success for 77WABC’s Sid Rosenberg

77WABC morning man Sid Rosenberg is never shy to offer his opinions. His authenticity, relatability and willingness to tackle issues head on has served him well during his career. In a sit down with Suzanne Miller, Rosenberg shared his views on what creates talk radio success.

After discussing Red Apple Media’s growth, Miller asked Rosenberg to sum up what makes him successful.

“Twenty five years I’ve been doing this, and I’ve done it in many major markets across this country,” Rosenberg said. “It’s like everything in else, if you do it long enough, you get better. Now, in this business, if you don’t have it, you’re never going to have it. When you have it, and you nurture it, then you can become one of the all-time greats.”

Miller followed up by asking the WABC host to explain what ‘it’ means.

“I think you have to be relatable” Sid explained. “Whether you’re making a million dollars, ten million dollars, one hundred million dollars, I think that’s why John Catsimatidis does a good job. He’s worth four billion dollars but he’s an every day guy. I’m a relatable guy. I am not a political genius or Sean Hannity or Bill O’Reilly. I’m a guy that likes sports, movies, all the things that guys my age like. I’m not a professor on any of these things. I think that’s what people like. I tell you how I feel. “

Rosenberg then told a story of an earlier time on sports radio when he ventured outside of sports into the political space. His program director asked “why are you talking about Barack Obama? This is a sports show.” The passionate New York host replied “because guys my age care just as much about this city, state, and country as they do the Dolphins or the Giants.”

Sid remarked that his former program director hated his rationale and wanted to fire him. The PD told Sid “when you go to an Italian restaurant, you don’t order egg foo young.” Rosenberg told the PD he was right but he wanted to be Sam’s Club. Sid said the PD then told him he’d give him one year. A year later Rosenberg says he was #1 in the market and it was his last job in South Florida before moving to NYC to join WABC.

Upon moving to New York, Sid said his goal was to combine politics, sports, lifestyle and entertainment. He pointed out that the audience learns just as much about his family and personal tastes as they do his political views and conversations with New York politicians. By taking that approach, Rosenberg says the audience never gets bored, you’re not predictable, and you show that you’re very relatable.

The conversation continued examining the value of guests and the host’s role leading the conversation. Sid also spent time offering his perspective on NYC crime, Eric Adams, the 2024 election, Donald Trump, the wars in Israel and Ukraine, and more!

FOX Sports Averages 40 Million Viewers for Packers-Cowboys Wild Card Game

BSM Staff
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FOX Sports Averages 40 Million Viewers for Packers-Cowboys Wild Card Game

FOX Sports has announced an average audience of 40 million viewers for its Wild Card game broadcast on Sunday afternoon in the Green Bay Packers’ 48-32 defeat of the Dallas Cowboys. The matchup is projected to place the showdown as the property’s best performance for an NFL Wild Card game since 2015.

Moreover, the presentation peaked at 43.4 million viewers from the quarter-hour from 6:45 p.m. to 7 p.m. EST. The network’s lead NFL broadcast crew of play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt, color commentator Greg Olsen, reporters Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi were on the broadcast of the game. Viewership data for the matchup is provided by Nielsen Media Research and Adobe Analytics.

The reach of this game is up 20% over last year’s playoff tilt that aired in the same window when the New York Giants defeated the Minnesota Vikings. A total of 33.2 million viewers watched the matchup that gave the Giants their first postseason victory since the 2011 playoffs. Prior to their playoff loss on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys ended their regular-season with a victory against the Washington Commanders that elicited an average of 21.73 million viewers and a 10.8 overall rating for FOX Sports, according to data reported by Sports Media Watch.

The Green Bay-Dallas matchup was preceded by a special edition of FOX NFL Sunday that included an exclusive interview with CeeDee Lamb conducted by reporter Erin Andrews. FOX NFL insider Jay Glazer delivered his “Ins and Outs” leading up to the matchup while Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long, Terry Bradshaw, Michael Strahan and Rob Gronkowski delivered analysis on the panel hosted by Curt Menefee.

Two additional Wild Card round games are slated to be played on Monday afternoon, starting with a matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Buffalo Bills on CBS at 4:30 p.m. EST/1:30 p.m. PST. Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson will be on the call for that game from Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. after it was postponed due to a snowstorm that significantly reduced visibility.

On Monday night, ABC and ESPN will televise the traditional broadcast of the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Fla. ESPN2 will serve as the home of Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli featuring former NFL quarterbacks and Super Bowl champion brothers Peyton and Eli Manning. Both of these concurrent broadcasts of the action, which are being simulcast on ESPN+, are slated to begin at 8 p.m. EST/5 p.m. PST just before kickoff and will be preceded by the Monday Night Countdown pregame show.

Adam Schefter to Dan Patrick: NFL is ‘Great for Your Show’

BSM Staff
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With the Wild Card slate of games nearly complete in the NFL playoffs, the discussion surrounding the future of players and coaches is becoming amplified. Disappointment from fanbases and organizations about falling short in the playoffs has engendered discussion about the outlook going forward as they look to have a chance to hoist the Vince Lombardi Trophy. ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter spoke about the intel he has regarding these narratives and projected potential landing spots for some of the coaches reportedly looking for jobs in the NFL. More coaches may join them as the playoffs continue and teams determine that changes need to be made.

After Schefter finished giving an answer about where former Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll may land, show host Dan Patrick acknowledged that it is “a fascinating time” in the NFL. Combined with the retirement of head coach Nick Saban and appointment of Kalen DeBoer as his successor to lead the Alabama Crimson Tide, the coaching carousel is presumably in or close to full swing.

As someone who covers the league throughout the entire calendar year, Schefter reassured Patrick that this stretch of time in the NFL, while perceived by many to be extraordinarily fascinating, is akin to many others. Although the parameters may not be the same, the fact of the matter is that it is still widely regarded to be a fascinating time in the league.

“It always is, okay,” Schefter said on Monday morning. “That’s how I have a job. That’s what this league does. We go from the playoffs to the hires and fires to free agency to quarterbacks…. It’s one soapbox drama after another.”

Patrick’s program covers the NFL extensively both during the season and offseason, providing fans with an outlet for reliable information and trusted opinions. He has been hosting the radio show independent of ESPN since leaving the network in the summer of 2007 and has discussed the NFL in an innumerable amount of episodes. Patrick is prepared to retire at the conclusion of his contract in 2027, preemptively setting Christmas Eve of that year as his final show date.

“It’s great for your show; people love it,” Schefter said to Patrick regarding the NFL. “You’ve been in business for a long time, and the NFL reality show – it just feels like just gets larger and larger and larger and more and more popular over time.”

Ryan Johnston of 98.5 The Sports Hub: Wayne Larrivee is One of the Best

BSM Staff
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As the NFL continues its playoff slate of games, broadcasts are available to consume on numerous platforms. Pertaining to local radio broadcasts, fans heard the announcing teams they were accustomed to on a weekly basis. The Green Bay-Dallas game, in particular, drew attention not only because of the outcome, but also for the announcers themselves. There were several impassioned calls on the Packers Radio Network by play-by-play voice Wayne Larrivee.

Larrivee is in the midst of his 46th season broadcasting NFL games and was joined alongside Larry McCarren. He delivered an impassioned call of a touchdown by tight end Luke Musgrave on Sunday afternoon. During his commentary, Larrivee referred to the play as “a dagger right through the heart of the Cowboys.” In reviewing the game on Monday, 98.5 The Sports Hub morning show Toucher & Hardy played this clip and broke down the action.

“Their play-by-play guy Wayne Larrivee is one of the best,” co-host Ryan Johnston said. “When I lived in Chicago for a little while, he was doing Bears games at the time. It was Dick Butkus and Hub Arkush [who] were the color guys, and it sounded exactly like that. You never knew what was happening because Larrivee was drowned out by the color guys just yelling, ‘Go! Go!’”

Show anchor Jon Wallach remarked that the Cincinnati Bengals find themselves in a similar situation on their radio broadcasts. He explained that Dan Hoard, the team’s play-by-play announcer, is often drowned out by color commentator and former offensive lineman Dave Lapham. With the Bengals qualifying for the postseason in two of the last three seasons, there has been considerable excitement surrounding the team.

“At least Ron Wolfley down in Arizona, who sounds like Yukon Cornelius, and he’ll lay out and then at the end he’ll just come in with a, ‘Oh baby. They really took it to the house,’” co-host Rob ‘Hardy’ Poole added, “but he doesn’t interrupt.”

The NFL playoffs continue on Monday afternoon when the Pittsburgh Steelers visit Highmark Stadium to face the Buffalo Bills at 4:30 p.m. EST/1:30 p.m. PST. Both teams will have their local radio announcers commentating the action, along with the NFL on CBS lead announcing team of Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson. The game was supposed to be played on Sunday afternoon; however, a lake-effect snowstorm in Buffalo, N.Y. caused the game to be postponed due to the treacherous conditions.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Documentary On Amazon Prime Will ‘Set the Tone’ for Improbable Media

BSM Staff
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Giannis Antetokounmpo Documentary On Amazon Prime Will ‘Set the Tone’ for Improbable Media

Milwaukee Bucks forward and two-time NBA most valuable player Giannis Antetokounmpo recently launched his own company, Improbable Media, along with former ESPN analyst and point guard Jay Williams. The entity is set to release its first project titled Giannis: The Marvelous Journey presented by Prime Video, which will look back at the rise of Antetokounmpo from his childhood in Greece to his stardom in the NBA.

This feature-length documentary includes interviews with Antetokounmpo’s family, including his brothers Thanasis, Kostas and Alex, along with various basketball luminaries such as Jason Kidd, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday. TNT Sports Inside the NBA cast members Ernie Johnson and Kenny “The Jet” Smith were also interviewed for the project, which will be available in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide upon its release on Monday, Feb. 19, 2024.

From his early days on the streets of Athens, Greece being raised by parents who immigrated from Nigeria looking for a better life to now, Antetokounmpo’s path to the NBA is chronicled within this documentary. The film recalls how Antetokounmpo saw images of star players in the NBA while in an internet café, propelling him to pursue a career in the sport. After several seasons in Greece, he was selected in the first round by the Milwaukee Bucks and rapidly emerged as one of the top players in the sport. Standing out for his athleticism and skillset, he was given the nickname “The Greek Freak” and has made considerable impacts both on and off the court.

The Words + Pictures production company was involved in the project, along with Improbable Media and Prime Video. Emmy Award-winner Kristen Lappas directed the film, while Connor Schell and Hannah Beir served as producers. Executive producers for the project are Aaron Cohen, Libby Geist, Nick Monroe and Giorgos Panou. Amazon Prime members will have access to this documentary upon its release as part of their subscription to the premium service.

In addition to this documentary, Antetokounmpo and his media company aim to further establish a content studio to create original and commercial projects on various platforms. Former Red Bull Media House and Fusion Media Network executive Jonathan Stern is serving as the company’s chief executive officer as it endeavors in the space.

In a recent interview with Sports Business Journal, Stern revealed that the company has been working on several projects to ensure it enters “the marketplace with some heft.” One of these includes a trip Antetokounmpo made last summer to Nigeria, he told the outlet. Moreover, he stated that this upcoming documentary – Giannis: The Marvelous Journey – will “set the tone” for the company as it prepares to add to its content portfolio, which already includes an Emmy Award win for The Flagmakers with National Geographic.

Various athletes have entered into the media space with either part or full ownership in companies. Some recent examples include LeBron James (SpringHill Company), Stephen Curry (Unanimous Media) and Shannon Sharpe (Shay Shay Media). Improbable Media has investors such as Verance Capital and GPS Investment Partners as it builds out both its media and production businesses and brand strategy division, Nuance. Antetokounmpo, along with Williams and Stern, will now look to continue establishing momentum in the space as the documentary is set to premiere in the near future.

“It’s a very personal story that I am excited to share with the world,” Antetokounmpo explained. “You’ll see me in everything Improbable does. And the Amazon documentary tells the story that is the foundation for all of this.”

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