Episode 508 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Hans Schroeder, the NFL’s EVP for Media Distribution. In this podcast, Schroeder discusses whether the NFL front-loaded its schedule and how the league thinks about the first two weeks of the season; Fox’s desire to have more AFC teams on its schedule this year; how the league pa…

Episode 507 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Annie Costabile, a women's sports reporter for Front Office Sports. In this podcast we discuss the WNBA's upcoming season; where the league is as far as media coverage; the importance of Caitlin Clark and the Fever to the product; the challenges of covering the league as a beat r…

Episode 506 of the Sports Media Podcast features S.L. Price, the longtime Sports Illustrated writer who has a new book out: "The American Game: History and Hope in the Country of Lacrosse." The book comes out May 20. In this podcast, Price discusses why he wrote the book; where the sport sits today in America; how the Duke rape case and the murder …

Episode 505 of the Sports Media Podcast features Jon Lewis, the founder and editor of Sports Media Watch. In this podcast we discuss ESPN unveiling its direct to consumer product; the impact of the move and potential pricing; NBA and NHL postseason viewership; NBC hiring of Carmelo Anthony as an NBA studio analyst; Comcast’s sports division using a…

Episode 504 of the Sports Media Podcast features NBC Sports host Ahmed Fareed, who served as the main host for the Kentucky Derby coverage after Mike Tirico had an allergic reaction. Fareed has hosted the Olympics, Paralympic Games, Premier League, Big Ten Football and Basketball, and other sports for NBC. In this podcast, Fareed discusses how he w…

Episode 503 of the Sports Media Podcast features Donnovan Bennett of Sportsnet (Canada). In this podcast we discuss whether LeBron James will return for his 23rd year; how seismic it would it be if LeBron left; what the league does in a post-LeBron era; the favourites for the NBA title; why F-1 managememt is so obsessed with cursing, and more. You …

Episode 502 of the Sports Media Podcast features Peter King, one of the iconic NFL writers and voices of his generation. He is currently writing a book about his 40 years of covering the NFL and changes in the league during his tenure. In this podcast, King discusses this year's NFL Draft and how he processed it; the uselessness of early Mock Draft…

Episode 501 of the Sports Media Podcast features Donna Brothers, who serves as a reporter on NBC Sports’ horse racing coverage, including the Triple Crown and the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Brothers will be part of NBC's Kentucky Derby coverage on NBC and Peacock this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. ET. This is NBC's 25th presentation of the Derby. I…

Episode 500 of the Sports Media Podcast features Cassidy Hubbarth, who worked at ESPN for more than a decade including prominently as a game reporter on NBA coverage and as an NBA host. She will move to Amazon Prime Video next year as that streamer's lead NBA sideline reporter. In this podcast we discuss ESPN's very public goodbye to her; why she s…

Episode 499 of the Sports Media Podcast features Sports Media Watch founder and editor Jon Lewis. In this podcast, we discuss the reports of ESPN retaining the NFL Draft; the value of the NFL Draft as a property; Lee Corso announcing his retirement from College GameDay; NHL viewership dropping and what it means; TNT Sports not sending announcers to…

Episode 498 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Charlie Yook, an NFL Network executive producer and the longtime point person for the network's NFL Draft coverage, and ESPN vice president of production Seth Markman, who oversees the Disney presentation of the NFL Draft on ESPN and ABC. In this podcast, Yook and Markman discuss…

Episode 497 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a roundtable discussion with Donnovan Bennett of Sportsnet (Canada) and Austin Karp, the managing editor/newsletters for SBJ. In this podcast we discuss the NBA's regular season viewership numbers; ABC, ESPN and TNT averaged 1.53 million viewers, slightly below last season’s four…

Episode 496 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Joon Lee, an independent sports journalist and content creator whose YouTube launch video was titled, "My ESPN Layoff Taught Me Why Sports Media is Broken." In this podcast Lee talks about why he sees big opportunity in sports content creation on YouTube; the current sports media…

Episode 495 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Sabreena Merchant, a staff writer covering women's basketball at The Athletic and one of the hosts of "No Offseason," the Athletic Women's Basketball podcast. In this podcast we discuss ESPN televising the 2025 WNBA Draft; whether we think it's a good television production; Holly…

Episode 494 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Jon Lewis, the founder and editor of Sports Media Watch and Josh Carpenter, an assistant Managing Editor, Digital Operations Golf reporter for Sports Business Journal. In this podcast we discuss where The Masters sits today in American sporting culture; the declining viewership o…

Episode 493 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Kenny Albert, the lead play by play voice for WBD's coverage of the NHL. In this podcast Albert describes calling Alex Ovechkin's 895th career NHL goal, which came against the New York Islanders on April 6 and eclipsed Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record; being cognizant that t…

Episode 492 of the Sports Media Podcast features Alex Bazzell, the president of Unrivaled Basketball. The 3x3 women's basketball league that aired on WBD's networks recently completed its inaugural season. In this podcast, Bazzell discussed the first year of the league and if they met internal aspirations for reach and visibility; averaging 221,000…

Episode 491 of the Sports Media Podcast features a roundtable discussion with Donnovan Bennett of Sportsnet (Canada), Chad Finn of The Boston Globe and Jon Lewis of Sports Media Watch. In this podcast we discuss how networks will cover upcoming international events such as the Olympics, the World Cup and soccer matchups given the changing United St…

Episode 490 of the Sports Media Podcast features Lisa Bluder, the former University of Iowa women’s basketball team coach and one of the most accomplished basketball coaches of her generation. Bluder led Iowa to the national title game in 2023 and 2024 and won 528 games at the school. In this podcast, we discuss how she approached the massive amoun…

Episode 489 of the Sports Media Podcast features Brian Lawlor, the President of Scripps Sports. As the owners of ION and TV stations around the U.S., Scripps airs both the WNBA and NWSL, as well as a number of local teams including the Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights. In this podcast, Lawlor discuses ION's foray into the WNBA and NWSL; IO…

Episode 488 of the Sports Media Podcast features three guests — Rebecca Lobo, Holly Rowe and Ryan Ruocco of ESPN. They are the lead broadcasters for the Women’s Final Four as well as the WNBA Finals. In this podcast the trio discusses calling the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament; reflecting back one year later on the title game between South Caro…

Episode 487 of the Sports Media Podcast features Sports Media Watch editor and founder Jon Lewis. In this podcast we go deep into the women's and men's basketball tournaments; why we are seeing more women's basketball content than ever before; why viewership will be down for the women's Final Four and title game but what will be interesting is the …

Episode 486 of the Sports Media Podcast features Jane McManus, the author of “The Fast Track: Inside the Surging Business of Women's Sports.” In this podcast, McManus discusses her new book on how the economics and surges in viewership contradict the myths about disinterest in women’s sports; why she wrote her book; how she sees the new-age athlete…

Episode 485 of the Sports Media Podcast features Ben Fischer, who covers the NFL and all other professional football news for Sports Business Journal; Sean Keeley, the Managing Editor for Awful Announcing, and Austin Karp, the managing editor/newsletters for SBJ. In this podcast were discuss why NFL free agency has become such a media event and whe…

Episode 484 of the Sports Media Podcast features Conrad Thompson, who has created an immensely successful set of wrestling podcasts including ones with Eric Bischoff, Bruce Prichard, John Layfield; Jeff Jarrett, Tony Schiavone and Jim Ross. In this podcast, Thompson offers insight about the growth of his podcast network; the advantage of begin a fi…