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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

⛳ CBS got its guy as Rory McIlroy finally won the Masters. As McIlroy blessed the network with a rebound in viewership on Saturday, CBS was all over McIlroy’s win. The graphics team nearly jinxed McIlroy on the 18th hole before the Irish star won a 1-hole playoff with Justin Rose to cap off “his masterpiece,” as Jim Nantz called it. More on that later…

🧐 Sports media was all around Donald Trump at UFC 314 in Miami. Recent MAGA critic Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports posted his own interaction with Trump ringside, claiming he invited the president on his “Davey Day Trader” livestream show. Then, the White House comms team posted TNT Sports analyst Shaquille O’Neal embracing Trump later in the night. But Portnoy created the biggest headlines of the night to himself after proudly cheering against “Hitler-lover” (Portnoy’s words) featherweight Bryce Mitchell.

🏀 Zeke comes at The King. During NBATV’s broadcast of the final Friday night of the regular season, Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas ripped off a lengthy diatribe against LeBron James. The reason? Well, James was recorded during his pregame workout routine without a shirt. And Thomas had a real issue with James’ lack of “professionalism,” even imploring commissioner Adam Silver to fine James.

️‍🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Inside The Masters’ petty fight against Bryson DeChambeau

Heading into the final round of the Masters this weekend, Bryson DeChambeau was 10 under and threatening for the first win at the tournament of his career.

But those first three rounds were little-seen thanks to ESPN and the Masters app, which together broadcast the early rounds of the tournament. DeChambeau’s group was not featured, meaning viewers could only watch him when the main broadcast cut to his strokes. That led rapper Lil Wayne, of all people, to lead a charge against the Worldwide Leader for its decision to keep one of the most popular golfers in the world out of the spotlight.

Of course, while his outspokenness and sizable audience online has made him popular, DeChambeau is also polarizing. “The Scientist” is one of golf’s LIV defectors, getting $125 million for his trouble, and he is a longtime vocal supporter of President Donald Trump. But a recent story at The Athletic from Gabby Herzig, which details how DeChambeau is the first pro golfer to seize on a trend started by Dude Perfect more than a decade ago, shows just how costly the PGA’s continued rejection of DeChambeau can be for the sport.

These days, whether an online personality happens to play golf or just talk about life into a camera, fans value authentic relationships. In fact, athletes are shown to be among the more popular content creators when they do dip into that well. But as Herzig reports, fickle broadcast rights contracts and an outdated concept of fandom have left the PGA Tour’s popularity online way below par.

Whoever decided to leave DeChambeau out of a featured group this weekend only added to this problem. There he was anyway, still revving up the fans on the way to the 18th hole on Sunday and soaking up the love. The most recent video on his YouTube channel features QB Matthew Stafford and has more than half the viewers that the second round at Augusta averaged on Friday.

In 2025, the only choice for a sports brand is how to engage with fans online. Not if. A celebrity like DeChambeau is a godsend. Sure, the PGA has to tamp down some of DeChambeau’s rougher edges versus what a fan might see online. But to cast him aside completely during the biggest golf event on the calendar is an unnecessary self own.

Masters viewership was up Saturday and will skyrocket for Sunday given McIlroy’s historic win. Rather than counting on another perfect story next spring, golf needs to start learning from DeChambeau rather than ignoring him.

👀AROUND AA📰

CBS meets the Rory moment

It was impossible to miss how much the CBS broadcast of the final round of the Masters was geared around Rory McIlroy on Sunday.

And while some fans may have been turned off by the way in which CBS lived and died with each McIlroy shot, Awful Announcing writer Drew Lerner argues they aced the test:

Rory McIlroy’s thrilling, roller coaster victory that finally secured him the career grand slam delivered all of the triumph, heartbreak, and tension that an all-time great golf tournament can. And CBS, Jim Nantz, and Trevor Immelman rightfully put all of their eggs in McIlroy’s basket throughout Sunday’s round.

McIlroy’s story is one that is intimately familiar to golf fans both hardcore and casual. Every year for the greater part of the past decade, golf fans have asked: is this the year Rory McIlroy will finally win the Masters to complete the career grand slam? Especially in the absence of Tiger Woods, Rory’s performance is always the number one question on people’s minds.

Read the full column at Awful Announcing.

📺 THE AA PODCAST 🎙️

Fresh off the news that ESPN is canceling Around the Horn after 22 years on air, host Tony Reali joned The Awful Announcing Podcast to discuss the show’s run and his future.

Reali dished on his contract situation and even expressed openness to replacing Ernie Johnson on Inside the NBA before going deep on ATH and Pardon the Interruption.

Check out the interview on the AA YouTube Channel or wherever you listen to podcasts.

📈💰INDUSTRY INSIGHTS🧐

• College GameDay host and ESPN college basketball announcer Rece Davis is staying put after a reportedly big push for his talents by Fox. Davis will get “tens of millions” over seven years to stay after Fox offered him a role effectively replacing Rob Stone as host of Big Noon Kickoff and the network’s men’s World Cup coverage.

• Before CBS moved Charles Davis to its top college football broadcast team, the network reportedly offered the role to Dan Orlovsky, who turned it down. The news comes as Orlovsky remains a free agent and negotiates in public with ESPN.

• Versatile ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington, who scored big scoops on Scottie Scheffler and Tyreek Hill last year, is reportedly hitting the market. With ESPN bringing in Peter Schrager and Kevin Clark in recent years, it remains to be seen how much space it will have for other NFL reporters. Still, there aren’t a lot of places for sports TV reporters outside Bristol these days…

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Pat McAfee’s next challenge

Pat McAfee’s first-ever live event last week was a lot of things.

Awful Announcing already covered it, on our site and in this newsletter, as one big airing of grievances. And yes, McAfee took a cue from his comedian friends and made a big show of getting the last word against his critics. The rest of the night featured McAfee’s celebrity friends doing their thing on a big stage in his hometown. True to form, McAfee also gave away a lot of money and made the show widely available for viewers at home.

The “Big Night Aht” in Pittsburgh felt like a new experiment because it was.

During an appearance on Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger promoting the event, McAfee explained his grand vision for it. McAfee set out to create a “variety show” like the ones that were popular on TV in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. A one-stop show with music, comedy, games and more. While the first edition featured a whole lot of Grumpy McAfee on top of it all, he did what he set out to do.

So after helping to reshape the entire television business with his deal to license The Pat McAfee Show to ESPN, McAfee is onto his next challenge. PMS will always be his bread and butter, and there’s no shortage of him between College GameDay and WWE Raw. But McAfee clearly believes in the economics and product of the Big Night Aht.

Beyond selling out PPG Paints Arena for the event, McAfee also sold rights to the full event to Hulu. It streamed live on his YouTube channel but is now only available to watch on the Disney-owned streaming service. If musical artists can make money this way, why not McAfee?

As one of the biggest draws anywhere in media with extreme ambition, McAfee is one of the only guys who would try this. He’s also one of the only ones who can pull it off.