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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🦚 Jovial Joey. News about NBC’s future MLB broadcast team is coming fast and furious. On Thursday, Front Office Sports reported that Joey Votto is finalizing a deal with the network to join as an analyst. As of now, it’s unclear whether NBC wants to put Votto in the booth or studio.

⚾ Rizz God. Joining Votto will be former Chicago Cub Anthony Rizzo, as reported by Sports Business Journal. It’s clear between these two hires, and Clayton Kershaw, who was reported to be joining earlier this week, that NBC is making something of a youth movement out of its MLB team.

📺 NFL says no. The Super Bowl won’t feature any advertisements from prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, Front Office Sports reports. The companies fall into a “prohibited list” of categories that the league prohibits from advertising against its games. That list includes tobacco, pornography, and firearms.

️‍🚨 LEADING OFF 🚨

ESPN’s Un-limiting

Things are finally moving in the right direction when it comes to people’s ability to access ESPN Unlimited.

Awful Announcing reported yesterday that, after going months without access, Comcast Xfinity customers will finally be able to authenticate into ESPN Unlimited “in the coming weeks.” Unfortunately, that means Xfinity subscribers still won’t have the service for this weekend’s WWE Royal Rumble, one of the marquee events of the year for the wrestling promotion. But soon enough, events placed on ESPN’s Unlimited tier will be accessible to all Xfinity subscribers who already have ESPN included in their cable bundle.

It’s progress for the much-ballyhooed app that has been more limited than Unlimited during the first five months of its existence.

Prior to ESPN’s launch of the app late last summer, the network had talked ad nauseam about how, no matter where someone subscribed to ESPN — be that through a traditional cable or satellite package, a digital alternative like YouTube TV, or simply paying ESPN directly — everyone would have access to ESPN Unlimited.

That turned out not to be the case for quite some time. Both Comcast and YouTube TV subscribers are yet to receive access, accounting for nearly 40% of all pay TV households in the country. Throughout, ESPN has placed premier events exclusively on the Unlimited tier. In addition to all WWE Premium Live Events, including this weekend’s Royal Rumble, ESPN quietly pushed many of its top Australian Open matches to the Unlimited tier earlier this month, causing angst among tennis fans.

Awful Announcing previously reported that the delays were centered on tech issues inherent to authenticating tens of millions of new users onto the platform. A source familiar with the ongoing effort tells Awful Announcing that ESPN’s work is complete, and the network now awaits Comcast and YouTube TV to complete their respective steps.

A YouTube TV rep did not respond to several inquiries for comment regarding the company’s timeline for ESPN Unlimited access. The Google-owned platform also intends to integrate ESPN content directly into its interface, though it’s unclear whether ESPN Unlimited access will be available at the same time as the full integration is rolled out.

Regardless, the Comcast news is moving in the right direction. Had ESPN continued putting content on its Unlimited tier that paying customers should have, but otherwise couldn’t access due to technical limitations, noise around this issue would’ve become louder.

Once authentication is provided to all pay TV distributors, ESPN’s promise of “All of ESPN. All in one place,” will actually become a reality. The user experience will be simplified, which was the initial goal when ESPN launched its new app. Either you have ESPN, or you don’t. And if you do, you get everything. That’s the ideal user experience. No tiers. No additional subscriptions. No wondering why Unlimited is included for some cable subscribers but not others.

Could this confusion have been avoided? Certainly. ESPN could’ve waited until its new distribution deals with Comcast and YouTube TV were done and both of those companies were prepared to onboard subscribers before launching the app. Instead, ESPN chose to launch before football season to capitalize on the direct-to-consumer subscribers who are sure to pay $30 per month for football.

It’s fair to ask whether that choice was worth it. ESPN got 1.7 million people to subscribe to Unlimited in its first three months after launch. That’s a cool $51 million in monthly revenue the network didn’t have before. But now, there’s a perception of confusion and inaccessibility that will be hard to shake. How long will it take subscribers to learn that they have Unlimited access once authentication is rolled out across all distributors? If everything had been sorted out on launch day, the perception of ESPN’s new app would’ve been one of simplicity.

Will the negative reputation follow ESPN Unlimited in the long run? Or will fans quickly forgive and forget once they learn they have access? My guess is that fans will have short memories, and ESPN traded a few months of bad press for a head start in building its subscriber base.

🎺 AROUND AA 🎺

Awful Announcing’s Sam Neumann delivered an interesting scoop on Thursday that ESPN’s Jason Kelce decided not to pursue a second season of his late-night show in 2026. Here’s Sam with the details.

The decision came from Kelce, who wanted to explore other opportunities during the offseason rather than commit to another run of the show. ESPN remained supportive of continuing the program and will work with Kelce on other projects going forward.

Jason Kelce announced the show on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in November 2024 and hosted five episodes from Union Transfer in Philadelphia during the final weeks of the regular season and playoffs. The show aired late Friday nights and early Saturday mornings on ESPN, with replays on ESPN2 and streams available on ESPN+ and YouTube.

Conversations about continuing the show took place throughout 2025, with discussions about potentially moving production from Philadelphia or adjusting the format. Ultimately, Kelce decided he wanted to try different things rather than commit to another season.

ESPN announced Monday that Jason Kelce will participate in select events during the offseason, including coverage of the NHL Stadium Series this Sunday at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa for Lightning-Bruins. The network positioned the hockey assignment as part of a broader strategy to utilize Kelce in one-off opportunities rather than weekly programming.

Kelce remains under contract with ESPN as a featured analyst on Monday Night Countdown during the NFL season. ESPN will continue to work with Kelce on additional projects as opportunities arise, though no specific plans have been finalized.

🎙️ THE AWFUL ANNOUNCING PODCAST 🎙️

Netflix’s Elle Duncan joined the latest episode of The Awful Announcing Podcast to recount her debut on the streamer.

AA’s Brandon Contes and Duncan discuss a wide range of topics, including hosting Skyscraper Live, understanding viewer criticism of her commentary, leaving ESPN for Netflix, joining USA Sports’ WNBA coverage, and more.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Fox’s World Cup plans

Fox is going all-out for its coverage of this summer’s World Cup hosted in North America.

The network announced on Thursday it would air a record-setting 70 matches on the Fox broadcast channel, with 34 more on FS1. Every single match from the Round of 16 forward will air on Fox. 40 total matches will air in primetime, by far the most in the event’s history.

Of course, it’s the first World Cup to feature a 48-team field, up from 32 in prior editions. So there’s more inventory to go around. But Fox is capitalizing.

Each match featuring the USMNT will feature extensive pregame coverage, including a three-hour show prior to the team’s opener against Paraguay on June 12.

And fear not, Fox-owned FAST platform Tubi is getting in on the action too. Tubi will simulcast the USMNT’s opener, similar to how the streamer simulcast Fox’s Super Bowl last year. Tubi will also host a “World Cup Hub” featuring original programming, including a docuseries titled Destination World Cup 2026.

It goes without saying that Fox is destined to break any viewership records currently held for the World Cup in the United States.

The information we’re all waiting for — what Fox’s broadcast team will look like for the event — will be revealed at a later date. The network has already announced big additions like Rebecca Lowe and Thierry Henry, and there’s likely still a few surprises left in store.