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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🕊️ New deal for Meadowlark. After a chaotic month of headlines around The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, the production company built up around it by Dan Le Batard and John Skipper (before his departure) scored another extension on its partnership with DraftKings. Reports differ on exactly how much the deal is worth, but it will be centered around DLS, Le Batard’s interview show South Beach Sessions, and David Samson’s sports business show Nothing Personal. The breakout hit of 2025, Pablo Torre Finds Out, will continue to be produced by Meadowlark but is reportedly seeking a new distribution deal according to Front Office Sports.

🏈 Dan Orlovsky gets real. At various points since his rise to prominence at ESPN, where he is a panelist on NFL Live and calls games for the network’s No. 2 NFL booth, Orlovsky has explored coaching — or used it as a negotiating tool. But even with his future contract status uncertain, Orlovsky isn’t feeling that pull. Orlovsky told Dan Patrick last week that “I really love what I’m doing right now.” His agent probably wouldn’t love Orlovsky acknowledging that, but we can probably shut the door on Dan-O jumping ship to be a QB coach somewhere.

📺 Fallout from ATH. The series finale of Around the Horn on Friday was celebratory and mostly tame, until the final segment when Tim Cowlishaw took matters into his own hands. In his final “Face Time,” the Dallas Morning News columnist took shots at ESPN for hiring so many athletes as the stars of the network and told management he would be “counting” whether the show’s replacement lasts as long as ATH’s two-decade run.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Is the NBA rooting for the Knicks?

As the home of the NBA Finals, ESPN and ABC are assuredly rooting hard for the New York Knicks to represent the Eastern Conference in the championship series. They want all the audience they can get, and the best ad rates possible.

But is the NBA?

As the Knicks try to stave off elimination in another road game on Tuesday night, the league faces two parallel tracks. On one, the NBA takes its medicine with one of the smallest-market Finals in history. On the other, the Knicks save the day.

Logically, the league should want the most popular team in the biggest city in the country to get as far as it can. It means the highest portion of people paying attention to the league. NBA media loves to say that the sport is better off when the Knicks are relevant, and a rabid Madison Square Garden crowd plus the entire tristate area pulling for the Knicks is a huge win.

A Pacers-Thunder Finals would see the 25th and 47th biggest Designated Market Areas in the U.S. trying to pull national audiences. Should the Timberwolves upset Oklahoma City, the West’s representative would instead be the… 16th biggest DMA. If the viewership for the Western Conference Finals on ESPN are any indication, fans are tepid at best about those two squads, despite an MVP and the alleged next Michael Jordan facing off.

Again, there is no doubt that Disney’s preference is to have the Knicks around. Yet despite what common sense might say, the league might prefer Indiana.

The Knicks are mostly tapped-out when it comes to popularity. They are a beloved team playing in the heart of Manhattan. Jalen Brunson is a known commodity, with a podcast and a running AT&T commercial. Karl-Anthony Towns is about to turn 30 and was once the No. 1 overall pick. There’s not much room to grow.

The upside for the Pacers is immense. Tyrese Haliburton is the breakout star of the playoffs, with several unthinkable game-winners on his highlight reel already. It is a franchise with a rich history and a city that claims basketball as its own. Alongside the Caitlin Clark show, a great Pacers team could create another marquee franchise of this era for the NBA.

The new TV rights deal is done. The numbers won’t matter much for another half-decade at least. The Pacers facing off against Minnesota or OKC would likely be one of the lowest-rated Finals ever. But social media, talk shows and group chats have to talk about something. Even if fans tune out a bit, more great Haliburton moments colliding with the next step for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Anthony Edwards is better for the future of the brand.

A league that just shattered expectations on an 11-year TV deal should be a comfortable league. And a comfortable league should be looking long-term. Get Adam Silver a couple drinks in at McSorley’s, and he might just lean Indy.

🗣️ THE AWFUL ANNOUNCING PODCAST 🗣️

In the latest edition of The Awful Announcing Podcast, host Brandon Contes interviews Fox IndyCar analyst James Hinchcliffe. Before the big race over the weekend, Hinchcliffe discussed working alongside Danica Patrick, the evolution of Roger Penske’s presence in the sport, and more!

Listen or watch wherever you get podcasts, or at Awful Announcing.

🎧 CHANNEL SURFING 📺

It can be hard to keep up with all the content across the sports and media universes.

We do our best to keep you updated with our Awful Announcing content, but some stuff is so good that it deserves its own shoutout. That’s what this section is for!

• Jon Stewart joined The Bill Simmons Podcast for a rare long interview. Come for Stewart’s Knicks and Mets talk, stay for his thoughts on the heyday of cable TV in the 1990s and 2000s — as well as Mike & the Mad Dog.

• Tom Cruise — yes, Tom Cruise — went on The Pat McAfee Show for a whopping 43 minutes last week to promote the new Mission: Impossible. Cruise is one of the most elusive people in Hollywood, yet he joined a long list of media-despising stars to trust McAfee to manage a conversation.

• ESPN chair Jimmy Pitaro was pretty transparent and thoughtful in his sitdown on The Grill Room from Puck’s Dylan Byers. Pitaro discussed the Worlwide Leader’s coming stream platform, how it thinks about its competitors these days, and much more.

• Kentucky radio star Matt Jones launched an interview show as part of a new deal with iHeartMedia, and brought out the heavy hitters right away. His first three guests were ESPN’s Ryan McGee, Breaking Points host Krystal Ball and former ESPN and HBO commentator Bomani Jones, who gave some interesting history on his relationship with Dan Le Batard.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

A bad week for Ryan Clark

Nobody is doing what Ryan Clark is doing in sports media.

Where many former athletes and veteran commentators are turning to YouTube slop videos or tired podcasts to pay the bills, Clark is out on his own. At ESPN, he is great in the usual analyst role, breaking down film and giving takes. On his podcast The Pivot and on social media, Clark is aiming to be the sports podcast equivalent of a daytime talk host. The retired defensive back talks ball as an entry point into tabloid fodder, family life, race, and more.

So it wasn’t a surprise that he would wade into the Caitlin Clark vs. Angel Reese once again last weekend as the WNBA tipped off. And it wasn’t a huge surprise that he would correct a former colleague’s take, as he did with Robert Griffin III a few days later. It wasn’t even that shocking to see him comment on Griffin’s marriage in order to make his point.

But when Clark got personal toward RGIII and his wife Grete, that’s when he crossed a line. The former Steeler said the couple was overly obsessed with being interracial, which prevented RGIII from accurately understanding Reese.

Clark ultimately apologized this week, echoing RGIII’s exact words saying “families are off-limits” in a lengthy video response on The Pivot. It was a clear example of Clark posting on social media before thinking, with messy consequences.

That same day, his Pivot cohost Channing Crowder revealed on his Miami radio show that their interview with Bill Belichick the previous week wasn’t all the way on the level. Of Belichick’s newfound deference to girlfriend Jordon Hudson, Crowder described that “she has her paws on the situation.” That apparently included Belichick’s appearance on the show, which Crowder intimated was coordinated by Hudson.

On watch-back, the “questions,” if one could call Clark’s clumsy guided suggestions that, simply give Belichick a chance to respond to grievances and air his own. The jump cuts are absurd, clearly editing around off-message quotes from Belichick or anything else that challenged his posture as hardened coach.

The problem with all of this, for Clark, is that by placing himself atop the moral ladder of sports media, he gave himself no space. He can’t slip.

Taking a pot shot at a competing analyst’s wife or giving a softball interview to a former coworker and respected rival? Those aren’t plainly ethical choices. As when he got humbled confronting Andrew Schulz last month, Clark often does have the moral high-ground. But where he gets twisted up is when he too rabidly plays the content game. Nobody is above getting clicks and making money.

Nobody wins the battle of right and wrong in YouTube drama, or when trying to disprove TMZ gossip. Clark’s position is showing cracks.