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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🥌 NBC has named Savannah Guthrie, Terry Gannon, and Shaun White as 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony hosts. Sorry, Peyton Manning and Kelly Clarkson.

🏈 Lee Corso will make at least one more appearance at a college football stadium as he will be honored at his alma mater, Florida State.

🏈 Netflix tried to attempt a stunning coup to win streaming rights to the USC-Notre Dame game by getting it played at a neutral field venue.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Nexstar, Sinclair open Pandora's distribution box

The suspension of Jimmy Kimmel by ABC and Disney was short-lived with the comedian returning to the airwaves on Tuesday night after the controversy over his comments about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. But viewers in local markets with ABC affiliates owned by distributors Nexstar and Sinclair are still being left out because those companies have chosen to continue pre-empting Jimmy Kimmel Live.

We’ve seen almost every fabric of society capitulate to the current presidential administration and media companies have gladly led the way in standing down from social media changes to settling lawsuits and more. After threats made by FCC chairman Brendan Carr, Disney quickly moved to bench Kimmel to prevent a greater crisis last week.

But now it’s the actions of Nexstar and Sinclair in the spotlight this week as two of the largest owners of local affiliates in the country. And it’s clear to see that both are serving their own interests ahead of their viewers’ freedom to choose what they want to watch.

Sinclair has long been known as a conservative media company, so it’s no surprise to see them continue to try to make an example out of Kimmel in the current media climate and align with the present administration. As for Nexstar, they need the administration to approve a massive $6 billion acquisition of Tegna because it would take them over the current limit of affiliates allowed to be owned by one company. If the FCC asks Nexstar to jump, they’re going to ask how high until that deal is finalized.

But in acting independently from Disney, and one might argue politically, both Nexstar and Sinclair have opened Pandora’s Box for how they relate to the media giants whose content they distribute.

A disagreement between these two sides of the media ecosystem is incredibly rare. But now the question is how does Disney respond. For instance, what is to stop them from saying that they will not air college football games on the network until Kimmel is brought back?

Now that programming choices are turning into political footballs, let’s say LeBron James starts publicly criticizing Donald Trump. Could Nexstar and Sinclair affiliates refuse to show Lakers games when the NBA on NBC begins this fall? The NBA has long been a target of conservative ire, so picking a fight there would be a quick way to score political points.

The framework between media companies and local affiliates is already a fragile house of cards in a streaming era. And linear television (especially broadcast networks and cable) heavily depends on live sports to survive. But times have changed. If it no longer becomes worth the hassle, Disney could simply point people to their streaming apps and say goodbye - the Disney+, ESPN, and Hulu bundle will serve their customers just fine.

In these hyper-polarized and politicized times, everything is a leverage play. And scenarios that once would have been unthinkable are quickly becoming possible.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

Stephen A. Smith and Chris Canty had a Hagler-Hearns level slugfest over Derrick Henry’s fumbles on First Take.

Every host should know that as soon as you complete the unanimous pregame picks, you’re going to be come a meme… especially Scott Van Pelt.

Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy called out Michael Wilbon for his take on former coach and future politician Bruce Pearl being a divisive presence.

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“I respect Philly, they are winning games… I can’t stand to watch that offense. It’s the most boring offense.” - Drew Brees wasn’t afraid to mix it up in his First Take debut with some spicy comments about the Eagles offense.

"I hope and expect to be back next year, I reserve the right to... maybe reassess." - Howie Rose is leaving open the possibility that his days may be numbered in the Mets radio booth.

"Now it feels like they just want you to lose get money and get you the f*ck out of there." - Bill Simmons is not a fan of the current state of Las Vegas.

️‍🔥The Closer🔥

ESPN: Work vs Shoot

Who would have thought the most notable example of ESPN’s freedom of journalistic expression versus the bottom line of their business relationships would come via… WWE?

For as long as ESPN has been the Worldwide Leader in Sports, there have always been questions about how fairly the network can cover the leagues that they are also in multi-million or even billion dollar relationships with. Those questions are only going to intensify in the years to come now that the network has proposed a ground-breaking equity deal with the NFL where the league would take 10% ownership of ESPN.

WWE might not be taking any ownership stake in ESPN, but the brand new partnership between the two sides has seen Bristol fundamentally change their sports coverage. ESPN is now giving WWE regular airtime and treating the “sports entertainment” giant more like the other sports leagues they cover.

But would ESPN’s new business relationship affect the way they can be critical of WWE? So far, it seems like the separation between church and state is holding strong. We know that because ESPN WWE writer Andreas Hale gave the debut show on ESPN’s DTC platform, Wrestlepalooza, a “C” grade as an underwhelming show. It’s refreshing honesty in a world where too often media companies are all too willing to bend the knee to either the powerful or put their own corporate interests first. (See above.)

WWE has hit a stumbling block this year after impressive growth and critical acclaim. The shows and storylines have missed more often than they hit in 2025 and the decisions to bring back Brock Lesnar and hold next year’s WrestleMania in Saudi Arabia are incredibly controversial.

A WWE premium live event review may seem like a very small thing in the media industry, but it is at least one positive sign that some journalistic independence and creative freedom can still exist somewhere.