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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🔥 Tom Brady revealed he regrets participating in his Netflix roast, which aired just over a year ago to the day. The star quarterback turned Fox NFL broadcaster appeared on Logan Paul’s podcast earlier this week and said, “I’ll never forget when I talked to my kids the next day. I felt a stake through the heart, understandably.”

🚶 Paul Pierce made good on his wager Thursday and walked 20 miles to work after his Boston Celtics lost Game 2 to the New York Knicks Wednesday night to go down 2-0 in the series. While some are skeptical that he actually walked the full 20 miles, it nevertheless made for a funny bit on his show Speak.

🏈 Nick Saban will reportedly co-chair a presidential commission on college sports, according to Ralph D. Russo of The New York Times. President Trump is planning to create the commission to examine issues like NIL, the transfer portal, Title IX, and conference realignment.

️‍🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Why the NFL would stream a game for free on YouTube

Thursday evening, Andrew Marchand of The Athletic broke the news that YouTube is the “heavy favorite” to air the NFL Brazil game during the Friday of the league’s opening week this year.

But before any loyal A-Block readers get in a tizzy, this is not another exclusive NFL game that will require paying for a subscription service. This game, according to Marchand, will stream globally for free on YouTube. No pay TV service and no subscription necessary.

That would be a first for the league. As the NFL has experimented with exclusive games on streaming the past few years, it has done so exclusively with paid services. Prime Video, Peacock, and Netflix. Putting a game on regular old YouTube? That’s something that fans might be able to get behind.

Let’s not anoint the NFL as some benevolent force here, though. In all likelihood, the league will be getting a nine-figure payout from Google for rights to the game. (At least, that was the going rate for Peacock’s exclusive Brazil game last season.)

But even more than money, the league might be looking towards YouTube for other reasons.

Traditionally, as readers of this newsletter likely already know, the NFL is prohibited from broadcasting games on Fridays and Saturdays from the second weekend in September through the second weekend in December. Believe it or not, that’s federal law designed to protect high school and college football.

This year and last year, however, the NFL season has started on the first weekend of September, allowing the league to broadcast a Friday game while still complying with federal law. That won’t be the case in 2026 when the season will start on the second weekend of September.

Let’s not kid ourselves, though. The Week 1 Friday NFL game is here to stay. Last year’s Peacock exclusive drew 14.2 million viewers, an extraordinary amount for a paid streaming service.

But if the NFL wants to keep a game on that Friday, it’ll have to find a way to circumvent the law. Streaming a game, for free, on YouTube, might be the way to do that.

See, it’s unclear whether or not streaming would be covered by the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. The NFL, if it came to it, could plausibly argue a game that exclusively airs on a streaming service is not subject to a law centered around television broadcasting. And while that same logic would seemingly apply to Peacock, or Prime Video, or Netflix, the appetite to fight the NFL over a game it is airing for free on one of the world’s most widely accessible platforms is likely much different than if the game were locked behind a paywall.

And so, with this plan, the NFL can have its cake and eat it too. It’ll still get a massive payout for selling the game and it can own another date on the calendar that was traditionally NFL-free.

Win-win.

👀AROUND AA📰

El Clásico hits ESPN

ESPN will make history on Sunday when it airs El Clásico, the storied rivalry between Barcelona and Real Madrid in LaLiga, for the first time on English-language linear TV. ESPN soccer analyst Steve McManaman spoke with Awful Announcing during a conference call and stressed the importance of that additional exposure for the league’s growing American audience. Check out the full piece here.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

Inside the NBA aired a touching tribute to their late stagehand Kevin Thomas on Thursday. It’s worth a watch.

📈💰INDUSTRY INSIGHTS🧐

• After restructuring its business divisions internally, Warner Bros. Discovery is seemingly heading towards a split. According to David Faber, co-host of CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, Warner Bros. Discovery — the corporate home of the Max streaming service and linear cable channels including TNT and TBS — is eyeing a “split” that could see its linear cable assets spun off from its streaming service and film studio. “It’s become relatively clear to me from the many conversations that I’ve had that we could get some sort of an announcement in the not too distant future that they are planning to try to split the company,” Faber said on Thursday’s edition of Squawk.

• The Black Friday football schedule is becoming more crowded. On Thursday, The Athletic’s Chris Vannini reported that the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State will kickoff at noon ET on Black Friday. That means the game won’t compete directly with the NFL, which has scheduled its Black Friday games for 3 p.m. ET the past two seasons. Adding to the fun, Texas and Texas A&M will play their rivalry game on Black Friday as well, kicking off at 7:30 p.m. ET.

• TNT Sports managed to name 30 people to its broadcast team for the upcoming French Open, the first of which will air on the networks. Some of the biggest names for tennis fans include Andre Agassi, Venus Williams, both Patrick and John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Lindsay Davenport, Chris Evert, and Caroline Wozniacki. From the TNT Sports side, mainstays Brian Anderson and Adam Lefkoe will be central figures in the coverage in the broadcast booth and studio respectively.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Versant: What we know, and what we don’t

There’s been a full-on avalanche of news about Comcast’s spinoff, Versant, this week. It’s a lot to follow, even for the most tuned-in of us all, so here’s a quick rundown of exactly what we know so far, and what we still need to find out.

What is Versant?

Versant is the new entity being formed out of Comcast/NBCUniversal’s current portfolio of cable networks. It will include USA, CNBC, MSNBC, Oxygen, E!, SYFY and Golf Channel. Notably, it will exclude the NBC broadcast channel, the Bravo cable network, and Peacock streaming service.

Will Versant still be owned by Comcast/NBC?

No. Versant will be a completely separate company with its own corporate structure headed by CEO Mark Lazarus, who was previously the chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group.

How can I access these channels after Versant launches?

The channels housed under the Versant umbrella will be available the same way consumers can currently access them: through a pay TV subscription. Per CNBC, the cable channels that will comprise Versant all have distribution deals locked down until 2027, with most coming up for renewal in 2028.

Will Versant have a streaming platform?

No, not directly. Per CNBC, Versant does not plan to launch its own streaming service that will include every channel under its umbrella. Instead, Versant will rely on its individual brands to develop digital strategies that best suits their customers.

That leaves a couple different options. Brands could launch their own streaming services. For instance, maybe MSNBC and CNBC will develop a direct-to-consumer service together and sell it as a standalone product.

Another option would see individual networks license their content to existing streaming services. Maybe Golf Channel wants to sell its programming to ESPN+, or heck, even Peacock if they offer the best deal!

What happens to sports that used to air on both NBC and a cable channel like USA?

This applies to quite a few properties, actually. So if you’re a fan of Premier League, golf, the Olympics, WWE, WNBA, or NASCAR, read up.

All of the Versant-owned networks that currently air live sports will continue to do so after the channels are spun off.

That means USA will continue to air Premier League soccer, WWE’s Smackdown, NASCAR races, golf’s U.S. Open and Open Championship (AKA, the British Open), and the WNBA starting next year. Golf Channel will still keep its complete portfolio of PGA Tour events and the Ryder Cup. CNBC will still have its fair share of Olympic sports throughout the year. E! will continue to air figure skating. And all of the networks that have traditionally contributed to NBC’s Olympics coverage every other year will continue to do so.

Will Versant compete with NBC for sports rights?

Yes! That already appears to be the case.

According to CNBC, Lazarus has already held talks with MLB and NWSL about acquiring live game rights. “We’re looking for sports deals that drive distribution, diversify ad sales and have a value,” the CEO said. Notably, Lazarus mentioned that the company is not interested in the Formula One rights which are currently on the market.

Will Versant look to acquire other cable networks?

While it was previously speculated that Versant could be a logical landing spot for other declining cable assets, Lazarus has indicated the company does not plan to acquire any other networks.

Per CNBC, “Lazarus said he has little interest in accumulating more debt attached to low-growth assets. If a cable network also had associated businesses that had better growth prospects, that could be more appealing on a case-by-case basis.”

Will NBC have any connection to Versant after it launches?

Yes. While Versant, for all intents and purposes, will be its own company, NBC will have a small role to play in its business. NBC will reportedly sell advertising inventory for Versant for the next two years. Ad inventory is typically sold well in advance, and helping Versant secure this revenue stream before launch should give the new company some stable footing to start.

Where will the Versant channels be located?

Temporarily, Versant has been operating out of NBC’s iconic 30 Rock building in New York City, though the plan is to move to another location within Manhattan on a permanent basis.

As for the NBC Sports properties that used the Stamford, CT studios, such as Golf Channel, a new location is still up in the air. Versant’s sports studio programming will no longer be based in the NBC Sports studios, but it’s unclear where it will end up.