Welcome to The A Block, Awful Announcing’s daily newsletter where you’ll always find the latest sports media news, commentary, and analysis.

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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏈 FS1 places executive on leave. Fox would love for all the attention to be on their broadcast of Super Bowl LIX on Sunday, but they find themselves in the middle of a major mess thanks to two lawsuits filed by former Fox Sports employees, both of which name executive vice president of content Charlie Dixon. Dixon has been placed on administrative leave while Fox investigates the claims. Expect this to come up often this week.

🎤 Colin Cowherd recovering. There was a bit of a scary moment during Monday’s episode of The Herd. An unspecified illness forced Colin Cowherd to abruptly leave the FS1 show during the first segment. Co-host Jason McIntyre took over the rest of the day while the show announced on social media that “Colin is doing OK.” Afterward, Cowherd shared that it was a “rough hour but I’ll be fine.”

🏀 Pat McAfee defends Shams Charania. ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania broke the NBA story of the year over the weekend, and Pat McAfee decided to take a victory lap on his behalf Monday, calling out…someone. Twice during his ‘progrum,’ McAfee seemingly stuck it to an unnamed fellow ESPN insider who didn’t want the company to hire Shams after Woj’s retirement. Any idea who McAfee was subtweeting, so to speak? Let us know…

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Roger Goodell talks about, well, everything

As he does every year, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell met with the media during a press conference ahead of Super Bowl LIX. While moving the presser to Mondays and limiting the credentials for those who can ask questions implied that the commish was trying to avoid some of the PR pitfalls from previous years, he was an open book this time, answering questions on just about anything related to the NFL, including…

On DEI: While many corporate entities have gotten in line and announced that they would discontinue their DEI programs, presumably as a form of appeasement towards the Trump Administration, Goodell says the NFL remains steadfast in its diversity efforts. “I think we’ll continue those efforts,” he said. “I think it’s also clearly a reflection of our fanbase and our communities and our players.”

Chiefs Conspiracies: The Kansas City Chiefs get all the calls. At least, that’s how it seems to a lot of NFL fans and media members. Goodell slammed the conspiracy as a “ridiculous theory” though he did say “It's always something that we have to continue to work on. How do we make our officiating better at all times?”

Replay Assist Expansion: There have been a lot of discussions around expanding the use of replay assist on situations such as facemask penalties or quarterback hits. Goodell seemed to say that the NFL will soon use replay assist more often. "I see us, in the future, adding more plays," he told reporters.

The 18th Game: It’s all but a foregone conclusion that the NFL will add an 18th regular-season game at some point. Goodell tried to strike a balance by saying that it’s something they want but need to find the right balance for player safety. "If we do, 18 and 2 (preseason) might be a possibility," Goodell said. "We know fans love football and they want more football. But we have to be incredibly sensitive and smart with the balance and how we deal with that."

International Franchise: Another foregone conclusion is that the NFL will add international teams at some point. Goodell was very receptive to the idea, saying "I do think there's potential that someday we're going to have an international franchise. If we do, it would not surprise me at all if the Super Bowl is played there."

Commanders Stadium in D.C.: Goodell would love to see the Commanders playing in the nation’s capital once again. "I think it can be great for our nation," he said. "I remember that as a kid growing up. The power of that. If that's the best alternative, I think it would be a great thing."

Tom Brady’s Conflict: Much has been made of Tom Brady’s potential conflict of interest as a Fox broadcaster and minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. Goodell says that Brady reaches out to him often to make sure he’s not crossing any lines. “He calls frequently about it and says, ‘Am I doing OK?’ And I think he’s serious about making sure that he separates these two and doesn’t put anyone in a potential position of conflict.”

Media Rights Values: If you thought for a second that the NFL was satisfied with its absolute domination, think again. And if you didn’t think the league was already thinking about how to squeeze more money out of their next media rights deals, you’re out of your mind. “I always think we’re undervalued, how’s that?” In other words, streaming services… start your engines.

👏 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🗣️

• Donald Trump will be interviewed by Fox News’s chief political anchor Bret Baier during the network’s Super Bowl LIX pregame coverage, reinstating what has been a tradition for United States presidents. This will be Baier’s first interview with Trump since June 2023. It will also be the first time the president has agreed to a Super Bowl interview since 2022.

• Stan Van Gundy is one of the last remaining NBA broadcasters at TNT Sports without a firm network gig locked up for next season. Unlike his brother, SVG is focused on remaining in the broadcasting booth, telling Puck’s John Ourand that he hoped to continue calling NBA games next season and well into the future. “I fully expect to be broadcasting for the rest of my professional career,” Van Gundy said. “I’m trying to be as good at it as I can, I’m trying to get better every day.”

• The St. Louis Cardinals are parting ways with Hall of Famer Jim Edmonds, who won’t be returning to their TV broadcast team next season. FanDuel Sports Network, the Cardinals’ TV home, issued a statement to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch over the weekend to confirm Edmonds will not be part of their broadcast next season. Between this and The Real Housewives of Orange County, Edmonds is running out of dependable media ops.

• Zach Lowe is back…kinda. While he hasn’t done too much since being laid off by ESPN, Lowe emerged with an 18-minute video podcast about the shocking Luka Dončić-Anthony Davis trade. The 47-year-old was coy about what’s next, when he’d be back, and with which outlet. It’s worth noting the video had 3.8 million views by the time of this writing.

📈 DATA DUMP 📊

• According to WWE, the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble wasn’t just a huge success, it was the “highest-grossing” version of the event since its inception in 1988. That includes a total attendance of 70,342 at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium, “the largest gate for any single-night event in WWE history.” The company also said it was the most viewed Royal Rumble ever, riding a 14 percent increase from last year’s event domestically on Peacock, with international numbers increasing even more with the show shifting to Netflix overseas.

• Nielsen announced Monday that they’ve expanded their tracking of out-of-home viewership to cover 100% of the U.S. population beginning in the February 2025 ratings period. That’s good news on the ratings front for Fox ahead of Super Bowl LIX.

• Speaking of Neilsen, the measurement company and Paramount — operator of networks like CBS, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central — have agreed to a multi-year deal that will see Nielsen measure Paramount’s content across linear and digital platforms.

• According to a press release issued Monday, ESPN averaged 1.6 million viewers throughout January per Nielsen, the network’s most-watched month since January 2015. It certainly helped to have the expansion of the College Football Playoff as well as two NFL playoff games.

️‍🔥THE CLOSER🔥

The Joe Roganization of Stephen A. Smith is here

As this newsletter’s editor, this is the spot where I share whatever sports media-related concern happens to be stuck in my craw right now. But I wanted to cede the floor to contributor DJ Dunson this time. DJ wrote a great piece for Awful Announcing Monday about how Stephen A. Smith is riding the coattails of Donald Trump's election to become a conservative media star. I’m sharing the opening of that post below, as well as a link to read the entire thing.

There’s an art to earning a critical mass of followers in this fractured ecosystem of media chatterboxes, but Stephen A. Smith’s ability to retain attention is another feat entirely.

Now in his 13th year of yelling takes over the sound of his ego on First Take, Smith’s peer in the sports debate arena, Skip Bayless, has been phased out at FS1. As Bayless’ schtick grew stale, his audience shrank, whereas Smith has adapted and cleared a fresh path to become a mogul in the attention economy.

During the most recent election cycle, Smith’s forays into political punditry grew more frequent and earned him as many plaudits as his rhetoric on First Take or NBA Countdown. In the wake of Donald Trump’s re-election, Smith’s pontifications have crescendoed into a direct relationship with the MAGA universe on Fox News, News Nation, and through the eponymous Stephen A. Smith Show.

In the summer of 2022, Smith launched Know Mercy, which beget The Stephen A. Smith Show, and soft-launched it as a nascent audition for his late-night host aspirations. However, side-splitting humor and hijinks move the needle on late-night, not acerbic commentary.

Smith’s streaming show taking a detour from sports and flirting with right-wing politics follows a familiar route traveled by UFC ringside color commentator Joe Rogan.

Read the rest of the piece here.