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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🎤 Stephen A. Smith staying put. Despite a lot of public posturing, it was always inevitable that Stephen A. Smith and ESPN would find a way to figure out his next contract. Smith confirmed Wednesday that he intends to stay with the Worldwide Leader. “I’m anticipating that hopefully we’ll reach a deal very, very soon and I’ll march forward with ESPN for the foreseeable future,” he told Front Office Sports.

🏀 Sir Charles and desist. It’s hard to keep track of what Charles Barkley wants. In the last few months, he’s talked up TNT, announced his retirement, backtracked on that, complained about going on ESPN, and put out feelers to other networks. Even though he recently admitted he rejected an offer from NBC and canceled meetings with Amazon, he told Dan Patrick that TNT Sports sent both platforms a cease-and-desist letter, which made him mad. Sir Charles remains the most complicated uncomplicated man in NBA media.

 🏈 Kirk clarifies his social media policy. Kirk Herbstreit confused many people in early January when he claimed he left social media long ago and that his son was the one causing so much drama by posting under his name. Wednesday, Herbie came clean and admitted it’s still his account, and his kids only posted a few things on his behalf. It’s been a weird year for Kirk, and our advice is to take the summer off social media altogether.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

The Super Bowl is already everywhere

It wasn’t that long ago that the idea of a streaming-exclusive NFL playoff game was absurd. Then, the NFL did it, and it was a success. So they did it again. And they’ve kept adding more streaming-only opportunities with each season. And with the eventual 18th regular-season game and the 2029 media rights opt-out looming, it’s a foregone conclusion that streaming-exclusive NFL games will become the norm.

What about the Super Bowl, though? Even before the streaming era, people posited that the Big Game could eventually become pay-per-view. Now that the league has proof of concept with its success with Thursday Night Football (Prime Video), Christmas Day (Netflix), and playoff game (Peacock), the notion of a Super Bowl eventually being broadcast from behind a paywall seems a little more likely to some.

Roger Goodell has long denied the possibility, but the truth is that he doesn’t even need to work that hard. Because the Super Bowl is already streaming every year. The media landscape has made it so that whichever network has the rights to the game will also stream it. Last year, CBS also put the Super Bowl on Paramount+. This year, Fox is putting it on Tubi. Next year, NBC will have broadcasting rights, which means the game will also be on Peacock. And so on.

Sure, we could see Amazon spending gobs of money on the right, and Lord knows how much the NFL loves money, but a streaming-only Super Bowl deal would be like the NFL cutting off its nose to spite its face. Even as the cable industry implodes, the linear audience remains too big and unnecessary to sacrifice (not to mention the attention such a move would get from government officials).

None of this will stop people from predicting it’ll happen sooner or later, but for once, this is a financial opportunity that doesn’t make sense for the NFL to pursue.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

Life moves pretty fast around the NBA Trade Deadline. Just ask Luka Dončić. You can also ask the Miami Heat players, who were informed about the Jimmy Butler trade to the Golden State Warriors from a fan behind the bench.

👏 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 🗣️

• ESPN isn’t officially saying that Richard Jefferson is the third member of their top NBA crew alongside Mike Breen and Doris Burke. Still, he will continue to join them during marquee national TV games for the rest of the season, per The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand. However, the network has not committed to Jefferson calling the NBA Finals.

• In a document submitted to the Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday, Fox outlined several reasons why they believe the shocking FS1 workplace misconduct lawsuit brought by former hairstylist Noushin Faraji should be dismissed. Among Fox's primary arguments for dismissal is that the network “exercised reasonable care to prevent and to correct any unlawful harassing and/or retaliatory workplace conduct.” Fox also claims that “[Faraji] unreasonably failed to take advantage of any preventative or corrective opportunities provided by [Fox].”

• The launch of ESPN’s upcoming ‘Flagship’ streaming service will be the next major step in repackaging current linear television assets. During an earnings call with investors on Wednesday, Disney CEO Bob Iger reiterated some of the value in Flagship’s upcoming launch, including “multiple enhancements” and personalization for users that play fantasy sports or wager. The service’s debut remains on track for the fall.

• Colin Cowherd might be loyal to Fox Sports, but he’s not above poaching co-workers for his podcast network. The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand was the first to report Cowherd’s The Volume signed “What’s Wright? With Nick Wright” away from Fox. Wright’s podcast has grown in recent years, nearing 180,000 subscribers on YouTube.

🎧 THE PLAY-BY-PLAY🎙️

No one could believe Luka Dončić was traded to the Lakers. Nick Wright is feuding with Adam Schefter and pretty much anyone in the media who is critical of the Chiefs. Colin Cowherd is staying at Fox. Awful Announcing's Ben Axelrod and Brendon Kleen discuss these topics and more, including why this year's Super Bowl is guaranteed to break viewership records, on the latest episode of The Play-By-Play.

You can also find the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Please subscribe, rate, and review!

️‍📺 CALL OF THE DAY 📺 

It’s been a heckuva season for the Cleveland Cavaliers so far. This kind of finish is the type of thing that happens when you’ve got something special happening. John Michael makes a great call on the buzzer-beating game-winner from Darius Garland.

️‍🔥THE CLOSER🔥

How political is the Super Bowl about to get?

I know you signed up for this newsletter for the sports media discussions, but it’s hard to have any discussion right now without acknowledging America’s political climate. That goes double for the fact that the Super Bowl is this Sunday.

The sweeping and shocking moves by the second Trump administration are hanging all over Super Bowl Week. The President is sitting down for a friendly pre-taped interview to be shown on Fox before the game. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell had to thread a needle discussing the NFL’s plan regarding DEI initiatives and diversity hiring practices. The league’s decision to remove the “End Racism” end zone message doesn’t feel coincidental.

Given the current climate and the swiftness with which Trump and his allies come down on those who “disobey” his vision for the country, it feels like many people will walk on eggshells before, during, and after the game. A misstep involving the national anthem or a lack of sufficient tributes to the Armed Forces might invoke the wrath of the current administration’s Sauron-like gaze, not to mention the online trolls who rise up on their behalf.

Kendrick Lamar is, to put it bluntly, not a Donald Trump fan, and probably vice versa. The Super Bowl Halftime Show performer and the Fox censors have some decisions to make considering Lamar’s lyrics, especially if he performs “Not Like Us.” The new chairman of the FCC seems like he’d be all too happy to slap the station and performer with fines if he hears some words he doesn’t like. Especially if Lamar decides to take a verbal shot at the President, who might be in attendance. And there’s a foreboding sense that we could see a sizable amount of FCC complaints about the performance no matter what (for… reasons).

All of which is to say that the atmosphere the new administration has created around the country is not one that fosters togetherness and camaraderie. If anything, it seems to do the opposite.

You don’t often go into a Super Bowl with a sense of impending concern. But maybe that’s just what everything in America feels like right now.