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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🌹 The Rose Bowl is making a concession for perhaps the first time in their history by moving up their previously locked in granite start time to 4 p.m. ET on New Year’s Day to accommodate the Sugar Bowl better. Don’t worry, we’ll still get that gorgeous sunset in the second half.

🪨 Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had an extended interview with Pat McAfee that pulled back the curtain on his no-show at WrestleMania 41. But it may have left fans even more confused over what WWE was thinking with the disappointing ending to the show.

🎙️ Longtime NFL on ESPN announcer Mike Patrick passed away at the age of 80. Patrick called football games on the network for decades and was the voice of the first ever NFL game on cable in 1987.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

Are Shannon Sharpe’s ESPN days numbered?

For the second straight day, the Shannon Sharpe sexual assault lawsuit dominated the sports media headlines. However, nobody could have anticipated the twists and turns that were to come as the scandal escalated into uncharted territory.

It started when Sharpe’s accuser released audio that alleged to show the First Take contributor and podcast star making threatening statements. However, soon after First Take went off the air, Sharpe released what appeared to be scripted comments on his social media page, calling it a “shakedown.” He claimed the audio was manipulated from a longer sex tape and orchestrated by lawyer Tony Buzbee. Sharpe also said that he would be filling a defamation lawsuit against Jane Doe and Buzbee.

But then things took an even stranger turn. Sharpe’s attorney, Lanny Davis, admitted in an afternoon press conference that his client was willing to settle for $10 million before settlement talks apparently fell apart. The lawsuit now asks for $50 million.

Finally, Sharpe’s co-host Stephen A. Smith openly questioned his combativeness against the allegations on his podcast. When it came to Sharpe’s future at ESPN, Smith was notably non-committal, saying that any decision would have to come from network executives.

While both sides appear to be ready to continue a nasty public fight regarding this case, even what Sharpe admits to publicly is not a good look for ESPN and Disney. It’s a 56 year old former athlete who admits to a sexual relationship with an OnlyFans model, who claims she was just 19 when it started. There’s also the graphic sexual texts that Sharpe released himself and the fact that he took the extraordinary step of naming his accuser. Additionally, the issue of the multi-million dollar settlement offer must be reconciled with Sharpe’s public claims of defamation and a shakedown.

Shannon Sharpe has been on a meteoric rise in the industry ever since he left Skip Bayless and joined First Take. His podcast deal could be worth nine figures. From his television work, including interviews with Katt Williams and Kamala Harris, he is now one of the most influential voices in the media.

However, at some point, ESPN and Disney will likely decide that this unfortunate situation is no longer worth it. And if this story continues at this pace with these shocking revelations, we may reach that point sooner rather than later.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

Shaquille O’Neal delicately walked off the Inside the NBA set when he couldn’t hold in his bodily functions anymore. Thankfully, this happened now, not when he was a player in the NBA Finals or something.

ESPN has a fantastic feature on the NFL Draft jingle, which dates back to 2006, including the incredible tale of when it was first used.

Braves announcer Jeff Francoeur had some very strong words on the burgeoning controversy in Atlanta with superstar Ronald Acuna Jr.

🔦 IN THE SPOTLIGHT ☀️

Awful Announcing has released our 2024-2025 NBA Announcer Rankings. And there are a couple very familiar names at the top while a few teams around the league saw significant rises in the standings this year.

🏄 _{CHANNEL SURFING} 🌊 

📺 Some MASN+ subscribers for the Baltimore Orioles were mistakenly charged $8,999 for their subscription. Oops. [Baltimore Sun]

🌐 In a headline that could only be possible in 2025, Jameis Winston won a Webby for his digital correspondence work for Fox during the Super Bowl. [Fox Sports]

📺 The Chicago Blackhawks could not have had a worse season on the new CHSN in another dicey chapter in the team’s historically tenuous relationship with its local fanbase. [The Athletic]

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“I think it was a bad decision from the league. You can’t blame the rightsholders, because they’re paying all this money. But the league should have said, you know what, we’re going to hold onto that first round.” - Mike Breen on the NBA removing first round playoff games from their local RSNs in next year’s media deals.

“Shannon Sharpe has dealt me the biggest insult of my professional career. He had me on Club Shay Shay and just spiked it. He just spiked it.” - Dave Portnoy on Shannon Sharpe not releasing an episode of Club Shay Shay that he did amidst all of Sharpe’s other troubles.

“I would love to know who are these people that are saying, ‘Stephen A. Smith, you should run for president.'” - Jemele Hill admits she is skeptical about the noise surrounding SAS’s presidential ambitions.

🔥THE CLOSER🔥

NHL ratings are freezing cold

The Easter holiday weekend helped the NBA and PGA Tour set some great ratings, thanks to increased out-of-home viewing, which is now being recorded.

Unfortunately for the NHL, they did not receive the same boost.

NHL playoff ratings actually decreased for the opening weekend of the postseason. At the same time, the NBA and PGA Tour achieved some of their highest comparable ratings in over 20 years, thanks to increased holiday viewership.

I’m old enough to remember in February, after the Four Nations Face-Off, when it seemed like hockey was taking over the sports world and puck talk would soon replace the NBA in the ESPN attention rankings. Hockey was taking a victory lap over basketball, as the Four Nations and All-Star Game couldn’t have been more polar opposites from an intensity and entertainment perspective.

But then reality set in, and no sustainable boost from the Four Nations materialized. Now, the league is looking at a postseason with a plethora of Canadian teams and many small markets, which is shaping up to be a struggle in American ratings.

It’s a sign that not all events are created equal. Sports fans were all in on the USA vs. Canada, but they are not all in on the Jets vs. Blues. The NHL had every right to hope for some kind of positive jolt from the Four Nations, but building and growing a fanbase just isn’t that easy. There’s a reason why tens of millions of viewers don’t tune into swimming or track and field events year-round like they do for the Olympics.

It’s also a sign that the February grand narrative proclamations about a tectonic shift in the sports world were wildly premature.