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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏀 Andrews’ ascent. Malika Andrews’ star continues to rise at ESPN, with Front Office Sports reporting on Thursday that the NBA Countdown host is in line to lead the network’s WNBA studio coverage, replacing Elle Duncan as she heads to Netflix. With NBA Countdown now playing second-fiddle to Inside the NBA, it’d make sense for Andrews to take on another lead role.

⚽ Henry for more. Fox Sports continues to roll out its World Cup hires, with the latest being CBS Sports Champions League analyst and French soccer legend Thierry Henry. The popular personality will fill a seat on Fox’s lead studio desk next summer. Earlier this week, Fox announced NBC’s Rebecca Lowe as the anchor for its No. 2 studio.

🏈 Let Russ cook. With the New York Giants on their bye, newly christened emergency quarterback Russell Wilson will join the NFL Today on CBS this Sunday as a guest analyst. The 10-time Pro Bowler will also appear on the Paramount+ pregame show NFL Today+.

️‍🚨 LEADING OFF 🚨

The Warner Directive

The battle royale for Warner Bros. Discovery has reached a tipping point.

On Thursday, the company initiated a third round of bidding between its three suitors — Paramount, Netflix, and Comcast — after second-round bids were sent in on Monday.

Prior to round three, reports indicated that Netflix’s “mostly cash” bid was the favored offer of the Warner board. The deep-pocketed streamer can no doubt crush the offers of either competitor should it choose, though investors didn’t respond well to the news that it had seemingly outbid Paramount’s already eye-watering offer, with Netflix stock trading down on the news.

It turns out that reports about WBD’s opinions on the Netflix offer were right. Late Thursday night, reports surfaced that WBD has entered exclusive negotiations with Netflix, and the two sides could announce a deal in the coming days.

Sensing the tide turning in Netflix’s favor, Paramount went on the offensive earlier in the day on Thursday, penning a letter to Warner CEO David Zaslav expressing “serious concerns about the fairness and adequacy of the bidding process.”

Paramount cited multiple media reports, from both American and European outlets, suggesting its offer is being treated unfairly. First, the letter recounts a German report suggesting a meeting between Gerhard Zieler, WBD’s president of international business, and E.U. Commission Vice President Hena Virkkunen raised concerns that a Paramount acquisition of WBD “could lead to excessive media concentration.” Paramount asserts that the meeting, if it occurred, represents “a tacit resistance to, if not active sabotage of, a Paramount offer.”

The letter then goes on to cite several U.S. outlets that have reported “enthusiasm by WBD management” about a potential deal with Netflix. It goes on to suggest that there is a “credible basis to believe that the sales process has been tainted by management conflicts, including certain members of management’s potential personal interests in post-transaction roles and compensation as a result of the economic incentives embedded in recent amendments to employment arrangements.”

Along those lines, Puck’s Eriq Gardner noted in a November report that Zaslav’s contract includes financial incentives “for certain spinoff configurations.” Comcast’s offer, which now seems to be out of the running, also reportedly gave Zaslav a management role in a theoretical merged NBCUniversal-WBD.

In response to the letter, WBD representation wrote, “Please be assured that the WBD Board attends to its fiduciary obligations with the utmost care, and that they have fully and robustly complied with them and will continue to do so.”

The undertones of the letter, however, are what should really be raising eyebrows. Paramount is setting the table to take its offer — which remains the only one on the table that wants to purchase all of Warner Bros. Discovery rather than just the attractive assets — directly to shareholders in the event Warner’s board decides to accept Netflix’s offer.

How a shareholder battle would ultimately shake out is perhaps even more unknown than the oft-discussed regulatory scrutiny a deal with any of the three bidders would receive. The intricacies of each deal’s structure would seem to make it difficult to objectively weigh which one is best for shareholders.

The regulatory scrutiny only adds to the confusion. A combination between Netflix and WBD would raise obvious antitrust concerns, as Netflix is already far and away the largest streamer in the world. Part of Paramount’s argument in its letter to Zaslav is that its offer would have a much better shot at passing regulatory muster. Paramount is so confident, in fact, that they’ve added a $5 billion breakup fee — a payment it would owe WBD if an agreed upon deal didn’t close — to its own offer. Netflix, in its latest offer, reportedly matched Paramount’s breakup fee.

Paramount has good reason to believe its deal would be waved through by the feds, while Netflix’s might get held up, given new owner David Ellison’s cozy relationship with President Trump. Yesterday, a group of anonymous A-list celebrities penned their own letter. This one was addressed to Congress, urging them to take action against a Netflix-WBD tie-up.

While a deal with Netflix begins to take shape, it’s Paramount that may hold the upper hand in the court of public opinion. Paramount wants to win this bidding war at all costs. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, given that it was Ellison and Co. which submitted an unsolicited bid for Warner back in September, kicking off this whole process.

So if WBD goes with Netflix’s offer, it will be in for a fight. Paramount will go to great lengths to convince WBD shareholders that its offer is preferable, and more likely to get through the Trump administration.

For sports fans, a Paramount deal would mean a combination of CBS Sports and TNT Sports, with all of those live sports properties (NFL, CFP, March Madness, UFC, golf, MLB, NHL, etc.) operating under one umbrella. A deal with Netflix would put TNT Sports out on an island, with no obvious M&A partners to link up with.

WBD has imposed a Christmas deadline to formally decide on its future. Whatever the company chooses will have wide-ranging impacts on media writ large. But recent days have made one thing clear: whatever WBD chooses will only be the start of a long and messy process.

🎺 AROUND AA 🎺

It’s not going well for Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti

Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti is quickly becoming one of the most hated figures in college sports. And apparently, that’s extending to the political class.

Ben Axelrod has more on Petitti’s reputation.

As conference championship weekend approaches, the Big Ten not only lays claim to the country’s top two teams, but also the last two national champions.

But while he very well may be one of the most powerful figures in college sports by the nature of his title, you wouldn’t necessarily know it based on Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti’s recent run.

Petitti’s latest negative headline came in the form of U.S.  Rep. Michael Baumgartner (R-Wash.) publicly accusing him of “trying to buy votes” with regard to the SCORE Act. A vote on the bill, which would codify the House settlement and create national standards for name, image and likeness practices in college sports, was delayed on Wednesday and is expected to be shelved for the next several weeks, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger.

The reason for the delay? Baumgartner pointed to Petitti, referring to the Big Ten commissioner as a “jackass.”

Whether you agree or not with Petitti (who supports the SCORE Act), it’s certainly notable to see a congressman publicly call him a “jackass,” even if it’s also worth noting that this particular politician happens to be a proud Washington State alum. But as Yahoo’s Dan Wolken noted, that’s just business as usual for the Big Ten commissioner who’s been “making everyone mad” lately, especially when it comes to the business side of college athletics.

After all, it was less than a month ago that Petitti’s attempt to secure a $2.4 billion private investment from a public pension plan manager was put on hold following significant opposition from Michigan and Southern California. Once again, whether you agree or disagree Petitti’s polarizing plan is somewhat beside the point. The important parts are that the fight got messy and the Big Ten commissioner — at least for now — found himself on the losing side.

The same could very well be said about the Big Ten’s push for a 24-team playoff, which has yet to gain any significant support (outside of perhaps Fox). While plenty can change between now and the Jan. 23, 2026 deadline to finalize a new format, it’s hard to imagine Petitti getting his way unless he can get the SEC — which supports a move to 16 teams — on board.

On the field, where Petitti has less control, has been more of mixed bag. Yes, Ohio State and Indiana are about to meet in the Big Ten Championship Game as the nation’s top two teams and Oregon is a lock for a playoff spot, but the rest of the league has endured a largely underwhelming 2025 campaign. And that’s resulted in a lackluster run of TV ratings this season, in which the SEC has routinely laid claim to the weekends’ most-watched games.

That’s also called into question the structure of the Big Ten’s current TV deal, which it’s worth noting was negotiated by Petitti’s predecessor, Kevin Warren. Still, the onus now falls on the league’s current commissioner to steer the ship, with the end of the current rights deal just four years away.

Again, a lot can change in the blink of an eye in college athletics and it’s not crazy to think that the Big Ten could ultimately get what it wants with the SCORE Act, a private investment and perhaps even a 24-team playoff. But for now, it’s been impossible not to take note of Petitti’s recent run of bad PR, even if it’s possible — if not likely — that January will once again end with the Big Ten still atop the college football world.

🎙️ THE PLAY-BY-PLAY 🎙️

On the latest episode of The Play-By-Play, Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod and Drew Lerner breakdown the latest on the Warner Bros. Discovery sale. Take a listen!

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

Fox’s World Cup starts today

At some point between noon and 2 p.m. ET today, the U.S. Men’s National Team will find out which nations comprise the rest of Group D in next summer’s FIFA World Cup, kicking off six months of speculation as to how the Americans will fare in their first three World Cup matches on home soil since the storied 1994 team.

It will also mark the first official 2026 World Cup broadcast from Fox, which has already dubbed next summer’s event as the “biggest production” in the network’s history. Fox has already broken some news this week, announcing both Rebecca Lowe and Thierry Henry as hired guns.

2026 will be the seventh consecutive World Cup to air on the networks of Fox Sports (four men’s, three women’s since 2014). As such, opinions of the network’s production are already pretty baked in. One can practically pre-write the criticisms that will come up next summer.

Does every segment have to be about the USMNT? Why don’t they talk about tactics more? Can Alexi Lalas stfu already?

To be sure, Fox’s coverage will be U.S.-centric. People will get tired of Alexi Lalas. They won’t be discussing how to counter a high block. But the two hires Fox announced this week should give soccer fans some peace of mind that there will be plenty to enjoy about the network’s coverage.

Henry is one of the most well-respected voices in soccer coverage stateside. The CBS Champions League studio, of which Henry is a pivotal member, is regularly one of the most highly regarded studio programs across all sports. And Lowe, who holds down NBC’s Premier League coverage, is similarly regarded.

But the World Cup is like the Olympics. It’s not for the diehard fan. Fox’s coverage is geared towards the 90% of the audience that only watches soccer once every four years, and cares a lot about the American team and a little about everyone else. Is that ideal for fans who follow the sport year-in and year-out? Not quite. But can you blame Fox for catering to the masses? The ratings they’ve earned have surely supported their editorial decisions.

Today will serve as a sneak peak of what Fox’s coverage will be like come June. (It should be noted, Fox will handle production 11:30 a.m. to noon, and then from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., while FIFA produces the actual World Cup Draw between noon and 2 p.m. ET.)

Those that tune in will want to hear primarily about one thing: what does the path forward look like for the USMNT? And Fox will certainly deliver on that front.