The Sports Media Podcast

Changes to the college football television landscape is the top topic on this week’s show, the hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discussing the new Big Ten deals that take effect this season on CBS, Fox and NBC. The co-hosts discuss everything from the analysts that will be used on these games to Peacock’s role in streaming games. The hosts then turn their attention to the free-agency frenzy t...

Fantasy guru Matthew Berry joins the pod this week just a week after news broke that he raised $2 million for his Fantasy Life with an all-star roster of investors including everyone from Casey Wasserman and Tony Khan to Josh Allen and Joe Burrow. Berry discusses his move from ESPN to NBC and how he rode the rise of fantasy sports to create a career. A student of the sports media business, Berry o...

Less than two weeks after Arizona, Arizona State and Utah bolted the Pac-12 for the Big 12, Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark joins the show to explain how it all went down. Yormark details the Big 12’s media rights deals for ESPN and Fox Sports and the rationale behind his decision to renew those deals early. Yormark outlines his vision when he started at the conference a year ago and how closely...

Media implications from the Pac-12’s demise make up the biggest topic in this week’s Marchand & Ourand Sports Media podcast, with hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand talking about Pac-12 missteps over the past 12 months, why some university presidents did not like the Apple deal and the changing media marketplace when it comes to sports rights. Marchand and Ourand identify the three main culprit...

Host Andrew Marchand broke all the news about ESPN’s new NBA booth next season, and on this week’s podcast, he explains why ESPN let go of Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy. Host John Ourand broke news this week of NASCAR signing a rights deal with The CW, and on this week’s podcast, he breaks down what the deal means for both The CW and NASCAR.   Other topics on this week’s pod include the frighten...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: In this week’s Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast, Mike Tirico joins the show one year before the start of the Summer Olympics in Paris. Tirico talks about his preparation for hosting those games with NBC and his role in covering geopolitical stories during the games. Tirico describes how he broke into the busines...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, BoA Securities Analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich joins hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand to discuss ESPN’s future. Reif Ehrlich dissects Bob Iger’s CNBC interview from last week, when he spoke about looking for a strategic partner for ESPN. She talked about who t...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Andrew Marchand returns from vacation to offer his perspective on ESPN’s layoffs, from which high-profile on-air departure is the most surprising to educated guesses on who will call NBA games given Jeff Van Gundy’s layoff. Marchand and John Ourand go on to discuss the New York Times’ decision to scrap its sports desk...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, host of a daily four-hour show on SEC Network, joins this week’s pod as a co-host and discusses what it was like inside ESPN as last week’s on-air layoffs were announced, including well-known names like Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber and Jalen Rose. Finebaum discusses what his day was like the Frida...

The fourth and, presumably, last round of Disney’s layoffs is about to hit ESPN’s on-screen stars. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss what to expect and how cuts already have affected ESPN Radio. Marchand and Ourand move into a discussion of last week’s corporate reorg, which saw longtime executive Burke Magnus cement his position as second in command to Jimmy Pitaro. During their wide-...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: With Derek Jeter making his debut on Fox’s MLB coverage this weekend, hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss how the Hall of Famer shortstop will fit in with the network’s other studio analysts David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez. Marchand and Ourand also address Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s comments about this pod a...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: With the end of the NBA Finals, hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand look into what’s next for the league, from the media free agents we’ll see on TV next year to the all-important rights deal that has generated huge interest. Marchand and Ourand also detail why viewers should expect the NBA Finals’ earlier start tim...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Andrew Marchand is joined this week by guest host Colin Cowherd, who was in for John Ourand. Marchand and Cowherd reveal "Who's up" and "Who's down." The two go into the media implications of the LIV deal. Cowherd reveals the valuation of his company, The Volume, after just two years. Marchand and Cowherd discuss how...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: As the NBA is about to start its Heat-Nuggets Finals series, hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand look into the league’s media performance throughout the playoffs, comparing the game broadcasts and studio shows from both ESPN and TNT and preview the league’s rights deals, which will start to be negotiated next year....

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports:  The NFL’s decision to add flex scheduling to Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” schedule is this week’s top topic, with hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discussing the move from the perspective of the fan, the league perspective and Amazon. The hosts then dive into ESPN issues from inside information around the...

 In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports:  In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, the NFL’s deal to sell one wildcard playoff game exclusively to the Peacock streaming service for $110 million is a main topic. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss what the deal means for the NFL and NBC. The two hosts also dive into the NFL’s schedu...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports:  In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast: Pat McAfee appears to be on the cusp of leaving his $120 million FanDuel deal in favor of ESPN. Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss why McAfee would make this move and what benefits ESPN would get from this deal. Marchand and Ourand also preview the NFL’s s...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports:  From new Super Bowl viewership numbers to NFL Draft news, the NFL is a hot topic for hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand this week. The two also discuss Amazon’s plans around a Black Friday game and Comcast’s decision to drop, then pick back up, NFL Network. Marchand and Ourand trot out the “Brady Meter” to gauge t...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports:  ESPN started a round of layoffs this week that included one employee of 43 years in PR executive Mike Soltys and another employee of 26 years in senior executive Russell Wolff. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss how ESPN’s string of layoffs have affected the morale inside the company. They talk about the b...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports:  In this week’s Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast: Commissioner Adam Silver discusses the future of the league’s local and national media rights. The hosts use clips from Silver’s interview at the CAA World Congress of Sports to discuss how the NBA plans to approach the RSN problems and its coming national media...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: YouTube TV just released prices for its “NFL Sunday Ticket” package, which is the opening topic on this week’s podcast. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss why the streaming company made its prices so high and what innovations consumers should expect. The two also dive into the Pac-12’s media rights negotiat...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: In the aftermath of the LSU and UConn college basketball championships, hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand dive into the health of both sports as media properties. The two look at the storylines that helped the popularity of the NCAA Women’s College Basketball Tournament and discuss the social media controversy sur...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: WWE CEO Nick Khan joins the podcast days before Wrestlemania and talks about the tumultuous past 12 months when Vince McMahon left the company amid reports of sexual misconduct only to return after six months. Khan addresses the company’s plan to sell its media rights, Wrestlemania’s role in kicking off those talks, P...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: As ESPN employees gird for another round of layoffs that’s about to hit the company, podcast hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand look into what to expect and decisions Disney executives have made to get to this point. Sticking with ESPN, the hosts also talk about Troy Aikman’s role in the changes in the “Monday Nigh...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Jim Nantz’s final NCAA Tournament as lead announcer is the lead topic on this week’s podcast with Andrew Marchand and John Ourand also discuss Jay Wright’s first March Madness as a full-time announcer. Bob Iger said it was “inevitable” that ESPN would be offered as a direct-to-consumer service at some point, prompting...