The Sports Media Podcast

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: In the wake of ESPN’s executive reorg, pod hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand look into the future of ESPN, including a discussion of when ESPN will make its main channel available to cord cutters via streaming. The hosts also dissect MLB’s move to create a local media department and talk about what that means for...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Diamond Sports, which operates 19 regional sports networks, is headed into bankruptcy. Warner Bros. Discovery told teams that it is weeks away from shutting down its three AT&T SportsNet RSNs for good. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss how the failing financial fortunes at the regional sports networks will...

The Pac-12’s on-again and off-again negotiations for its next round of media rights take center stage on this week’s podcast, as hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss which media companies are interested in doing a deal and which ones aren’t. Marchand reported that Apple has emerged as a potential landing spot for the Pac-12, leading the hosts to dissect Apple’s sports media strategy.   Ot...

Podcast hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand review Fox’s Super Bowl production, analyzing everything from the Kevin Burkhardt-Greg Olsen booth to the network’s multi-hour pregame show. The two also look back on the biggest stories of the season that just completed, from Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” debut to YouTube’s “Sunday Ticket” deal. Tony Romo’s future in the CBS booth also gets the h...

The NFL’s chief media and business officer Brian Rolapp joins the podcast just three days before the Super Bowl to discuss the league’s media strategy including its blockbuster Sunday Ticket deal with Google YouTube. Rolapp outlines how the deal came about and discusses how the Sunday Ticket package may change after spending nearly 30 years on DirecTV. Rolapp also answers questions about the NFL’s...

  Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks joins the podcast on the eve of producing a Super Bowl to discuss some of the biggest sports media topics in the business with hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand. Shanks discusses his plans for the Super Bowl, from where he will sit to what the viewership will look like. Shanks answers questions about the free agent frenzy among broadcasters, from Troy Aikman and Jo...

Andrew Marchand and John Ourand review the broadcast booths for CBS’s production of the AFC Championship game and Fox’s NFC Championship telecast. The two hosts also talk about what Diamond Sports Group’s pending bankruptcy means for professional sports teams and what YES Network’s expected streaming service will look like for the upcoming Yankees seasons. Marchand and Ourand also dive into media...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: The NFL dominated television over the weekend during the Divisional Playoffs. It also dominated the first part of this week’s podcast as Andrew Marchand and John Ourand analyze how the different broadcast booths handled the games. The two also discuss Tom Brady’s options as the future Hall of Famer decides whether to...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Pod hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand dissect all aspects of the NFL’s Wild Card weekend, from a sports media perspective. They look into whether social media complaints about Al Michaels’ and Tony Dungy’s performance are fair, and they look into how the top NFL broadcast teams on other networks fared: Mike Tirico...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: How did ESPN end up with a Cowboys playoff game? That’s one of many NFL playoff-related topics discussed by Andrew Marchand and John Ourand this week. Other topics include how CBS and Fox handled the final regular season NFL Sunday, Greg Gumbel’s week 18 performance, DirecTV’s negotiations for NFL Sunday Ticket’s comm...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss ESPN’s coverage of the injury suffered by the Buffalo Bills’s Damar Hamlin during “Monday Night Football” and what the network could have done differently. Other topics include Google/YouTube’s $2+ billion deal for the NFL Sunday Ticket package and Amazon’s plans to launch a spo...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Andrew Marchand and John Ourand offer their sports media predictions for 2023. The hosts hit on everything from whether Tom Brady will actually be part of Fox’s top NFL announcer booth to the likelihood of DirecTV and Diamond Sports reaching an RSN deal. Other predictions involve the NBA, NWSL, LIV Golf, WWE and the C...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports:  Andrew Marchand and John Ourand choose the ten biggest stories they covered over the past 12 months. The duo starts with the free agent frenzy among NFL announcers last off-season and carries on to the upheaval in local sports TV marketplace. Other topics include Amazon and Apple’s sports strategy, Big Ten media righ...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports, Former basketball player and current ESPN star JJ Redick joins the podcast to discuss his media career. He talks about how and why he started his “Old Man and the Three” podcast and the growth of athlete-driven media. Redick talks about his time on ESPN’s “First Take” and some of the viral moments that it has produced...

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports The latest developments in the Pac-12’s media rights negotiations and MLS’ push to get a traditional TV network to carry its games next season are the top two podcasts on this week’s pod. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand also spend some time on whether Fox Sports’ production of the World Cup from Qatar is getting...

Andrew Marchand and John Ourand co-hosted this podcast at SBJ’s Media Innovators conference in New York City. The live audience attending the late afternoon taping were treated to “MandO Mojitos.”  The live podcast has the same “Who’s Up/Who’s Down” segment that is a regular part of the Marchand & Ourand Sports Media podcast. For the live show, Marchand and Ourand document the strategies for all s...

In this week's Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports, Andrew Marchand and John Ourand review Fox Sports’ performance during the first week of the World Cup from Qatar. The two also look at whether the tournament’s move to November and December has affected TV viewership yet. The two also discuss rumors that soccer superstar Lionel Messi may join MLS and debate whether th...

Andrew Marchand and John Ourand dissect the shocking news coming out of Burbank on Sunday night that Bob Iger replaced Bob Chapek as Disney CEO. The two talk about what the move means for ESPN, the NBA’s next rights deal, the direct-to-consumer business and sports betting. Other topics include the Apple’s pricing for the MLS out-of-market package and the start of the World Cup.   Telemundo soccer...

The NBA’s media rights aren’t up for another three seasons, but that hasn’t stopped league Commissioner Adam Silver and Warner Bros. Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav from discussing them publicly. Andrew Marchand and John Ourand give their perspective on how the media landscape is shaping up and what you should expect as negotiations start to heat up. Other topics include sports media’s re...

This week’s pod opens with Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discussing the fallout from Kyrie Irving’s decision to tweet a link to an anti-semitic documentary and Amazon’s decision to keep the documentary on its site. The two also wrap up baseball’s year from a media perspective, from AppleTV+ to Peacock to Amazon. Other topics include Netflix’s future in sports and what to expect from next season’...

The Big 12’s blockbuster media deal with ESPN and Fox Sports gets top billing on this week’s pod as Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss the fallout from the story Ourand broke with Michael Smith over the weekend. The duo goes in-depth with a story Marchand broke earlier this week about Amazon’s plans to produce daily sports talk studio shows. They also highlight the NWSL championship game’s pr...

  Just days before calling his first World Series game, Fox Sports’ Joe Davis joins the pod to talk about how his meteoric career took off. Davis, who replaced play-by-play legends Vin Scully on Dodgers games and Joe Buck on national games, takes listeners through how he approached the NLCS and what was going through his mind before Bryce Harper’s game-winning eighth-inning home run. He also discu...

Pedro Martinez joins the podcast as TBS prepares to carry baseball’s American League Championship Series. Martinez, who played for the Red Sox, Mets and Phillies during his career, discusses which team was in the toughest media market during his playing days and how he mentors young Spanish-speaking players breaking into the league. Martinez talks about his only regret from his playing days and th...

Andrew Marchand and John Ourand interview Amazon Sports VP of Global Sports Video, Marie Donoghue. Donoghue is the one who first hatched Amazon's plan to go after the rights for Thursday Night Football and she led how the streamer has approached its look in front and behind the cameras. In the pod, Donoghue reveals some news on an addition to TNF's pregame, talks about interest in the NBA, Big 12...

Andrew Marchand and John Ourand celebrate one year of the sports media podcast. They are joined by ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan, who details why he always wears a suit to the ballpark, navigating ESPN rivalries, the angst of being glued to his phone and his Elmo impersonation, among other topics. Marchand and Ourand have all the usual elements, picking “Who’s up” and “Who’s down,” plus they go dee...