Episode 339 of the Sports Media Podcast features Pierre LeBrun, a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic and an NHL Insider for TSN Canada. In this podcast LeBrun discusses the biggest story in the NHL in 2023-24; the most under-covered story in the league; why he is picking a Toronto-Edmonton Stanley Cup Final; how competitive the space is for an NHL insider; his fondness for wire service reporting; how much news he gets from agents versus front offices versus players; his experience working at ESPN; why so many Canadian sports media people see working in the United States as more of a destination than Canada and much more.  You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 338 of the Sports Media Podcast features two writers who were selected for The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2023 analogy. They are Ryen Hockensmith of ESPN and Sarah Hepola of Texas Monthly. In this podcast Hockensmith discusses his story (“The Secret MVP of Sports? The Port-A-Potty”) and how it came to be; the importance of the Port-a-Potty at sporting events; the challenges of reporting and writing this piece; his piece on the life of a sports gambling help worker, which was an Honorable Mention selection, and more. Hepola discusses her piece (“A Half Century of High Kicks and Hot Pants”) and how it came to be; the culture importance and history of the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders; the financial exploitation of the women who were part of the group; how she came to the story; how the cheerleaders are viewed today and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jon Lewis, the founder and editor of Sports Media Watch, comes on to discuss if Taylor Swift has made an impact on NFL viewership; NBC’s Chiefs-Jets game averaging 27 million viewers; Colorado-USC drawing 7.241 million; whether this is the end for Colorado as a viewership juggernaut; college football being up; Ryder Cup ratings down; Thursday Night Football’s postgame; the WNBA Finals viewership outlook and more. Jon will be on with other sports viewership experts for mini-pods throughout the NFL season. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 337 of the Sports Media Podcast features three writers who were selected for The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2023 anthology. They are Alex Coffey of The Philadelphia Inquirer, Derrick Gould of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Cassidy Randall, a freelance writer whose piece from The Atavist Magazine was selected. In this podcast Coffey discusses her story (“The Phillies’ Andrew Bellatti Made a Fatal Mistake as a Teen. A Tale of Remarkable Forgiveness Followed”) and how it came to be; the challenge of telling the story of how Bellatti, then 18, killed a man in a car accident and how the man’s window forgave Bellatti; the reporting of the piece and more. Gould discusses his story (“A New Bat, Old Friends, and Timeless Magic As Cardinals Albert Pujols Soars To 700”) and how a piece on Pujols’s historic home run came together; how to approach the endless cycle of baseball writing; the challenge of covering a team that is having a bad year and more. Randall discusses her piece (“Alone At The Edge Of The World”) and how it came to be; writing about Susie Goodall, the lone female contestant in a round-the-world sailing competition known as the 2018 Golden Globe Race; how to recreate scenes of someone lashed by ocean, rain, and wind; the challenge of freelance writing as a career; Randall’s upcoming book and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. The book is available online and where books are sold. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Austin Karp, managing editor/digital for Sports Business Journal, comes on for a mini-podcast to discuss Colorado-Oregon and Ohio State-Notre Dame’s viewership numbers;  Amazon’s big Thursday Night start; CBS’s big NFL September; Taylor Swift ratings; why MLB viewership on ESPN and ESPN2 was down; Fox moving games from FS1 to Fox to juice the viewership;  the impact on the Red Sox and Yankees struggling and more. He’ll be on with other sports viewership experts for mini-pods throughout the NFL season.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 336 of the Sports Media Podcast features Ian Eagle, the CBS Sports/WBD/YES Network and Westwood One Sports broadcaster, and Sports Illustrated podcaster and writer Jimmy. Traina. In this podcast Eagle discusses dropping a Taylor Swift reference during the Chiefs-Jaguars game and the explosion of coverage that followed; why things go viral; how doing a Thursday Night radio broadcast helps his TV work; adjusting to so many different partners; his Nets schedule; how he feels when he reads that his son Noah, also a sports broadcaster, is a product of nepotism; his upcoming Final Four NCAA assignment; how he views Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson being replaced by Doris Burke and Doc Rivers; calling college football and more. Traina discusses Friday Night SmackDown coming back to USA Network beginning October 2024; WWE producing four primetime specials per year that will air on NBC; Fox being out of the WWE business; the financial terms of the deal; storylines involving The Rock and Roman Reigns and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bill Shea, a longtime sports business reporter for Crain's Detroit Business, and The Athletic, comes on for a mini-podcast to discuss NFL, the Monday Night Football viewership experiment, and college football viewership for Week 2. He’ll be on with other sports viewership experts for mini-pods throughout the NFL season.  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 335 of the Sports Media Podcast features Jon Lewis, the founder and editor of Sports Media Watch, and Aaron Portzline, a senior writer for The Athletic who covers the Columbus Blue Jackets. In this podcast Deitsch and Lewis discuss ABC’s decision to simulcast 10 additional Monday Night Football games; Colorado-Colorado State averaging 9.30 million viewers on ESPN for a post-10:00 p.m. ET kickoff; the impact Colorado has had on sports media content; what will happen when Colorado loses; Caitlin Clark and Deion viewership comparisons; College GameDay vs. Big Noon Kickoff; WBD’s premium live sports to simulcast live on Max via Bleacher Report Sports Add-On as well as continuing to air on TNT, TBS and truTV, and more. Portzline discusses Babcock resigning less than three months after his July 1 hiring; what covering Babcock was like; if it says something from a media perspective that Blue Jackets players felt comfortable speaking their truth to Paul Bissonnette; the Blue Jackets in terms of access and openness; which NHL teams are media friendly; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anthony Crupi, a sports media reporter from Sportico, comes on for a mini-podcast to discuss NFL and college football viewership for Week 1 and the Charter-Disney settlement. He’ll be on with other sports viewership experts for mini-pods throughout the NFL season. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode 334 of the Sports Media Podcast features Chad Finn, sports media writer of The Boston Globe, and Ava Wallace, a tennis writer and Wizards beat reporter for The Washington Post. In this podcast Finn discusses the opening week of the NFL season and the viewership numbers being down; the season-ending injury to Aaron Rodgers; the Charter-Disney agreement; sports media companies going after the Deion Sanders market; the beginning of the The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN; and more. Wallace discusses how she approaches covering tennis; the biggest challenges of covering the U.S. Open; access to players such as Coco Gauff and Novak Djokovic; her takeaways from the U.S. Open and what’s next for Gauff; covering the NBA versus tennis; conflicts of interest in tennis broadcasting and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices