Sports commentator Al Michaels joins hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand to discuss NBA rights, the NFL's decision to flex a game into 'Monday Night Football,' and controversy surrounding inaccurate reports about Shohei Ohtani's free agency. They also feature Austin Karp's analysis of the NBA's In-Season Tournament and the NFL's regular season success.

The hosts discuss the impact of television on college football and the NFL, including the CFP, Pac-12 conference, and flex scheduling. They also delve into the NBA's media rights negotiations, MLB Network's coverage of Winter Meetings, and the DirecTV-Tegna carriage battle. Apple's strategy for acquiring sports rights and the influence of streaming services on TV networks are also discussed.

NFL sets viewership record on Thanksgiving Day; NBA In-Season Tournament dissected; Controversial sports media stories discussed; 'MandO Mailbag' returns

Jay Marine, Head of Amazon's global sports, joins the podcast to discuss Amazon's sports strategy. He talks about negotiations for NBA, NASCAR, and CFP rights. The hosts also share their picks for who is up and down in sports media.

The podcast discusses ESPN's move to direct-to-consumer by 2025, Netflix's interest in NBA's In-Season Tournament, and Al Michaels' future. Former NFL legend Eli Manning joins as a guest and talks about his experience with the media, the ManningCast, and offers suggestions to improve the New York Giants.

The NBA agreed to a deal with the bankrupt company Diamond Sports Group, which runs the Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks. Hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discuss how that deal affects the 15 NBA teams that have Diamond deals; how the deal could impact the league’s national TV negotiations; and what the deal means for Diamond Sports. Marchand and Ourand also discuss how MLB will approach its off-season from a sports media standpoint and look into the takeaways from its ultra successful Chiefs-Dolphins game in Germany last weekend. Mike McCarley, the founder and CEO of TMRW Sports and TGL, joins the pod as The Big Get this week and tells the story about how Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and he decided to launch this venture. McCarley details what viewers should expect when it launches in January on ESPN. A long-time veteran of the sports media business, McCarley details the current market for sports media rights and offers his two cents on the LIV Golf controversy that took over the sport this summer.

The podcast discusses streaming problems with YouTubeTV and Bally Sports' app, predicts the NBA's next rights deal, talks about MLB's successful season despite World Series ratings, and explores MLS post-season run on AppleTV+. There is also a discussion about sports media listening tour, high costs of streaming services like Bally Sports, blackouts, territorial rights, and the future of sports media.

DirecTV's top content executive Rob Thun discusses the future of sports media and the problems with regional sports networks. Fox's Joe Davis talks about preparing for the World Series and the impact of the pitch clock. They also discuss the challenges of calling games in different stadiums and the changing landscape of sports broadcasting.

As rumors about ESPN’s streaming plans continue to swirl around, hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand separate fact from fiction. They look at the types of companies that would be interested in taking an ownership stake in ESPN and discuss the timing for when ESPN takes its main network – the mothership – direct-to-consumer. Other topics have the hosts handicapping expected winners in the rights negotiations happening with the NBA, NASCAR and College Football Play. They discuss Marchand’s report of Pat McAfee paying guests and offer a review of the MLB playoffs so far. Marchand and Ourand offer a tribute to the retiring NHL analyst Barry Melrose. And they talk about Chris LaPlaca, ESPN’s long-time communications executive who announced his retirement this week.

Negotiations for the College Football Playoff’s media rights negotiations have starts, and pod hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand break down the media companies that will be involved and the likely winners once the CFP expands to add at least four more games. The hosts discuss the NFL’s request to have TV networks run ads for Taylor Swift’s upcoming movie and preview what to expect this week when Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs play on Thursday. As the NBA preps for a media rights negotiation, Marchand and Ourand look into what leagues can do to make their regular season games more valuable. This week’s episode sees the return of Karp’s Korner, as SBJ’s ratings guru Austin Karp breaks down MLB’s regular season ratings, provides an update on MLB’s post-season ratings and previews what to expect with MLB’s World Series ratings. Karp provides the reasons why national numbers are lagging local viewership trends in the sport.