Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Episode 138 features Paul Heyman, a longtime WWE performer — he currently is the special counsel for Universal Champion Roman Reigns —and sports entertainment impresario. In this podcast, Heyman discusses how doing press has changed for wrestling performers from the 2000s to current day; how much the public should the media know about the private lives of performers such as Roman Reigns, Becky Lynch or Charlotte Flair; whether he would let a media outlet go behind the scenes for WrestleMania; the freedom to ad-lib as opposed to being tightly scripted; the upcoming Wrestlemania 37 in Tampa; the ease of booking Becky Lynch in next year’s WrestleMania; the challenge of performing the last calendar year in front of no crowds; his comfort level in taking bumps; his time in ECW; how he has been able to work with people who are main event stars; the status of his WWE contract, which is set to expire; whether he would consider hosting a podcast about wrestling; perpetually changing greatness, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Radio.com 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 137 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features two guests. First up is NFL Network reporter Stacey Dales. She is followed by ESPN national baseball reporter Marly Rivera. In this podcast Dales discusses her journey from Canada to becoming an All-America basketball player at the University of Oklahoma to playing professional basketball to landing a job at ESPN; the challenges of navigating a high-profile media job in her 20s; how she ended up at the NFL Network after leaving ESPN; the challenges of focusing on an entire league; how to get better as a reporter; her duties and responsibilities at the NFL Network; why offensive lineman are excellent interviews; the state of women’s college basketball and the NCAA’s leadership’s attitude toward its most prominent women’s sport; and much more. Rivera discusses the major stories the baseball media will focus on to start the season; what kind of access MLB reporters will have this year; the challenge of covering amid COVID and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 136 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch examines the NFL media deals. The guests are Jim Miller, James Andrew Miller, the best-selling author of books on CAA, ESPN and Saturday Night Live and the host of the “Origins” podcast, and Anthony Crupi, the sports media reporter for Sportico. Miller focuses on the ESPN deal and what it means for that network including getting in the Super Bowl rotation; more flexibility for games; and the historical nature of the deal. Crupi discusses the deals made by CBS, Fox, NBC and Amazon including why each outlet decided to focus on what they did; why the NFL wanted to keep the traditional broadcasters; what it means for Amazon to get exclusivity for Thursday Night Football; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 135 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Sean Shapiro, an NHL reporter for The Athletic who specializes in the business of hockey, and Ryan S. Clark, who covers the NHL and Seattle Kraken for The Athletic, for a discussion on ESPN’s seven-year television, streaming and media rights deal. The new agreement will run from the beginning of the 2021-22 season through the 2027-28 season. In this podcast, the panel discusses their impressions of the ESPN-NHL deal; what the deal means for the popularity of hockey in the U.S.; the impact of streaming on the deal; whether it will create more NHL talk on ESPN platforms; the prospect of NBC or Fox getting the other package; whether the NHL should re-align next year and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 134 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Conrad Thompson and Jim Ross, the duo that make up the popular “Grilling JR” podcast. In this podcast, Thompson, the host of six immensely popular wrestling podcasts, and Ross, one of the iconic voices in the history of professional wrestling and a current broadcaster for All Elite Wrestling (AEW), discuss how they formed their partnership; their initial impressions of each other; what expectations they had for the podcast; how they format shows and select topics; the importance of podcast momentum; how they have marketed the podcast and found ancillary revenue sources; their pre-show process; Conrad’s wish-list for future co-hosts; the impact of COVID on the podcast; how each view their roles; the number of downloads per podcast; how the revenue share works; the next evolution for the podcast, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 133 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a conversation with Sports Business Daily media writer John Ourand on the NFL media rights. In this podcast, Ourand and Deitsch discuss where things stand between the football-airing networks and the NFL regarding a rights extension; why John believes CBS and NBC are the furthest along in the deal; the money gap between Disney and the NFL and whether that can be bridged; why some ESPNers believe they have more leverage today than they did in 2011; what ESPN would owe distributors if it jettisoned the NFL; what ESPN would look like without an NFL rights contract; Amazon’s role for Thursday Night Football; the change in Disney leadership impacting the NFL deal; how much of an increase the NFL is likely looking at for its rights; ViacomCBS using the NFL to drive subscriptions to Paramount+; whether there will be a gold rush for soccer rights on streaming and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 132 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features longtime ESPN Monday Night Football play by play broadcaster Steve Levy. In this podcast, Levy discusses calling Monday Night Football this season; the challenges of broadcasting during a pandemic; what management has told him about returning to the booth along with partners Louis Riddick and Brian Griese; whether he believes their group has earned the right to come back; reading about others rumored to be getting the MNF job; the differences between calling hockey and the NFL; thoughts on ESPN getting part of the game rights to the NHL; navigating ESPN over three decades and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 131 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a roundtable on Super Bowl viewership with Sports Business Daily media writer John Ourand and Austin Karp, the Managing Editor/Digital at Sports Business Journal. In this podcast, Deitsch, Ourand and Karp discuss the Super Bowl averaging 96.4 million viewers across all platforms, the lowest since Super Bowl 41 on CBS in 2007; why viewership was down; the declines in the 18 to 49 demographic; the broader context of jewel sports being down during the pandemic; the long-term impact on the NFL; the prospect of post-COVID sports viewership, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 130 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features two guests: Chelsea Janes, a national baseball writer for the Washington Post who previously covered the 2020 U.S. Presidential election. She is followed by Donnovan Bennett, a host, podcaster and writer for Sportsnet in Canada (where I work as well in addition to The Athletic). In this podcast, Janes discusses her professional path of covering the Nationals as a beat writer to covering the 2020 U.S. Presidential campaign to becoming a national baseball writer; the challenges and advantages of moving from sports to political reporting; what the Washington Post newsroom was like on January 6, 2021; the most interesting story in baseball right now; how to report baseball in a pandemic; how many women reporters have a story that tracks the allegations against Mickey Callaway, and much more. Bennett discusses how the sports media has approached the nexus of sports and COVID with regard to daily coverage; the possibility of the NBA All Star game; how we can discuss the Olympics/China in an intelligent way; the BIPOC mentorship pilot program he has started at Rogers Sportsnet; why the program is vital, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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 129 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a conversation with Sports Business Daily media writer John Ourand. In this podcast, Deitsch and Ourand discuss NBCSN shuttering at the end of the year and assets moving to Peacock; what the end of NBCSN means for the NHL upcoming media rights deal; the future of Dan Le Batard and John Skipper’s Meadowlark company; potential Super Bowl viewership; the WWE Network morphing to Peacock in the U.S.; the prospect of a canceled Olympics for NBC;; what sports TV PR departments should pitch, and more.You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher 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