Episode 643 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a roundtable with Austin Karp, the media writer for Sports Business Journal and Jane McManus, an editor at Storied Sports and the author of "The Fast Track: Inside the Surging Business of Women’s Sports." In this podcast Karp and McManus discuss the ESPN layoffs; why they happened; ESPN once being in more than 100 million and now being in a touch below 55 million; Linda Cohn having a great take and mentioning 150 people behind the scenes; why people still care about ESPN still in 2026; what is the ESPN fundamental brand; institutional stalwarts such as Stephanie Bell and David Lloyd being part of this; WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert faces the press; what LeBron going to Philadelphia mean from a media perspective; the NBA's thinking on opening night and Christmas Day; the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina drawing an audience of nearly 63 million across English and Spanish broadcasts for the Final and Fox averaged 7.737 million viewers for the 104 broadcasts on Fox, FS1 and Tubi;  ESPN’s cost structure and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 642 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features longtime Canadian sports broadcasters Donnovan Bennett and Arash Madani, both of whom you can find on CBC's coverage of basketball. In this podcast Bennett and Madani discuss whether they see the World Cup as a success; the impact of the World Cup on the U.S. and Canadian domestic leagues; whether more people will watch soccer heading forward; why the Blue Jays collapsed this year; why Blue Jays fans will continue to watch games this year no matter the record; the ESPN layoffs and its impact beyond ESPN; why sports media companies continue to cut people, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 641 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Sports Illustrated podcaster and writer Jimmy Traina. In this podcast, Traina and Deitsch discuss Howard Stern's media legacy; the impact of Stern going to one live show per week; Stern morphing from an iconoclast to the establishment; why Stern remains relevant; MLB’s Home Run Derby drawing its lowest audience since 2003, how Netflix does sports; the use of celebrity in a sporting event; the five best working play by play people today; why Traina had Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Joe Buck, Sean McDonough and Mike Tirico on his list; why certain sports would not produce someone on the list; the fraud allegations against ESPN's Matt Miller and more.  You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 640 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Derek Rae, a long-time soccer broadcaster whose resume includes calling 12 men's World Cups since 1990 including this year for Fox Sports. Rae has also been the lead English commentator for the EA Sports FIFA and EA FC video game series since 2019. In this podcast, Rae discusses his match-calling for Fox at this year's World Cup and what the experience was like; the different venues he worked from such as Mexico City, Guadalajara. Toronto, L.A. and Houston; where his broadcast setup was located at stadiums; how he uses the World Feed as a broadcaster; whether hydration breaks change how he calls games; calling one of the games of the tournament — the Argentina-Egypt knockout game on July 7; what it's like calling a Leo Messi goal; his thoughts on VAR; the prospect of a 64-country tournament for the 2030 World Cup; how he gets correct pronunciations; his work calling Germany's Bundesliga games, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 639 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Jon Lewis, founder and editor of Sports Media Watch. In this podcast, we discuss the final combined viewing on FOX + Telemundo for USA-Belgium (50.1 million viewers) and Mexico-England (46.7 million); what those numbers mean; CNBC's Alex Sherman reporting that Netflix, Disney and YouTube are interested in challenging Fox for the U.S. broadcast rights to the 2030 and 2034 World Cup; FIFA alerting media companies during preliminary talks that English- and Spanish-language U.S. rights will likely be sold together; the performative people return with Caitlin Clark; WNBA viewership; Wichita being selected as one of two host cities for the newly expanded opening round of the 2027 and 2028 NCAA men’s basketball tournaments; what could replace MLB inventory in 2027 in the event there is a lockout, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 638 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features UConn women's basketball Geno Auriemma. Alongside Beth Mowins and Robin Roberts, the 12-time NCAA championship coach will broadcast the Dallas Wings-New York Liberty game on July 7 at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN. In this podcast, Auriemma discusses why calling the Wings-Liberty appealed to him; how ESPN contacted him for the assignment; his interest in broadcasting in a post-UConn life; how often he watches the WNBA today; staying in contact with his former players such as Paige Bueckers and Azzi Fudd;what he thinks of the officiating right now in the WNBA and why officiating is a serious issue in the game; his thoughts on the never-ending discussion about Caitlin Clark; why he predicted Clark would face physical play upon entering the league; why he believes some players have targeted Clark; his current relationship with South Carolina coach Dawn Staley; why he has always been as open as has been with the media over the years; coaching Sarah Strong; how you need a player such as Strong to win a title; sharing a crappy hotel room with Jeff and Stan Van Gundy and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 637 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a roundtable with Austin Karp, the media writer for Sports Business Journal and Jane McManus, an editor at Storied Sports and the author of "The Fast Track: Inside the Surging Business of Women’s Sports." In this podcast we discuss the preliminary U.S. audience numbers for the USMNT’s knockout win Wednesday over Bosnia and Herzegovina; what it means to have the most-watched English-language soccer telecast and the most-watched Spanish-language soccer telecast in U.S. history; what is realistic for viewership of the U.S.-Belgium on Monday; Telemundo’s EVP/Sports & Head of Streaming telling Karp that it may entail a scenario where “we combine with both languages” by adding the English rights to the Spanish rights the company already has across Telemundo and Peacock; the never-ending discourse surrounding Caitlin Clark; why every argument about Clark feels like a cultural war test; the failure of WNBA officials to be proactive on this topic; whether this is having any business impact on the WNBA; Adam Herbets, an investigative reporter for The Center Square, obtaining the body-worn camera footage of New Jersey police officer that spoke with Dianna Russini; whether that act would be a prompt a suspension at The Athletic; McManus on the stark differences of male reporters covering the NFL space versus female reporters and more.You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 636 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Paul Tenorio, a senior writer for The Athletic who covers soccer. In this podcast we discuss what World Cup access is like for the media; why Tim Ream and Weston McKennie are the best talker on the USMNT; where the media seating is at this World Cup; what is realistic for the Americans at this point at the tournament; what would be considered a successful tournament for the United States; the best team so far in Paul's eyes; his thoughts on Canada coach Jesse Marsch; what the World Cup will mean for MLS and specifically viewership after the World Cup, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 635 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a roundtable with Jon Lewis, editor and founder of Sports Media Watch; Armand Broady, the co-host of the Sports Media Watch podcast and a contributor to SMW, and Derek Futterman, a multimedia writer and producer for Sports Media Watch. In this podcast we discuss Sports Media Watch's grades of the NBA's media partners after the first season of the league's new rights deal; Linda Cohn leaves ESPN 34 years and over 5,500 SportsCenter episodes; how high can World Cup viewership go; will the Caitlin Clark situation hurt WNBA interest and what is her viewership; Caitlin Clark and the culture wars; The New York Times story on Dianna Russini; our thoughts on why the NYT reporters published what they did; and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 634 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Stan Van Gundy, the lead analyst for NBA on Prime who will call his first-ever WNBA game this week when the Sparks play the Tempo in Toronto at 7:00 p.m. ET on June 25. In this podcast, we discuss how the WNBA assignment came to Van Gundy; how he prepares for a league he has never called before; his fondness for Tempo coach Sandy Brondello; what he wants to know from a coach in production meetings; working with Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan and Michael Grady; what is unique about Prime Video's NBA coverage versus Turner Sports; his thoughts on Steve Nash or Dwyane Wade as a broadcasters; why his brother Jeff Van Gundy will not be returning to broadcasting right now; the Knicks winning the NBA title; the trade options for Giannis Antetokounmpo and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 633 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Jon Lewis, editor and founder of Sports Media Watch; Sports Business Journal media reporter Austin Karp. In this podcast we go deep into the start of the World Cup and the phenomenal viewership numbers; how much more interest the tournament can draw; the hydration breaks as a media story; how we feel Fox is doing as far as its studio coverage; the feelings around Alex Lalas and Rebecca Lowe and others; the NBA Finals and NHL Stanley Cup Final viewership; Fox's potential $22B Roku acquisition and why it's about controlling distribution; the UFC Freedom 250 from the White House Lawn delivering seven million viewers on Paramount+, marking the first time Nielsen-measured figures have been released for a live event on the streaming platform (in combo with Adobe Analytics; the ridiculous claims from someone that it would hit Super Bowl numbers; sports seeking famous outdoor settings, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.