yeah in that model they have 25% overhead baked in which is over 1mm for support staff and equipment. It’s definitely doable and from today’s show it kind of sounds like Dan may be considering it.
Athletic is reporting that Le Batard & John Skipper are creating a content company. First order of business is selling the current podcast to iHeart or SiriusXM.
Have always loved Dan but didn’t follow him particularly closely at ESPN. Subscribed to the podcast and Thursday (Friday?)’s segment with John Amaechi was incredible.
Had to send that Amaechi interview to some family members that like LeBatard but don’t listen to the show due to the quality of that conversation.
With their auidence there was no way they would outright fail. They may not make barstool money but they will be successful. That said id love for them to merge with the defector
Imo the biggest mistake they could make is to partner with an outlet trying to do serious journalism.
Defector is a perfect analog to Dan actually. Love sports but don't take them too seriously. But want to have the serious conversations around sports and do so intelligently. But still mostly default to humor and calling clay Travis a shitstain. They could absolutely be themselves together. It likely won't happen but I think both groups are in similar spots with similar ethos
Skipper was the executive that Dan was so close with at ESPN right? Got let go over coke incident or something.
I always assume most stuff is a bit but cote is just a straight up asshole, right? This is hilarious but still.
The level of uncomfortable feels Stu has when Dan brings up politics is palpable. Not sure if its who he is or if the fact that his Army seems to be Trump supporters are the reason?
Or it could just be he's not a political person. He doesn't strike me as someone who tries to pay attention to politics. I try my best not too as well when possible.
Don't think that at all. Just think it's a) the character and b) he knows he honestly isn't as good as talking about that stuff as Dan and c) he isn't used to being their own platform where Dan can go further into these topics. But he (Stugotz) partnered with Dan in the first place since he brought a unique perspective to things.
I'm sure there are some that hate-listen, but I would be surprised if there were a lot of Trumpers that listen to this show.
Nah, there’s a ton from all political ideologies. He’s never been one to sugarcoat anything but he’ll also admit if he’s not seeing something from another person’s point of view to encourage dialogue.
Dan Le Batard’s newest venture now has a name, two media heavyweights running it and a familiar face to viewers of ESPN’s NBA studio coverage. What it doesn’t yet have is a home for Le Batard’s popular program, but that might not be far behind. Ten days after The Miami Herald reported that Le Batard and former ESPN president John Skipper were launching an original content company, that entity now has a name: Meadowlark Media. “We hear the term ‘free agency’ a lot, but our fans, as loyal and rabid as any in sports, just gave us the freedom to exert the agency,” Le Batard said in a press release. “John Skipper is a visionary, an industry leader and also the most powerful person in sports across the decade when our show rocketed to national acclaim. I can’t wait to see what he builds, and what we build together.” Among Skipper’s priorities: finding a widely-distributed home for Le Batard’s show, which has been airing in podcast form after his Jan. 4 departure from ESPN Radio. Sirius XM Radio remains among several possibilities. At least one other prominent ESPN on-air personality already has joined the venture: NBA analyst Amin Elhassan, who made regular appearances on The Jump and other ESPN platforms. And other recognizable names could also hop aboard. According to Front Office Sports, Meadowlark is pursuing several current ESPN personalities (including Bomani Jones) or former ones, most notably Jemele Hill. “We’re trying to figure out the most productive way to work together,” Hill told Front Office Sports. “Both John and Dan know I have such a deep level of respect for them. So me working with them again always felt like it was inevitable.” On his show this week, Le Batard called Skipper “a guy who is very good at seeing value in things. A guy who takes very large swings in business. A pioneer across 10 years of making more money for ESPN than anyone ever has. The most powerful man in sports has seen value here in a way that will make him split time with another entity that is a multi-billion dollar sports rights company. You now see that man working as CEO to build us and beyond.” Asked if the new company will distribute content via a web site (with columns and articles) as well as through an audio and video component, Meadowlark’s spokesman said that’s open-ended and undetermined. Skipper and Le Batard, at least to an extent, will make case-by-case decisions on how to tell a story, whether it’s through a 6000-word article, a documentary, a podcast or an unscripted series. The first mission - beyond finding a home for Le Batard’s show - is identifying the journalists or personalities who will join the venture, before then determining the best forum for their work. “This is the start-up,” Le Batard said on his podcast this week. “This is what we’re showing people. The underbelly and the inner-workings of; we are presently starting up right in front of you. This, what we’re doing, pirate radio with our feeds. A CEO of our company has seen the value of us owning our own stuff and being able to sell it to somebody, that’s a part of the story. But the bigger part of the story is that this is about to be a legitimate company. “There are going to be announcements here over the next six weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks. There are going be announcements about what it is that we’re doing. People want to know what we’re doing right now because it’s never been done like this before, Stugotz. Nobody’s just sitting out here floating at sea waiting for a CEO to come rescue them.”
Rooting hard for the Sirius XM angle. When I'm at sea, that's basically my only avenue for listening to their content since they aren't on ESPN anymore.
Lobster fishing. Every other day I'm on a driving shift at the time it used to come on ESPN so I'd catch it. I'd DVR the ones I couldn't catch on radio and catch them that night if I felt like it. No internet though so as of now the podcast thing only works for me when I'm home and less apt to watch it anyway.
Is Tony still with the show? He’s mentioned in the local hour intro but I haven’t heard him on any shows since the move.
Going to be quite a few running out their contract. Could see bomani and Pablo both joining once their contracts are up. Mina should stay as much as I would like her to join because she’s rocketing up the hierarchy there.
its still funny how most of the crew is just people who hang around the show and end up getting a job
skip tried to get Dan to boot Stu for a while early on, to pair with Bomani full time. He admitted on south beach sessions how wrong he was.