Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Episode 672 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features a roundtable with Jon Lewis, editor and founder of Sports Media Watch, Chad Finn, sports media columnist for the Boston Globe and Austin Karp, the media writer for Sports Business Journal. In this podcast, we discuss the NFL season-to-date viewership through Week 8, with NFL games averaging 18.4 million viewers (TV+Digital), the highest average through Week 8 on record and up +3% vs. 2025; what we expect in the second half for viewership; the WNBA Finals hitting its best viewership mark since 1999, with Game 7 averaging 3.3 million viewers on USA Network, CNBC and Peacock; the seven-game Valkyries-Dream matchup averaging 1.9 million viewers across NBC, USA, CNBC, Syfy and E!; Versant CEO Mark Lazarus saying that high prices for NFL and World Cup rights could “create an opening for Versant as other media companies reassess their sports portfolios and spending commitments,” according to John Ourand of PUCK; MS Now Joe Scarborough saying ESPN’s Pat McAfee is ruining “College GameDay; our thoughts on Election Day viewership and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 671 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Jon Lewis, editor and founder of Sports Media Watch and Jimmy Traina, a podcast host/writer for Underscore Media. In this episode we discuss The Athletic's story that details the recent acrimony between Joe Buck and Troy Aikman; whether the relationship can be saved this season; how management let things get to this point; how much of a story this will be at the Super Bowl; what is next for Monday Night Football; Ernie Johnson announcing this will be his last year hosting Inside The NBA; the World Series viewership numbers and how they exceeded expectations; our Game 7 viewership expectations for the WNBA Finals and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 670 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features Kyle Kondik, the managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ nonpartisan election forecasting newsletter. Kondik analyzes American campaigns and elections and is frequently a guest on places such as C-Span. In this podcast Kondik discusses the parallels between election forecasting and those obsessed by sports or sports analytics; how he looks at data to make election predictions; whether he should be judged on the accuracy of his predictions; where Sabato's Crystal Ball has the Senate and House races right now; the unlikely Senate races in Kansas, Iowa and South Carolina; how he sees Texas, Maine and Minnesota right now; outlier polls; why you should be focusing on Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District on Election night; when he starts thinking about the 2028 race; his Election night gig in NYC with the CBS Decision Desk as part of their results-focused "Nerd Show" stream and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 669 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 discussCBS Sports naming J.J. Watt as its permanent lead analyst for the NFL ON CBS in a new multi-year agreement; CBS saying that Watt will call Super Bowl LXII in Atlanta; what Watt being named as CBS's No. 1 means for Greg Olsen and Troy Aikman; whether Aikman will work in a booth in 2027; whether Netflix goes big for an NFL analyst; the viewership for the WNBA Finals; the presentation from USA Network and NBC; whether WNBA broadcasters need to be more critical; our viewership expectations for Rays-Brewers; FIFA now accepting formal bids for U.S. and Puerto Rican broadcast rights to the 2030 and 2034 World Cups; the many potential bidders for the men's World Cup, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.

Episode 668 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features two guests. First up is Michael Grady, who works as a play-by-play broadcaster nationally for the NBA on Prime, the NBA on NBC and locally for the Timberwolves. He is followed by Mirin Fader, the editor of "The Year’s Best Sports Writing 2026," the annual anthology of the best sports writing. She is also a senior writer for The Athletic. In this podcast, Grady discusses his multiple roles calling NBA games; how he would define or describe how Amazon produces the NBA; what it's like working on NBC's NBA broadcasts; his opening games of the NBA season including for Peacock on Oct. 26 for Warriors-Nuggets and Thunder-Cavaliers on Nov. 2 for Prime Video; working with Candace Parker on the NBA and the WNBA; calling games for the Timberwolves; his sports broadcasting evolution; the big storylines in the NBA this season; how the Eastern Conference has become a power; his Instagram feed as an ode to Brooklyn to travel and more. Fader discusses the role of the editor in the Year's Best Sportswriting series; what she discovered reading so much longform sports writing; the pieces this year in the book; her lead essay about the dismantling of The Washington Post sports section; why she still remains hopeful about the interest in longform sports writing among young people; Giannis Antetokounmpo moving to Miami, and more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and more.