Fox has been an NFL broadcasting partner since 1994, but Mike Florio could see that longstanding relationship coming to an end in the near future. On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee held a lengthy hearing on the NFL’s broadcast antitrust exemption amid concerns that the league has been skirting the exemption’s limits, which arguably apply…
Fans learned earlier on Thursday, just hours before the World Cup began, that Fox had opted to utilize the FIFA-mandated mid-half hydration breaks to air full-screen advertising, a stark departure from usual soccer broadcasting standards that see each half air unencumbered by commercials. Suffice it to say, it didn’t take long for these commercials to…
On May 9, 2025, Pablo Torre reported that Jordon Hudson, Bill Belichick’s girlfriend, had been banned from the University of North Carolina’s football facility. On May 9, 2026, Hudson made a massive public records request to the school, presumably to identify Torre’s source or sources. A few days later, UNC denied Torre’s report, which alleged…
ESPN never managed to lure Peyton Manning as its top NFL game analyst after years of aggressive pursuit, but the network’s production deal with Manning’s Omaha Productions has become far more expansive than a traditional announcer contract. As reports swirl that Pat McAfee is negotiating a new contract with the Worldwide Leader worth as much as $60…
The deplorable actions by a small portion of Knicks fans continue to besmirch the reputation of New Yorkers, and Stephen A. Smith has seen enough. After New York hosted their first NBA Finals game since 1999 Monday night, several fights broke out, with people wearing Spurs gear being targeted and attacked by groups of Knicks…
As the NBA has evolved toward a more spread-out, perimeter-style of play over the past two decades, Inside the NBA star Charles Barkley has been notoriously against teams’ reliance on the three-ball. And as Barkley watched the San Antonio Spurs collapse at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, he…
The vibes have been off the charts in New York City as the Knicks have marched within one game of winning their first NBA championship since 1973. There have, however, been a few bad apples in the Big Apple who don’t reflect well on the fanbase. Following the Knicks’ Game 3 loss, five NYPD officers…
What Monica McNutt said isn’t necessarily surprising or new. We’ve all done it. The difference is that McNutt said it about Taylor Swift, and on a hot mic. The New York Knicks radio analyst and ESPN commentator went viral for doing something we’ve all done—questioning someone’s fandom. Unfortunately for McNutt, that someone was Swift, who…
As Mitch Johnson and De’Aaron Fox bear the brunt of the blame for the San Antonio Spurs’ collapse before the New York Knicks in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Tiki Barber is holding Victor Wembanyama accountable. Wembanyama took a break from sketching a Hamlet sculpture, left the quietest room in the world, and covered his…
NBC’s Sunday Night Baseball drew its largest audience of the season last week, as Major League Baseball continues to post strong early-season viewership numbers. The extra-innings San Francisco Giants-Chicago Cubs game averaged 2.34 million viewers on Sunday, June 7 (2.6 million when including Adobe Analytics), the largest Sunday Night Baseball audience of the season for NBC.…
No offense to ESPN’s camera people who capture nearly every angle of every big sports moment, but Kirk Herbstreit may have had the best video of OG Anunoby’s game-winner. Yes, that Kirk Herbstreit. As Monica McNutt questioned Taylor Swift’s fandom, ESPN’s lead college football analyst from Ohio was quietly sitting courtside at Madison Square Garden for…
With just the United Football League championship remaining, viewership for the UFL on Fox, ABC, and ESPN is up marginally year-over-year. Still, the modest gains do little to answer lingering questions about the league’s ability to grow. Regular series games on Fox averaged 670,000 viewers in 2026, up 4% from 2025. Across all ESPN networks…
The Athletic is temporarily opening its doors. The New York Times-owned subscription outlet announced Wednesday that its 2026 FIFA World Cup coverage will be free to read in its app through July 19, the day of the final at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. NYT-owned The Athletic, normally paywalled, says it is making…
Among the many micro-controversies at play in the lead-up to this summer’s World Cup centers on the mid-half mandatory hydration breaks FIFA has implemented for the tournament. (Most World Cup-related controversies qualify as “micro” following 2022 in Qatar.) The decision by FIFA to mandate these breaks can at least be spun as being in the…
Landon Donovan spent his playing career helping define soccer in the United States. Now, as the World Cup comes to American soil, he’ll be trying to define it for viewers instead. The two identities don’t always go hand in hand. In soccer, as in every sport, being great at the game and being great at…
This originally appeared in Tuesday morning’s edition of The A Block, Awful Announcing’s daily newsletter with the latest sports media news, commentary, and analysis. Sign up here to be the first to know everything happening in the sports media world. Whenever the World Cup rolls around, the conversation in American sports media inevitably turns to…
The new lead ESPN NBA broadcast team of Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, and Tim Legler delivered a strong performance during the New York Knicks’ historic comeback against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals. But one of the game’s most consequential decisions received surprisingly little attention. With the Spurs clinging…
Nearly eight years to the day since the 2026 FIFA World Cup was awarded to the United States, Mexico, and Canada, and the opening day of competition is finally here. At 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, Mexico will kick off this summer’s World Cup against South Africa at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City. One of…
Mike Francesa has a lifetime of being a fan and covering sports, but even he knows how special Game 4 of the NBA Finals was for New York and the Knicks. The New York Knicks were losing to the San Antonio Spurs 41-22 after the first quarter, they were down 76-49 at halftime, and found…
Actor, comedian, filmmaker, and New York Knicks superfan Ben Stiller has made people curious about fancy videos he’s been shooting courtside from his iPhone during the Knicks’ NBA Finals run. KNICKS IN 4 pic.twitter.com/xoJjimzbo7 — Ben Stiller (@BenStiller) June 6, 2026 According to a “showbiz source” for Page Six, Stiller is “filming a documentary for…
Taylor Swift has several songs about the magic of Manhattan and is reportedly set to tie the knot in the Big Apple this summer, but New York Knicks radio analyst and ESPN commentator Monica McNutt isn’t buying the New York bona fides of the pop sensation. Swift attended Game 4 of the NBA Finals on…
While Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals was an unbelievable comeback by the New York Knicks, it was also a brutal collapse by the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs blew a 29-point lead (81-52 in the third quarter) as the Knicks won 107-106 in the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, giving New York…
Taylor Swift was at Madison Square Garden for Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, and star NBA host Ernie Johnson took a photo with her. Legendary link up 🔥 pic.twitter.com/8OshVrvdut — espnW (@espnW) June 11, 2026 Naturally, this later caused quite the…
The New York Knicks put together the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history to stun the San Antonio Spurs 107-106 in Game 4 on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. New York rallied from a 29-point deficit after San Antonio led 81-52 in the third quarter to take a 3-1 series lead in search of…
On this week’s episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast, host Brandon Contes interviews Kevin Clark of ESPN and Omaha Productions. They discuss a wide range of topics including covering the Knicks for The Wall Street Journal, being married to a Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter, working with Bill Simmons, The Ringer, joining ESPN, and more. Here’s the…