Some of the most powerful media executives in the U.S. are expanding their duties and nearing new contracts in moves poised to impact the sports media landscape significantly.

On Thursday, Comcast enlarged the roles of NBCUniversal executives Mark Lazarus, Donna Langley, and Cesar Conde. Lazarus, previously chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, will be chairman of the NBCUniversal media group in a role that will include oversight of NBC Sports, the company’s other TV networks and streaming platforms, and advertising and distribution.

The shifts follow the April departure of former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell, as well as the exits in the last two months of NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua — who will be Notre Dame’s director of athletics — and new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino, former NBCUniversal chairman of global advertising and partnerships.

Meanwhile, Disney CEO Bob Iger is reportedly seeking a contract extension that would keep him atop the ESPN parent company beyond the end of his current deal in December 2024. The extension would delay a Disney executive succession plan said to center in part on current ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro.

The executive shuffle arrives as several key sports media rights remain on the market — most notably those of the NBA — heightening the existing rivalry between Iger and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.

For Comcast and NBCUniversal, the Paris 2024 Olympics are also just a year away, increasing the urgency to implement its new leadership structure.

The business of Kobe Bryant is in full swing three years after the Pro Basketball Hall of Famer’s death.

Bryant will grace the cover of “NBA 2K24” via two different editions — the fourth time the popular video game has selected the longtime Los Angeles Lakers star. A special edition of “NBA 2K21” honored Bryant with its cover in 2020, shortly after the helicopter accident that killed him, his daughter Gianna, and seven others.

Last week, Nike announced plans to relaunch the Kobe signature sneaker later this summer. In 2022, the brand reached an agreement with the Kobe Bryant Estate to continue the popular line.

After Bryant’s death, the state of his Nike merchandise fluctuated. After an initial report that Nike had stopped sales of Bryant-related items, the company clarified that it had actually sold out existing inventory. Bryant’s estate, led by his widow Vanessa, eventually let the contract expire in 2021.

Now, fences are mended with Nike, and Bryant is back in the spotlight via NBA 2K. 

Any other brands attempting to use Bryant’s likeness may face more resistance moving forward, though. Bryant had an exclusive trading card deal with Panini and was an investor in Body Armour — which netted his estate $400 million when Coca-Cola took majority ownership of the sports drink.

The meteoric rise of Meta’s Threads has presented a pressing dilemma for sports properties allocating resources to a new social media platform with a perhaps murky legal future.

By Threads’ second day of operation, the service surpassed 70 million signups — the fastest-growing social media platform ever. Every major pro sports league has now created official feeds on the platform, as did many prominent current and former athletes such as Stephen Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Tom Brady. Some of those new Threads feeds immediately attracted millions of followers.

Leagues and teams, however, will have to commit staff time and intellectual property to Threads alongside Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and others.

“I’ve had a ton of calls, lots of texts from clients trying to figure out what they should do with Threads. And there are a lot of social media managers sweating out how to keep track of another channel,” Jeramie McPeek, veteran social and digital media consultant and former Phoenix Suns executive, said to Front Office Sports. “But the more I look at this, the more I’m confident this could really have staying power.”

Twitter owner Elon Musk, the world’s richest man with an estimated net worth of $249 billion, threatened to sue Meta over the creation of the so-called “Twitter killer,” heightening the bitter rivalry between Musk and Meta co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

“Competition is fine, cheating is not,” Musk tweeted.