Clay Travis is poised to become a free agent across all three mediums of TV, radio, and digital media, Front Office Sports has learned. 

Travis’s multimillion-dollar deals with Fox, iHeartMedia’s Premiere Networks, and OutKick are all set to expire at the end of this year, sources tell FOS. Semafor first reported Travis’s Fox deal is up at the end of the year and that he could break off on his own. 

The controversial OutKick founder has been talking to a variety of media companies, and prospective investors, to get the lay of the land for his next play. Travis could announce one of his next moves in time for Super LX on Feb. 8, sources say.

As one of the most influential voices in the MAGA movement, Travis has a direct pipeline to President Donald Trump and Republican leadership (this year he interviewed Trump aboard Air Force One). 

The longtime ESPN critic has become one of the most ubiquitous personalities in media via his three-punch combo of digital media/TV/terrestrial radio. He has led OutKick since 2011. He has been a regular on Fox Sports’s Big Noon Kickoff and previously hosted OutKick The Coverage on Fox Sports Radio. He appears frequently on sister network Fox News as a guest commentator with Sean Hannity, Jesse Watters, and former ESPNer Will Cain. And on national radio, he cohosts The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show.

Travis and Sexton’s program has become one of the country’s most widely distributed shows. Earlier this year, Premiere announced the weekday program had garnered its 550th national affiliate. That’s a 27% increase compared to the show’s 2021 launch in The Rush Limbaugh Show’s former time slot from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET.

The 46-year-old Travis recently made waves with his exclusive interview with ESPN’s Paul Finebaum on OutKick The Show. During the interview, Finebaum told Travis he was deeply moved by the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk—and might leave ESPN for a political run for the U.S. Senate as a Republican in Alabama. Finebaum also told Travis that his bosses at ESPN vetoed an interview with Trump. “I was devastated,” admitted Finebaum.

Following the interview with Travis, the “Mouth of the South” was pulled from his regular college appearances on some ESPN TV studio shows, but he continued to host his eponymous radio show, which is simulcast on the SEC Network. Finebaum has since returned to ESPN studio shows, appearing on Mike Greenberg’s Get Up Monday morning.

So where will Travis go? He’s in no hurry financially; the final payment from his $100 million sale of OutKick in 2021 is expected this year, sources say. But with Trump in office, his voice has never been louder and now is his time to capitalize. It’s possible Travis will return to his entrepreneurial roots by launching his own media outfit. That would explain the talks with potential backers and partners. Or, once again, build a variety of media gigs that would allow him to be his own boss.

Today’s modern media stars, such as Stephen A. Smith, Dave Portnoy, Pat McAfee, and Dan Le Batard, want to own their companies and control their IP. Their new game plan is to build and operate their own production companies, then license their content to networks for big money. That’s why Smith negotiated the freedom to launch his own production company and personally owned-and-operated YouTube show in his $100 million contract extension with ESPN.

Travis recently debated Smith onstage at FOS’s live Tuned In summit in New York City. If Smith makes good on his threat to run for the White House, Travis told moderator Baker Machado he would run for president, too, and “kick his ass.” Smith countered: “No, he wouldn’t. He’d get his ass kicked.”

Travis and OutKick could not be reached for comment.

One of the more overlooked components of the NBA’s new set of domestic media deals has led to a reconstruction of the league’s NBA TV and NBA app. 

As the $77 billion in rights agreements with Amazon, ESPN, and NBC begin, the league has redeveloped two of its core in-house platforms between the television network and mobile app. The NBA reassumed full operational control of NBA TV and the app after 17 years, when those assets were not included in the revised deal the league struck with TNT Sports parent Warner Bros. Discovery.

After WBD did not keep live game rights in the U.S., setting off a legal battle, an eventual settlement with the league included a new agreement focused instead on highlights and international game rights. That deal, however, still contained some discord, as WBD was not able to come to an agreement with the NBA on continuing the prior model for NBA TV and the app.

“We were unable to agree on a path forward that recognized the value of our expertise, quality content, and operational excellence that our fans and partners have come to expect from TNT Sports,” network chairman and CEO Luis Silberwasser wrote in a company memo about those platforms.

Key elements of NBA TV and the app in the revised structure include:

• The creation of The Association, a new daily flagship program on the two platforms. The show will include news, highlights, and analysis, and it will “guide fans to the must-watch action across the league.” That program, based in a Los Angeles studio, will essentially replace the prior NBA Gametime Live. 
• A nonexclusive live game package of 60 games, consisting of contests not part of the other national rights deals, or also shown regionally in the competing teams’ home markets.
• Heightened coverage of international basketball, including Australia’s National Basketball League, France’s Ligue Nationale de Basket, Germany’s Basketball Bundesliga, Spain’s Liga ACB, the Chinese Basketball Association, and the Korean Basketball League.
• A collection of top NBA podcasts and other creator-driven content. 

The NBA, meanwhile, has also taken over operations of its out-of-market game package, NBA League Pass. The service carries a base price of $109.99 for the season, and $159.99 for the premium-level tier, equal to pricing from last season in the final year of the TNT Sports operation. NBA League Pass is also now being sold through Amazon’s Prime Video Channels as part of their agreement, and that product, along with NBA.com and the NBA app, are running on Amazon Web Services technology. 

The 2025–26 NBA regular season will begin Oct. 21. 

Max Kellerman is adding another role to his boxing responsibilities.

Kellerman will be on the call for Zuffa Boxing, sources told Front Office Sports. Zuffa is a collaboration between Saudi official Turki Alalshikh and TKO Group, and recently signed a five-year deal with CBS Sports parent Paramount. Adding Kellerman to the package will be a factor in making the fights feel like big productions. 

Kellerman has long-standing ties with the TKO leaders who are involved in the project. He was one of WWE president Nick Khan’s closest clients when Khan was a super-agent at CAA, and has had a strong relationship with UFC boss Dana White dating back to when Kellerman was one of the first big mainstream sports media personalities to speak positively about the MMA promotion.

Kellerman was also on the call for the Canelo Álvarez–Terence Crawford mega-fight in September, which was another partnership between Alalshikh and TKO. This event was promoted by Riyadh Season and aired on Netflix. Furthermore, Kellerman hosts Inside the Ring—a show produced by Alalshikh’s Ring Magazine and Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions—with boxing insider Mike Coppinger and former NFL star LeSean McCoy on DAZN. It would not be surprising if Kellerman, a former ESPN talent, also adds a general sports talk show to his docket in the coming months. 

Zuffa Boxing’s deal with Paramount begins in January; there will be 12 fight nights in the first year. They will all air on Paramount+ and it is possible some will be simulcast on the CBS broadcast network. The goal is for boxers to build their profiles in Zuffa and ultimately earn spots on the big fight cards like Canelo-Crawford. 

“I pitched UFC to everybody and I pitched boxing to everybody. This is how it turned out, and they’re separate deals, but the relationship with Paramount already has been incredible,” White told FOS’s Eric Fisher in September. “Right from the beginning, we’ve completely jelled, and it’s only going to get better.”