It’s been a big year for talent movement in the sports media industry, particularly around the NBA where Amazon and NBC took over for TNT as league rights partners. In no particular order, are the 13 biggest stories of the year in this department. 

1. Amazon and NBC Bulk Up on NBA Talent

Amazon and NBC starting their new NBA deals led to a talent gold rush. Amazon brought in Ian Eagle, Kevin Harlan, Stan Van Gundy, Taylor Rooks, Dirk Nowitzki, Udonis Haslem, Blake Griffin, Steve Nash, Michael Grady, Dwyane Wade, and Candace Parker. NBC hired Reggie Miller, Jamal Crawford, Carmelo Anthony, Tracy McGrady, and Vince Carter—in addition to landing Michael Jordan as a special contributor. 

2. Barkley, Shaq, Kenny, and Ernie Head to ESPN 

Although the deal for ESPN to sublicense some Big 12 football and basketball games to TNT Sports in return for Inside the NBA was agreed to last year, we finally got to see what that looks like this past October. Basketball fans were pleased to see nothing has changed with the iconic studio show, and Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kenny Smith are still bringing their same irreverence and hijinks to ESPN—even after Barkley repeatedly said he would never work for ESPN.

3. Barstool and Fox Link Up

After a programming and executive shakeup at FS1, Barstool Sports became the morning programming on the network, featuring a rotating group of co-hosts including Barstool founder Dave Portnoy, Dan “Big Cat” Katz, PFT Commenter, T-Bob Hebert, Brandon Walker, and Mark Titus. Portnoy also became a mainstay on Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff college football pregame show in the deal.   

4. Netflix Adds Barstool, Spotify, and Volume Podcasts

At the beginning of the year, it would have been inconceivable that several of the biggest sports podcasts would leave YouTube to have their video exclusively hosted by Netflix. But that’s exactly what happened with Pardon My Take, the Ryen Russillo Show and Spittin’ Chiclets from Barstool, the Bill Simmons Podcast and multiple others from Spotify, as well as multiple shows from The Volume in conjunction with a deal with iHeart.  

5. Stephen A. Smith Signs 9-Figure ESPN Deal

Sometimes the biggest move is to stay in the same place. Smith signed a five-year extension with ESPN, worth more than $100 million, that enabled him to ink another big-money deal with SiriusXM for his eponymous digital show. 

6. Cowherd Leaves DraftKings for Hard Rock

Cowherd’s Volume podcast network includes shows hosted by Nick Wright and Sophie Cunningham, as well as the digital rights to Cowherd’s eponymous show on FS1 and iHeart. This was the first big move by Hard Rock digital, signaling its goal to be a major player in the space.  

7. Eisen Returns to ESPN

Who says you can’t go home again? Rich Eisen brought his show back to ESPN and Disney platforms after more than 20 years away. The host’s show previously aired on Roku. Eisen also remains the lead anchor at NFL Network, a role he has held since he originally left ESPN for the network’s launch. 

8. Russillo Leaves The Ringer

Ryen Russillo, consistently one of the top-ranked sports podcasters on Apple and Spotify, had been with The Ringer since 2019. In launching a new business backed by Barstool and Portnoy, he hoped to supercharge the video component of his show. The show is included in the multi-year Barstool-Netflix deal worth eight figures annually.

9. Watt Moves From the Studio to the Booth at CBS

In year one paired with Ian Eagle on CBS’s second-top NFL announce team, JJ Watt has made a seamless transition from studio to booth. The duo has great chemistry and a big-game aura. 

10. Bussin’ With the Boys Leaves Barstool for FanDuel

Former NFL’ers Will Compton and Taylor Lewan got a big payday in landing the FanDuel sportsbook as its presenting sponsor. 

11. Brees Replaces Sanchez at Fox Sports

After Sanchez was arrested and charged with a felony following a violent incident while on assignment for Fox in Indianapolis, Brees slid into Sanchez’s pairing with Adam Amin. Brees, the former 13-time Pro Bowl quarterback who won a Super Bowl with the Saints, was previously a color commentator and studio analyst at NBC Sports. 

12. Peter Schrager Leaves NFL Network for ESPN

Peter Schrager jumped to ESPN in April and was an immediate fit, getting plugged into all of its studio programming. He also launched The Schrager Hour podcast, in collaboration with ESPN and Omaha Productions. 

13. Elle Duncan Leaves ESPN for Netflix

Duncan is slated to become the host of Netflix’s coverage across several sports. In leaving ESPN, she opened up roles for Christine Williamson to co-host 6 p.m. SportsCenter with Kevin Negandhi and be the top host of the network’s women’s college basketball coverage, including the Final Four. Malika Andrews is poised to become the new top host of ESPN’s WNBA studio team.  

Will Pat McAfee pull the plug on his kicking contest on College GameDay?

Given that the weekly segment has become Must-See TV, it’s hard to imagine him or ESPN dropping it. But there was the former Colts punter on Saturday’s show, hinting, not once, but twice, it was the possible end-game for his popular bit.

When McAfee introduced Texas A&M student Austin Roberts prior to the Aggies’ 10-3 loss to Miami in College Station, he noted the freshman’s $1 million kick could be “our final kick of the season, maybe of the entire series.”

Roberts’s first 33-yard field goal attempt at Kyle Field sailed wide right. McAfee graciously gave him another chance, raising the jackpot to $1.5 million. But before Roberts missed his second attempt he dropped another big old hint: “One more kick. Final kick of the season. Final kick, maybe, of the field goal kicking contest.”

There’s no doubt McAfee is one of the most generous, charitable talents on TV. He pays the contest winnings out of his own pocket. This season, he gave away $2.7 million to students and charities. Last year, he coughed up almost $1 million. Even when Roberts missed the two kicks, he still donated $500,000 to charity.

So what’s going on? McAfee is under contract for GameDay for several years, say sources. (He has a separate $17 million-a-year deal to license his eponymous weekday show to ESPN.) In a short time, “The Pat McAfee Kicking Contest” has emerged as the natural successor to Lee Corso’s long-running mascot headgear pick. College GameDay just posted its most-watched season ever, growing its audience 23% to 2.7 million average viewers. Why mess with success by dumping the show’s hottest segment?

“It would make absolutely no business sense. That’s for sure. They had the Corso thing for almost four decades. This is a similar deal. It’s a main attraction for the show,” says one source. “It has a benevolent quality to it because a lot of money goes to charity. So everybody is really proud of that. Now if Pat, all of a sudden, is saying, ‘I’m in the poorhouse because I gave away 2 million bucks,’ well that’s his fucking problem for making bets his ass can’t cash. Still, he gives a lot of money away. It’s a fantastic segment every week.”

But with McAfee, you never know. The next season of College Gameday is eight months away. Anything can happen between now and then. ESPN declined to comment. But here are three possibilities on what’s happening behind the scenes:   

McAfee’s getting bored: The 38-year-old star is unpredictable, mercurial. He’s notorious for walking away from employers before he finishes his contracts. He sometimes throws a scare into the suits at ESPN with his “diva-like” behavior. Maybe he’s ready to retire the kicking shtick in favor of a new bit. As an entertainer, McAfee knows you always want to leave the crowd wanting more. For now, the kicking contest is fun, surprising television. But will it be in Year 5? Maybe McAfee wants to keep the contest in his back pocket for the day he possibly launches his own version of GameDay to compete with ESPN and Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff? That would be cold. But he’s a savvy entrepreneur who sees around corners.

ESPN’s looking for a sponsor: This possibility was put forth by Awful Announcing. It’s a smart one. If Allstate’s going to sponsor field goal nets, surely there’s a deep-pocketed corporate sponsor that would love to slap their brand all over a highly entertaining segment that combines the best of college football, charity, and campus spirit. In which case, McAfee and ESPN would be getting paid, not paying. Allstate’s sponsored “Good Hands” nets are synonymous with college football. Ditto for McAfee’s kicking contest. 

McAfee’s pulling a work: Never forget, McAfee is a sometime pro wrestler and commentator for the WWE. He says plenty of stuff he doesn’t mean. Maybe in Vince McMahon-like fashion, he was just adding to the drama at Kyle Field by telling the audience this could be the final kick. With 104,122 fans screaming their heads off, McAfee entertained a WrestleMania-like crowd. Why not give them a show?

In the end, it could just be McAfee being McAfee. Watching Saturday’s show, I marveled at how he worked the massive crowd at Kyle Field like a barn-storming WWE impresario. McAfee literally had them eating out of the palm of his hand. But should you believe a pro wrestler’s hype? Or take their on-air rants with a grain of salt? The smart money says McAfee’s kicking contest will be back and bigger than ever next season.

As one source says: “Pat was in his element [at Kyle Field]. It was awesome. I can’t see any scenario why that would be the last one. If it were, it would be amazing, because it was the greatest one ever.”