Colin Cowherd is being inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame this week. FOS spoke with the founder of podcast network The Volume and FS1 host about how he started his career, how he transitioned from local to national sportscaster, and why pace is so important.
—Ryan Glasspiegel and Michael McCarthy
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CHICAGO — Colin Cowherd is being inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame later this week. Ahead of the honors, he spoke to Front Office Sports about his career path, his motivations in leaving ESPN for FS1 10 years ago, how he scouts for his podcast company The Volume, his future goals, and what makes his former agent Nick Khan—now the president of WWE—so effective in business relationships.
Front Office Sports: This Radio Hall of Fame induction is a huge validation of everything you’ve accomplished. What was your initial thought when you heard about this and started reflecting on the whole path of getting there?
Colin Cowherd: What took so long? I’ve just lived everywhere. I’ve always moved for the commerce—TV and radio, local and syndicated. And I just think, like if I was a sales guy that kept moving for commerce, you know, you do it because you have opportunities. A lot of people just don’t want to move. They move into a suburb, their kids get into a school, and their wife makes friends and they’re like, “I’m done.” And it’s not a lack of talent.
I can remember being in college and being like, “I’m going to make it to a network.” And it wasn’t because I was any good. My take was, “I’m going to go until I get there.”
When I heard I was getting in [the Radio Hall of Fame], I thought, you know, that’s the culmination of a long journey, and no shortage of really, really supportive, good people. Nobody lives on an island. Nobody was born in a test tube. People have imprints, and I heard that line in the Billy Joel doc, and it’s so true. We all have influences, we all have support systems, and mine were very good.
FOS: What’s the CliffsNotes of your path on how you eventually got to ESPN?
CC: After college, I got a job in Las Vegas doing sales and an inning of play-by-play for the [minor league] baseball team, the Las Vegas Stars. That turned into a weekend sportscasting gig on the NBC affiliate, KVBC. That turned into a job in Tampa for two years [1993–95]. That turned into TV and radio in Portland [1996–2003], Portland turned into ESPN.
FOS: How did ESPN find you in Portland?
CC: They went and looked at ratings in local radio and noticed there was a big spike in Portland. So they sent John McConnell, an executive from ABC radio, to listen to me [surreptitiously]. He got snowed in and listened to me for three days. I guess he went back and said, “That’s the guy.”
FOS: What was the transition like from local to national?
CC: The hardest transition was when you’re a local sportscaster, you have to concentrate on about four teams. And then when you’re a syndicated guy, you’ve got 400 teams. So I made a decision: I had four or six weeks off between working local and working at ESPN. So I sort of made a decision that I wasn’t going to talk about 400 teams. I had listened to Rush Limbaugh do radio, and I thought one of the secrets is he only talked about two teams. He didn’t talk about moderates. He didn’t talk about independents. He didn’t even waste his time. Blue or red. And I thought, what if I just talked only [about] big brands? Yankees, Duke, Notre Dame. So I came out very early and said, I don’t like underdogs. I only like favorites. I don’t care if that’s called a front-runner, but mostly I’m going to talk big brands. And, you know, you’ve got a little pushback, and I always used to say, well, look at the bowl game ratings. You know, Michigan in a bowl game gets better ratings than TCU or Boise State in a bowl game.
Read an expanded version of Ryan Glasspiegel’s interview here.
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Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
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A round of cost cuts at Minute Media includes layoffs at The Players’ Tribune, the athlete-centric publication that was founded by Derek Jeter, Front Office Sports has confirmed.
The round of cuts included about 10 jobs at The Players’ Tribune. A spokesperson for Minute Media confirmed the outlet will be focusing on writing and pivoting away from video in a move that bucks broader industry-wide trends.
“The Players’ Tribune created the blueprint for athlete-driven storytelling more than ten years ago. Over the last decade, our most impactful stories were those that were written, and with this strategic shift, we will be refocusing and putting even more of our efforts back on the written, long-form athlete narrative while still exploring new ways of storytelling,” a Minute Media spokesperson told FOS in a statement.
“We made these decisions to ensure we can sustain our success over the long term and focus on content creation, distribution and monetization within the sports media ecosystem. We remain committed to the evolution and advancement of our editorial and technology brands, and believe that this more streamlined approach is the right one for the future of the Minute Media business.”
One source speculated that The Players’ Tribune could be divested from Minute Media at some point; a spokesperson for the parent company said that it is “not for sale.”
Cuts at Players’ Tribune and Mental Floss, an outlet that focuses on evergreen internet content outside of sports, were first reported in Semafor’s media newsletter Sunday. It is not immediately clear exactly how many cuts there are in total across Minute Media.
The company acquired The Players’ Tribune from Jeter’s group in 2019. Earlier this month, Players’ Tribune editor-in-chief Sean Patrick Conboy and VP of global brand and athlete strategy Jenna Klein—both original employees at the outlet—told FOS that Jeter is still regularly involved in content discussions. Jeter is on the board of Minute Media but does not take a salary, a company spokesperson said at the time. The spokesperson declined to specify whether The Players’ Tribune is profitable.
Minute Media’s portfolio additionally includes the global soccer site 90min, FanSided, and a 10-year license from Authentic Brands Group to publish Sports Illustrated. Last January, Axios reported Minute Media raised a round of funding at a valuation of $1 billion.
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Troy Taormina-Imagn Images
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NBC Sports is a sports TV innovator. “Inside the Glass” for NHL coverage, “Peacock Pit Box” for NASCAR, and “Inside the Race” motorcycle position for cycling coverage are just a few examples.
Now NBC again takes TV viewers closer to the action with its new “On the Bench” analyst for NBA coverage.
During Monday night’s stream of Cavaliers-Pistons on Peacock, NBC put a game analyst courtside with each team rather than the traditional setup of having them sit next to the play-by-play caller.
As with “Inside the Glass,” the idea is to bring viewers closer to the action—while providing access they wouldn’t get from traditional coverage. These dedicated team analysts eavesdrop on player huddles and timeouts—and deliver their reports straight from the bench. Before the game, they also immerse themselves with each team at practice. As with “Inside the Glass,” the challenge is not sharing proprietary info that would make some angry assistant coach start throwing punches.
For Monday’s premiere of “On the Bench,” Austin Rivers was with the Cavaliers, while Robbie Hummel covered the Pistons. Noah Eagle called play-by-play. The strategy will be employed for 23 NBA Monday games on Peacock this season.
Rivers said he and Hummel took the idea out for a test drive during the NBA’s Summer League. He’s optimistic coaches, players, and fans will embrace the concept, but you never know. Coaches and players get paranoid when any journalist—even former players—with a microphone gets too close to their huddle.
“I think they’ll find it new and different. At the same time, we’ll be like a fly on the wall. They won’t even notice us. A 6-foot-5 fly on the wall!” said Rivers.
Similarly, analysts in similar positions like Pierre McGuire at NBC have struggled with what they can and can’t report to viewers at home. Still, the opposing team can watch the coverage, too.
Hummel talked about what’s on and off the table. “You can’t say what the play is, right? Especially with TV, when you’re dealing with a delay,” he says. “But saying maybe a general concept of what to look for coming out of the huddle. Certainly talking about what the message was. I think just getting a feel for how far you can push without going too far in terms of strategy.”
The NBA wants its three media partners to celebrate and educate this season—not agitate and denigrate via player criticism and hot takes. The “On the Bench” innovation is one way to do it.
NBC coordinating producer Frank DiGraci noted “On the Bench” will help the legacy media giant distinguish its NBA coverage from new media-rights partner Amazon Prime Video and longtime incumbent ABC/ESPN.
“It’s 100% Sam Flood’s idea—and he got it from ‘Inside the Glass,’” DiGraci says, referring to NBC Sports’s executive producer and president of production. “Everybody has been saying, ‘How do you cover the NBA differently with different partners coming in?’ This was instantly an idea on how to do it differently.”
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- The sports media world could lose a true pioneer by the end of the 2026 season. Mike Pereira, Fox Sports’s NFL rules analyst, floated the idea of retirement once his contract expires. Pereira, 75, is the first and the best of the TV rules analysts for the NFL and other sports, but he could hang it up after next season. “I don’t want to outlive my effectiveness,” Pereira said in an interview with The Washington Post. “But I don’t know—who can predict the future?” Thankfully, Fox has a natural successor in Dean Blandino if Pereira steps down. That means Blandino could be on the call with Fox’s first team when the network gets the Big Game after the 2028 season.
- We got a ton of reader reaction to our story that some ESPN producers are getting fed up with Pat McAfee’s “diva-like” behavior. As reader Michael Hirsch wrote on X/Twitter: “From what I see, the only time he hates on people is when talking about the ESPN folks…other than that he always tries to uplift and shine a positive spotlight on athletes and people within the industry…and he provides a safe space for his guests (they love and trust him). Obviously none of us know what’s happening behind the scenes, but hopefully it can be sorted out and everyone can move forward, as one unit, continuing to bring the sports world together — cause there’s no doubting he’s done a hell of a job of doing that.”
- Many viewers thought the Giants were hosed by the refs when they ruled Eagles QB Jalen Hurts’s forward progress was stopped before he fumbled Sunday. But ESPN’s Mike Greenberg sees a silver lining in one of the worst calls of this season—or any season. It will be the call that finally eliminates the “abomination” known as the “Tush Push,” he said on Tuesday’s Get Up. “Upon further review, it’s my favorite call of the year. Because that is the call that will do away with the Tush Push once and for all.”
- Season 5 of Peyton Manning’s Peyton’s Places will premiere Nov. 2 on ESPN+. The 10-episode series, produced by Manning’s Omaha Productions, will feature appearances by Josh Allen, Jason Kelce, Jim Harbaugh, Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Joe Burrow, Boomer Esiason, and Chad Johnson.
- NBA champion turned podcaster Draymond Green is taking his eponymous podcast/YouTube show to Audacy from The Volume, according to Barrett Media.
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1 million
That was the average viewership for Inside the NBA’s first two shows on ESPN. There was a lot of anticipation last week about Charles Barkley’s Inside the NBA moving to ESPN from its longtime home on TNT Sports. Now we know why. Average viewership for Inside the NBA’s first two shows on ESPN was up 43% from the first two episodes on TNT last season. But don’t forget, the show just airs on ESPN. It’s still owned and produced by TNT.
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“ESPN needs to divest immediately from ESPN Bet, and here’s why. The NFL owns a piece of ESPN, meaning by default, they own a piece of the sportsbook. Well, you can’t have it both ways, because if the NFL benefits from you losing your wager, then they’re incentivized to control the outcome of games because it means more money in their pockets.”
—Former FS1 and WFAN host turned podcaster Craig Carton on why ESPN should end its relationship with ESPN Bet as a result of the NFL’s proposed deal to buy a 10% stake in the four letters in exchange for NFL Network and the rights to the NFL RedZone trademark.
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 | Ohtani will start Game 4 on the mound after another epic performance Monday.
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 | ESPN and ABC could be dropped from the No. 4 U.S. pay-TV distributor. |
 | Weeks after the end of the MLB regular season, viewership issues remain.
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Do you think NBC's "On the Bench" is a good way to cover NBA games?
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Thursday’s result: 72% of respondents think “Inside the NBA” on ESPN was as good as it was on TNT.
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