Will TNT Steal Back Some NBA Rights? Private Equity Has Come for the Colleges! | The Sporting Class

Welcome to The Sporting Class! Meadowlark Media CEO John Skipper and ‪@NPDS‬'s David Samson are back with another episode with host of ‪@PabloTorreFindsOut‬ ... Pablo Torre! We start with more of NBA media rights talk! The ink is still not dry on the NBA’s deals with ESPN, NBC, and Amazon. Warner Bros. Discovery is still fighting for its NBA life. Should they be? (17:30) How does the WNBA fit into all of this? How much of an increase will the WNBA see in this new media deal? Are you buying or selling stock on the WNBA? (26:20) Private equity has entered the discussion. It is coming for college athletics. It wants a piece of the NFL. What is private equity? How dangerous is this for the NCAA schools? (48:39) We end today’s episode with some quick thoughts on TNT acquiring broadcast rights for some College Football Playoff games from ESPN.
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - NBA Rights
17:30 - WNBA valuation
26:20 - Private Equity
48:39 - CFP on TNT
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
✅ Follow & Subscribe to Our Podcasts on Spotify & Apple Podcasts ✅
🔊 The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 🔊
🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2FuorRy...
🟣 Apple Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
🔊 Le Batard & Friends Network 🔊
🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/2ZYllDN...
🟣 Apple Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
🔊 Mystery Crate 🔊
🟢 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/6nCctQZ...
🟣 Apple Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
✅ Follow Us On Social! ✅
☑️ The LeBatard Show on Twitter: / lebatardshow ☑️
📸 The LeBatard Show on Instagram: / lebatardshow 📸
💥 The LeBatard Show on TikTok: / lebatardshow 💥
🪄 The LeBatard Show on Twitch: / lebatardandfriends 🪄
✅ Subscribe! ✅
💻 kzbin.info/door/AIZ...
🤑 MERCH! 🤑 :
lebatardaf.com/
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Best Daily Sports Podcast on the Internet
#nba #nbaontnt #insidethenba #nbaplayoffs #warnerbros #charlesbarkley #shaq #shaquilleoneal #collegefootball #ncaa #ncaafootball #wnba#lebatardshow #lebatard #thepirateship #sports #live #stugotz #danlebatard

[@nicholasfontenot8180]

Can you guys get your own Sporting Class KZbin channel so it stops getting lost in the LeBatard shuffle?

[@masashi_tashiro]

There's a playlist for it on the channel, it's just buried toward the bottom when you look for it. Def agree it deserves its own dedicated feed

[@ericadams8467]

Agreed this is there best show by far

[@exprezzion]

the LeBatard Shuffle is the 80s Miami rap spoof video we definitely do not want to see

[@Cppowell23]

Facts!!! Love this show

[@mkhanman12345]

I love tube

[@stubbs6584]

Skipper’s calm, measured approach plays so well against David’s earnest, direct stylings on this show. I love listening to intelligent people intelligently discussing topics they are so clearly interested in (including Pablo, of course). I maintain equal parts surprise and gratitude that Skipper allows this glimpse into his world.

[@TheCarpentersApprentice]

Yeah it feels like WHHHAAAAA

[@NoCaping]

Love John & David & Pablo together this pairing needs its own channel

[@stubbs6584]

Nelson peltz tried to destroy my company by forcing a merger with a similar scale company to maximize “shareholder value” (read: his profit). Both CEOs and boards held their ground, and we’ve been cruising since.

[@exprezzion]

the essential difference of "Private" Equity is that it is a pool of partnership money that can own all sorts of businesses and play shenanigans between them without any shareholders or the SEC being involved at all. So it invites pulling companies apart and inside deals for other companies in the portfolio. Often contracts and insurance policies can be taken advantage of because third parties are unwitting to the business practices that might go on with other interactions under the portfolio. They tend to do real estate deals, predatory loans that extract from portfolio companies into a central holding company, that sort of thing. They can have cost savings too of course. But the key difference it is, italics, private. not public.

[@BobBoozle]

NBC better feed me NBA triple headers on the weekends.

[@TheCarpentersApprentice]

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽

[@assassssasa]

TNT pulled the plug on WCW it's happening again

[@bridgeboysdk4915]

Na u know wcw was definitely fuckin up but I agree

[@darrylhenry3188]

They pulled the plugged but it had to deal with the time Warner aol merger. That was the beginning of the end of WCW because Ted didn't have full control of his company anymore

[@zachhayes432]

I have heard clips of these guys before and never realized it was its own show. Consider me a regular from here on out!

[@nimatrd]

Well produced episode, Coca. I really like the 3 camera split, totally works. By far my fave program on the LAF network

[@richmanjackson1971]

Skipper is smooth bars!!!

[@gordonwobby223]

SOOOOO GOOOOOOOOD AS ALWAYS and holy sht Pablo was high today

[@martzthomas]

David ending with touched by an angel is gold

[@914Rocky]

This is fascinating.

[@mjmwise]

I wonder if prominent football/basketball colleges will end up splitting athletics departments. One side for revenue sports and the other for "student" sports. Revenue run by sports media leaders. Student by traditional athletic directors. Most schools already have a split between intramurals and interscholastic sports. Making another split for revenue generators whose athletes are employees may come next.

[@keenannorris3309]

This is a goods idea.

[@TheCarpentersApprentice]

Man this is amazing. Damn it please keep doing this. The #s will most certainly catch up to the quality of what you’re offering.

[@earljohnson8936]

If the NBA or any company does not acknowledge the financial benefit of Inside The NBA with all pieces and players in place (both on air and behind the scenes talent) then it will be to their detriment. Eyes will move on.

[@richardklambie]

Great show! Well done Pablo and friends!!

[@KK-pm7ud]

The first thing pribate equity firms would do is cut coaches salaries and reduce their headcount. Then they wouid reduce the amount they spend on facilities and raise ticket prices; especially on the students. They also will do brand marketing deals with companies; some unsavory and potentially politically charged. And then they'll tell the "student athletes" that they have to pay for their own tuition and room and board because they are now employees. On top of all of that they will tell their staff to focus 99% on their athletics and 1% on their classes. They'll put pressure on the administration to give their athletes passes on all of their coursework and make it easier for them to pass with little effort. This will by extension reduce the quality of the academic experience for the other students on campus and undermine the university's mission. But by all means, allow NIL money, sports, and private equity to destroy our academic institutions. It's not like our college graduates are important or anything.

[@vincentho3792]

I learned a new word today. Plebiscite! Thanks to John Skipper

[@leondarnell1]

i've been looking forward to this!!!

[@King_osei]

This show is one of more interesting sports related shows on YT. I didn’t really like that Samson dude, but I feel his perspective is important to hear. The truth is, a lot of the people in these boardrooms, think just like him. Keep up the great content. 💯

[@joelv92]

I love y’all’s input.

[@Nonamepow]

Let’s go! Love the show!

[@bribay]

I subscribed to Pablo's channel waiting for this video and it's on Dan's channel.

[@bridgeboysdk4915]

Starting to really like you guys conversations

[@jcliu]

There *is* hard data trickling out about WNBA valuations: Toronto’s just-announced new team (launching 2026) is paying a $115 million expansion fee-vs $50 million the Warriors ownership group paid less than a year ago to put a WNBA team in Chase Center (starting 2025). I think that’s the best sign: Arena owners in major cities now think populating the summer with WNBA games is more valuable than maximizing concerts, etc. Compare to 2018, when James Dolan kicked the Liberty out of MSG for a tiny barn in Westchester, before selling them to Nets owner Joe Tsai for essentially $0, plus assuming all the debt. And as Tsai found out, it’s a lot easier to build a superteam in the WNBA, where superstars earn low six figures, than dealing than emo quasi-oligarchs like Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving.

[@cuanchai]

This show should be its own solo channel and podcast.

[@brianjauhiainen3954]

Smartest trio around. Fabulous

[@45july]

This was excellent

[@mikethomas860]

Why would TNT steal some NBA rights when they said TNT didn't need it. The only reason I tune into TNT is for Inside the NBA. TNT has very little programming outside of the NBA that I want to see.

[@Sambone702]

Because nobody is watching the games.

[@sonofsarek]

The old guy sounds like the people in 2007 that said the housing market will go up forever when it was obvious it wouldn’t.

[@tawink]

If you bought a house in 2007 and were able to keep it (didn’t get laid off), the value looks pretty good today.

[@sonofsarek]

@@tawink you could say that about pretty much anything. The dude is WAY inside the bubble and drinks the Kool-Aid.

[@chrisdontworry9394]

Do you mean the old guy who started his own media company????? Oh okay

[@eriknephrongfr8847]

Have you seen the housing market since the time in question? There’s almost certainly a better metaphor.

[@sonofsarek]

@@eriknephrongfr8847 better metaphor? It was the biggest financial calamity since the Great Depression. Of course it has gone up, it couldn’t go down any more. Furthermore, demand was artificially inflated with low interest rates for many years, driving the price up from its nadir. It’s been one giant fake economy since then.

[@ecpola]

Best exchange at 36:00

[@hyahhytes6388]

Need this twice weekly

[@jaykouris]

Guys I love PTFO. And NPDS. But we need this as a show. On it's on KZbin channel and own podcast stream. And we need more. It's the best sports show out there on any platform.

[@jamesbingham1007]

To sum up, networks are overpaying for content that less and less people are watching. And, these guys think that couldn't possibly lead to any problems. Remember that when the first media company files for bankruptcy.

[@AerialPenn]

Time Warner bought AOL and survived. Theyll survive this. Got to be the dumbest company around along with Disney but they have deep pockets. Google, Amazon, Netflix and Facebook is going to be the new media if it isnt already.

[@jeffreytubbs8262]

another great one... love this show

[@mkhanman12345]

Love the show and love tube. Love watching tube.

[@rcvillapando]

I want ESPN/ABC out of NBA rights. They just flat out stink their production. NBC, Amazon yes I don’t mind them. Of course Roundball Rock should be back. And the Inside the NBA crew. Hopefully Barkley leads the way to sell a show with the gang to NBC or Amazon.

[@daveclark8337]

The crew couldn't do the same show on NBC because they're too PC. They can't talk about the big Ole womens in San Antonio or threaten violence on each other or point out the dirty, crime, needle and homeless filled streets of San Francisco. Their Human Resources dept, the network censors and the Karens would lose their mind . TNT can get away with it because people are Choosing to pay for Cable.

[@morganmckinley7946]

Exactly. ESPN was great decades ago but they gradually became full of the worst people in broadcasting, of course with a few exceptions. Except for Hubie Brown and JVGundy, two former coaches, their studio and broadcaster crews are absolutely garbage. I was glad when that idiot Mark Jackson was canned but Doris Burke is almost as bad. She tries so hard to use hoops lingo and sound like she’s an expert but I can’t tolerate her except for the playoffs. It was great when Doc Rivers was gone but now it’s JJ Ridiculous who knows nothing about basketball history and constantly tries to not be the dork he is. Hopefully he will blow LeBiatch and coach the Lakers.

[@evana.8284]

Best show on KZbin

[@mkhanman12345]

Love tube and watching this show and tube.

[@KingCoopa17]

The football/basketball farm system is interesting because it’s basically what the UFL wants to be and what Europe has in for soccer. Would definitely be interesting to see what it looks like but I don’t like the idea of PE involved.

[@losthighway4840]

Why no follow up on why ratings aren’t used for the unit economics calculation? ESPN only makes money from subs or advertising, both based on ratings either directly or indirectly. I get that it’s muddy for the number of subs.

[@anthonycordaro93]

😂. Pretty Woman! Great example of venture capitalist. Really enjoyed the conversation.

[@jayscott4990]

The one question I have is Turner runs NBA TV…who’s going to run that now?

[@AerialPenn]

Inside the NBA should move to NBA TV. Keep NBA Tv and drop the rest of nba on turner.

[@jcfragrances]

The NBA is in a great position right now. People get too concerned about ratings. Ratings don’t take into account the amount of illegal streaming. And even if they did the NBA is focused on the global aspects. The NFL is all about domestic. The NBA is thinking long term and globally. Look at how they market international players!

[@daveclark8337]

The NBA can't make money off illegal streaming. The NBA gets paid by Networks who DO care about ratings because that's how they make money: selling commercial air time. China is not going to pay top $ for the NBA. Like you said, they'll just steal it via streaming instead.

[@stephengneri2136]

such an important timely subject.

[@mrbailey1]

very

[@Watchingvideoslikeu]

I can see the NFL/NBA stepping in and formalizing control over regional college teams as a farm system structure

[@AerialPenn]

Nba doesnt need college sports anymore. Amazon has the OT league, overseas players plus the G League. Top 5 picks last year i think only 1 was out of college

[@christopherdukes2476]

The economics of youth and non pro sports seems like a large whirlpool with football. I recently learned that even at the high school level football usually covers the other sports. How long can this model succeed? Private equity doesn't seem like the solution.

[@deangulberry1876]

They have the #1 show. The NBA wants to keep that show alive. They’re willing to pay a lot of money to do that. It may be in the form of TNT broadcast on Prime.

[@deangulberry1876]

Or ESPN. TNT has a college football deal with espn.

[@samuelfrick3475]

@@deangulberry1876extremely doubtful with ESPN. Prime makes the most sense because of the distribution aspect of this and Inside the NBA can stay in Atlanta and form their own production team.

[@xxphactor]

Or the NBA Network

[@jakeMontejo3272]

There is no other round table like this… Pablo has a monopoly on this kind of discussion. Seems very valuable, but not enough of these type of nerds know about this, apparently.

[@henryhall298]

uhm Im sorry did he just say universities are understood to not be for profit......? Because literally nobody going to one thinks that

[@chrisolivo6591]

I think it’s crazy that ratings aren’t some barometer of a sports TV deal? You’re telling me that the PGA tour TV contract wasn’t worth more when Tiger Woods was the #1 player and appealed to the masses, compared to Scottie Scheffler who is the #1 player now and won the Masters with historic low ratings in April?

[@Cunninghamily]

2:00

[@chrisweidner4768]

Could care less about the NBA. However, This series of shows is must see.

[@michaelmarlowjr7896]

They just signed CB to a huge 10 year contract. Then he gets cxld with Gale. These things are months in planning, maybe a year. That show will continue maybe without one member. It has proven viewers. Also called Equity in the equation of planning. They’ll probably in up on nbc pregame half time postgame. It’ll be like they did Monday night football on ABC. It’s just math.

[@Bheffner15]

Hurry up already 😂

[@GregoryTorres13]

They agree that ultimately ratings are important for setting advertising pricing but otherwise do not matter. But it feelings like they are splitting hairs or using the idea of ratings in a very narrow way. Because don't ratings equal popularity and doesn't popularity drive value?

[@oColt45o]

No, because when your product is restricted to one network, a network many people do not have, it artificially restricts ratings. I, for one, would watch way more basketball but I don't have TNT... if I did there's at least one more viewer of the product... alas my bootleg stream doesn't count as a viewer.

[@oColt45o]

Rating do not = popularity

[@richmanjackson1971]

Sampson is bars!!! I didn't like him at first but he is so fascinating to listen to.

[@crowashington]

28:23 Welcome David to the land of officially being an old man who loves movies that are older than all millenials.

[@sanford943]

Is there any wrong with that. He has been reviewing his list off 100 favorite movies of Thursdays. If any of those movies were before 2000 I would be shocked. If you watch or listen to Nothing Personal just about every thing he watches is fairly new. He is a movie lover. Referencing Pretty Woman does not make him an old man. What is the oldest movie you have ever seen. You can't compare eras in any artistic endeavor. But there are great movies going back to the silent era that are still worth watching today. True some might be a bit dated but that doesn't make them worth watching.

[@crowashington]

@@sanford943 I know he has. I simply enjoyed his reaction. As a fellow Gen Xer, I've been there. To answer your question regrading myself, the oldest movie I have seen is Metropolis (1927). Watched it to see the inspiration behind Otomo's Metropolis (2001).

[@graupel_]

pe has never been about profitability, what universe is sampson living in?

[@davidcahan]

David is a little too smug for my tastes. John is much more palatable and for whatever reason that makes me more interested in his opinions. Pablo, you're great either way 😂

[@AerialPenn]

Holy shit George Costanza is in pretty woman? Now i have to rewatch that. See thats a good fuckin line. Even if you seen it you probably forgot the detail

[@JuanGarcia-hr1wf]

Samson dumbed down explanation of private equity sounds more like a syndication

[@thomaskennedy7842]

He's describing private credit not private equity, no?

[@scosee2u]

How does peacock play into this?

[@qwi911]

Pay almost double the previous premium for less coverage 🤔🤔. Will WarnerBros lose money from not having the NBA or lose money from having the NBA?

[@brianbell3229]

Probably lose money having the NBA tbh

[@daveclark8337]

Plus the NFL moved in on Thursday night and now they're playing Christmas NFL games too.

[@plusmoore]

the guy in the suit interrupts a lot

[@masashi_tashiro]

Private equity is basically the purest and most obvious manifestation of the idea that nothing that doesn't produce a healthy revenue and/or turn a profit is worth doing, maintaining, preserving, or trying to improve. It seems appropriate that the possibility of PE gutting "non-revenue" college sports is picking up just as the build-up to the Olympics begins. Considering the vast numbers of Olympic athletes (both American and non-American) who were brought into and developed through the US college system, there's potential for the development systems of entire sports to be devastated with one strike of a pen on a contract having to do with a completely different sport.

[@oColt45o]

The less games on TNT the better. It will be nice to actually watch a game that's not on a pirated stream from a shadowy website.

[@scosee2u]

ESPN/ABC have such terrible feed quality

[@johancorrales6537]

LFG BALL BAGS

[@Litldman99]

John is a big bank talking and David is a little bank talking like he’s a big bank. It’s clear who’s been in these big deals and who hasn’t. David is such a short term thinker. Who’s gonna watch tnt after this? Why would cable companies pay the same money for the right to carry tnt? Who cares if you save money now if you kill off the company later because no one is watching.

[@keldur16]

Florida State wants money so they can leave the acc and make more money. Not because they wanna be a better team

[@alexanderletzing6705]

Thank god for Dan calling out Skipper on the WNBA cap. He said he went to whatever game and got the teams wrong. He doesn't care but talks it up like everyone cares. The NBA is a joke

[@shameless721]

Of course Samson lionizes Zaslav. Of course the guy who gutted a World Series champion & ran a baseball team as a revenue share collecting scheme admires the dude strip mining & ruining Warner bros.

[@hammerhead2362]

He was just going what loria wanted. If not him it would’ve been someone else

[@KK-pm7ud]

They have to pay down the debt. There isn't another option.

[@TreeHouseClubTV]

He wasn't there for '97, Huizenga did it first and similarly and couldn't wait to get out. Can't watch a Marlin game because no one goes so its blacked out. Jeter dipped quick, manager can't wait to leave. But it's david Samson, lmfao. Samson did his job, made money for his boss/stepdad and won a chip. What is everyone so mad about again? Some franchises and fans would kill for 2 chips in the past under 30 years.

[@oaktree1626]

Most of them don't know why they're mad or "supposed" to dislike Samson. They just go with the easy, prevailing narrative.​@@TreeHouseClubTV

[@LaCheeserie]

This is not European football, the tendency is towards parity. Boston run, and Yankees of like two decades ago are the exceptions that prove the rule. Atlanta has as many titles in similar time span. For all the competitiveness, what has it gained them? As an Arsenal fan, yes the last two seasons have made watching fun again, but if we never get a title I will not look back on this era fondly, it will be more annoying

[@jessArcade]

This whole convo kinda makes me hate Nick Saban. He's not the only coach, but he was the tip of the spear of coaches bleeding universities of money for their contracts. Now he's crying to Congress that college sports are dying. Saban, where were you and Ms. Terry when the University of Alabama was losing money on athletics every year in no small part due to having to reup your contract every time another coach got paid?

[@oColt45o]

Do you have any idea how many hundreds of millions of dollars Saban brought into that University? Duh...

[@jessArcade]

@@oColt45o did you not watch the video?

[@oColt45o]

@@jessArcade Do you not understand value?

[@mcncheese69]

Why wood u want nba right

[@KK-pm7ud]

Sampson doesn't know the difference between Private Equity and Venture Capital. Please invite an expert next time on business investment.

[@Sambone702]

NBC is going to find out the NBA is dead, like all tv. If people couldn't gamble, people wouldn't even watch.

[@michaelgillam3475]

David is the under the radar star of this show, crazy like a fox

[@bryanquinn31]

D*ath, taxes, and Samson defending terrible business decisions

[@KK-pm7ud]

Why is it a terrible business decision?

[@oaktree1626]

​@@KK-pm7udLet's see if he actually is willing to answer you 😀

[@alexanderletzing6705]

Skipper is saying the WNBA is worth 200m, when it's been a charity for its entirety. It's a farcical take from Skipper

[@KK-pm7ud]

@@alexanderletzing6705 Yes. The WNBA hasn't proven anything yet.

[@PHN-2024]

Wasn’t John Skipper the former ESPN President that had to Leave because He had a Drug Addiction Problem?

[@Spidahman4283]

Yeah, what about it? Right after that he went on to run DAZN before coming to the Lark. Being good at your job allows you to overcome downfalls.

[@PHN-2024]

@@Spidahman4283 "Don't Do Drugs!" Unless Your a Talented White Guy...Okay.

[@88til_inf]

⁠@@PHN-2024 quiet as it’s kept, you don’t have to be a talented white guy to do drugs without it being a big deal/get thrown in jail. SMH. Love Skipper though

[@JoeD-gy7cx]

@@Spidahman4283what about it ? His judgement sucks. Go away now

[@oColt45o]

racist clown.​@@PHN-2024

[@OzzyThaKing]

😂 I think this was the most boring sports segment I've ever seen/heard. Zero personality across the board. These guys should be lawyers.

[@solidghus4799]

Pablo doesn't understand the difference between venture capital and private equity. 😂

[@jakeMontejo3272]

There is no other round table like this… Pablo has a monopoly on this kind of discussion. Seems very valuable, but not enough of these type of nerds know about this, apparently.