New pod: former WaPo reporter @benjstrauss.bsky.social on paper’s mass layoffs...plus all the sports media news you can use. open.spotify.com/episode/4pvE...

All of @postsports.bsky.social's pre-national title game coverage in one place, including work from Chuck Culpepper, @emilygiam.bsky.social, @benjstrauss.bsky.social, @barrysvrlugawp.bsky.social, @briannaschroer.bsky.social + @samaha.bsky.social: collegesportsmoney.substack.com/p/cfp-title-...

"Torre has become almost as ubiquitous among online sports fans as Dave Portnoy (Barstool) and Pat McAfee (ESPN), and he has done it in improbable fashion: by morphing from a talking head into an investigative reporter." @benjstrauss.bsky.social www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

New from me @postsports.bsky.social: I wrote about Pablo Torre, his podcast and whether he’s bending the rules of sports media or rewriting them in his run of major scoops www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

New: I wrote about Nick, TV's biggest Chiefs fan www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

NEW: The New York Times has declined to voluntarily recognize the Athletic as part of the Times Guild. In letter to staffers, Times says it would recognize a separate Athletic bargaining unit, a la Wire Cutter. Staffers have petitioned the NLRB for a hearing.

NEW: The staff of the Athletic has signed union cards and today petitioned NYT management to join the Times Guild www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/...

NBA Ratings panic, a tale as old as time March 1991: "NBC's ratings are down 12%...after NBC's four-year, $600 million NBA contract was touted as the deal of the decade." June 1999: "In the first season without (MJ) the ratings fell to their lowest levels in 18 years." July 2007: NBA ratings down

What should we know about NBA viewership? And is Cowherd right? www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

What should we know about NBA viewership? And is Cowherd right? www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

Happy Hannukah! Merry Christmas! I wrote about TV ratings, the *discourse* and the winter of discontent for the NBA. w/ help from Kendrick Perkins, Vincent Goodwill, Brian Scalabrine, Frank Isola, Brian Windhorst. Kirk Goldsberry and Sam Smith www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

New pod: WaPo's Ben Strauss on: * The Big Ten media deal * Stephen A * FIFA Women's World Cup media rights * ESPN's Simpsonscast podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s...

NEW: I wrote a remembrance of Rudy Martzke, the king of sports media. “I cannot tell you how influential he was," said Mark Shapiro. "He’d be in the corner of the [Super Bowl] parties, everyone was working him, kissing the ring. It was insane!” www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...

NEW: I hung out with Ohio State fans tired of drinking at 9 am for all their noon games and wrote about the Big Ten TV deal, probably the biggest, most-complicated ever in sports. www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/...