Episode 88: Thursday Night Flex, Pat McAfee and ESPN DTC

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: The NFL’s decision to add flex scheduling to Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” schedule is this week’s top topic, with hosts Andrew Marchand and John Ourand discussing the move from the perspective of the fan, the league perspective and Amazon. The hosts then dive into ESPN issues from inside information around the company’s decision to hire Pat McAfee to updates on its latest round of layoffs to an in-depth discussion of its direct-to-consumer plans. Other topics on this week’s podcast include the problems around the Big Ten’s media deals that will start in three months; the problems around the Pac-12’s media deals that still seems a ways off; a preview of the NBA Finals series; and a review of CBS’s performance around the PGA Championship. As always, Marchand and Ourand start the podcast by picking the sports business types who had a good week and the ones who didn’t. This segment includes Roger Goodell, Britney Griner, Devin McCourty and Kevin Warren. For more information about WSC Sports http://bitly.ws/AUVk Sign up for SBJ 360, our free, daily newsletter. SBJ 360 delivers a concise, high-level overview of the most important stories shaping the sports industry. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.