Jason Kelce, Laura Rutledge, Nick Saban, Stephen A. Smith, Elle Duncan & more on ESPN Media Day 24

[Music] [Music] to infity welcome to Andy's Ro I think it's a great opportunity for the game to grow all of the feedback that we've gotten not all of it but most of the feedback that we've gotten from our customers from our fans has been positive on the experience so we now know that we are well set up for the next step which is somewhere between ESPN plus as a complimentary service at $1.99 and linear television whether it's a digital nvpd like Hulu live or YouTube TV or a satellite or cable bundle um there's an opportunity in in between and so that where Flagship uh comes into play and yes it is incredibly important to us it is a top priority for ESPN it's a top priority for the Walt Disney Company Bob has repeatedly said that one of his core priorities at Disney is to continue the evolution of ESPN I look every day I get out of bed and I say to myself one thing this is true my wife will tell you I get out of bed and I say to myself I have to earn this today because I feel just fortunate to be here so uh last thing I'd say is we are in a really important time at ESPN right now like incredibly important uh and it's not just about Flagship but Flagship is probably the most important new initiative that we are going to be launching and I'm incredibly excited to to to be a part of it question research shows us that we are serving a different sports fan today and as such our brand does have to evolve um and it's not just demographic differences it's what they are consuming they are multi-dimensional we started as a cable network but what we've been able to do is successfully transition to be seen to be seen as a digital first brand among younger consumers we're reaching 113 million users a month we were number one again and you're probably sitting here thinking like why are you mentioning July because this was the first month that ESPN Digital has been able to maintain their number one position during an Olympics month for me there's no other greater proof point of our digital scale and that we're the preeminent digital brands no matter what our rights are no matter what the calendar is now I just talked about our digital scale that doesn't include our social handles so commcore now is able to give us an unduplicated reach of digital across digital and social and so when when you add again I don't want to block the chart when you add our social handles on top of our digital reach that 113 million that I mentioned jumps to 184 million now if you're like me I can't remember numbers percentages work that translates to 67% of the US adult population I'm going to say that again ESPN Digital with social is reaching 67 % of the US adult population not just sports fans and when you look at it among people 18 to 49 we're reaching 82% of adults 18 to 49 in the United States now unfortunately with Comm score I can't track people under the age of 18 and I hate that as a researcher but I can tell you with all confidence that because of our social handles our brand continues to maintain relevancy among gen Z and gen Alpha and it's going to be critical in US maintaining that connection as their consumption evolves and here to walk you through more through our strategy is my colleague Omar Raja hi everybody I'm Omar Raja I would say I started my sports media Journey about 10 years ago and I was in my college dorm room and started an Instagram account called House of highlights that account changed my life grew up to 50 million followers we had all these big athletes following us us the main idea behind that was Finding ways to reach younger fans people my age that were sharing funny moments who would meme all these all these types of content and we would send it to each other and so for me my social media Journey was very much about reaching those types of those types of people that were my age in college um sharing memes sharing that type of content so luckily that account did pretty well so I ended up at ESPN and I have a unique role at the company half of my job I think is a social media strategist where I optimizing content finding ways to reach the most amount of people the other half is a is a content creator so if you follow me on Tik Tok or YouTube or Instagram you're going to see me bringing you behind the scenes to the NBA finals a WWE wrestling match with Logan Paul a Jake Paul match or even the Super Bowl so it's it's been a pretty fun ride and uh we've had a bunch of cool uh Sports uh properties to play with over here at ESPN now as Jimmy said one of the main things things that we are really proud of right now is that we become the number one media brand on Tik Tok Not Just Sports media Brand number one media brand on Tik Tok period And I think the way that the way that we've been very unique and and you know confident in our strategy is that we have created a custom strategy for the platform so as you can see here on the left and right you're going to see Brian James edits the moment he gets drafted it's not just him the broadcast angle of him being drafted we are now changing his us C Jersey to a Lakers jersey we are bringing fans closer to the scene with a cell phone um you know footage it's very um similar to what you're going to see on an Instagram story if you're a fan you're seeing cell phone content cell phone content cell phone content so it might look a little weird if you're seeing an 8K camera so we like to bring fans closer to the scene by using mobile um content so that's why the strategies works so well you can see all these different types of examples of us storytelling bringing fans closer but also having our own unique spin on how we create content um now what you're also going to see is that we have 37 months as the most engaged brand uh social brand in sports the way we've been able to do that is having a custom strategy for all our platform as Flora said July 2024 marked the 37th consecutive month and we had 725 million engagements in in the month um ESPN social generated 92% more engagement than NBC Universal did during the 24th Summer Olympics which is while to think about because we did not have broadcast rights and so we were able to make a custom strategy with some of it was screen grabbing some was our own storytelling some of it was taking fan sentiment and fan reaction and bringing it into our coverage and that really resonated and so it was able to it was a cool moment that FL was was kind of noting of our own our own little history at ESPN now we've also had some big swings over the last couple years I think they're very unique the first one I'll talk about is sports center next we consider that to be our our high school brand um the idea is to elevate you know your everyday moments in high school sports and youth culture so the way the the way that's a little bit different is normally you're used to your traditional highlights your unique plays your scholarship offers maybe a notable College commitment or a key game result I think the thing that's unique about sports center next is we're also talking about the culture aspect of things so we're talking about fashion we're talking about family Dynamics with maybe a coach or waking up late for for school um things that your everyday young athlete May um relate to I think that is a big part of the sports center next brand very relatable something that you can see maybe say oh that person's just like me or hey that person sends a piece of content and says this is us this is what we do every single day um currently the brand has 5.3 million total followers um SC next actually reached 1 million followers on Instagram last month so it's a big uh priority for us to reach young fans the other way we're reaching younger fans is our creator Network so this is our second iteration of the Creator Network this year we had nine female creators um and we brought them to 13 different ESPN events some were Super Bowl some were the SB some were the NBA Playoffs um we launched the the Creator Network as part of our strategy to engage younger fans through social media and with these creators we have provided them unprecedented access to our properties but we've also kind of learned from them of what's their strategy what do they think of ESPN how do they engage in sports cont content and then even after um all these creators may come to our events and and engage with all of our content information into our fans organic Journey we're not sticking it in the corner of the product somewhere and hoping that our fans find it but we're integrating it into where they go every day so that means they might see it on our home feed we'll be on our game Pages it'll be on scoreboards we'll be in fight Center so when you're watching UFC live from the spere on ESPN plus you'll be able to go to fight Center and and and see the odds for that event we're also taking advantage of sports holidays in this case uh in in this example looking at Tournament Challenge to bring unique offers from ESPN bet I'll walk you through this experience that you'll be able to see so the first thing you'll notice is a new navigation item in the top of the app that make brings where to watch front and center for our fans and just to call out while I'm using the ESPN app in this example just because that was the easiest thing to put on the slides it's also available on the desktop and available on mobile web as well so the nice thing about having this icon is where to watch is always one Tap Away for our fans so whether they're on our home screen maybe they're on scores they could be in the watch section it could be in ESPN plus no matter where they are in the product they're only one Tap Away from discovering where to watch their favorite teams play once you tap into the experience you'll notice a couple things first it's intentionally simple but it's very powerful uh where to watch is uh divided into two sections the first section is your favorites all the products that we build at ESPN we try to leave with personalization to just really help fans find their favorite teams first and we do that with this product as well so your favorites are indicated with the star next to their team let's say you haven't selected favorites yet or let's say you want to change your favorites around you can manage that directly within where watch the next thing you'll notice is as as you scroll past uh your favorites is a Time based guide that shows all the events that are happening that day and anytime anywhere these aren't just words that we say they're just not things that we put up in the hallway but it's something we think about every day and we apply to our work and I just wanted to get a chance to share a couple of these examples with you and really appreciate you taking the time thank you sorry about that hi everyone uh we are so thankful that you guys are here I just want to say we appreciate your work so much I'm Laura rutage this is obviously Jason Kelsey and Nick s we're so happy that you're here today and it means a lot to us that you would show up here I know it's a trip for some and we are just really thankful for your presence and the great work that you do um we're going to get to the serious stuff but first of all did Miss Terry really get mad at you about that because you you don't ask her to dance because I think coach you need to work on that if you're not asking her to dance I think so but one of the things we did when we were growing up in West Virginia they took the fire TR out of the fire department put the record play in that's that was the big social since we've grown up you know we kind of lost touch I I'm sure you'll take dancing lessons soon if you do let us know we'd like to I step through it now it's not that I step through it yeah all right later on Nick s's going to give a dancing class are you and Kylie doing a lot of dancing or is that I'm dancing with my girls every single day it seems like something whether it's on the TV or I just got to keep keep them occupied get them up off the couch they're uh Wyatt she'll dance to anything Benny's my favorite one to dance with right now cuz she's in that like todler stage where she kind of looks like she's just drunk all the time and wobbling around not too sure of herself so um yeah no it's it's a lot of fun when you shot that promotion for Monday Night Football how many takes did you do you've done a lot of this now but how many takes did it take to get to that raspy voice level that you were at unfortunately that is just the sound of my voice I got a lot of rasp it helps in some instances but not all um there's a lot of takes uh not too many because we had to go on and do we were doing the Canton game right that call of Fame game that night so I got pulled out of there so it's always good when you have a heart out yeah but it turned out great um it was really fun I wish there's another camera angle of Vel from this side when he came in at the buttons and as we were doing it I was like almost cracking up every time just looking at them so I wish that would have stayed in there but it's a great we need an outakes for that oh yeah um so we are going to open this up for questions soon so if you have a question raise your hand at any time we'll bring you the microphone and we we can't wait to interact with yall and hear your questions coach you've had a chance to now do a couple game days you did the draft really cold then you did the Dublin show and you did SEC media days with us what are your impressions so far on just the nitty-gritty television life that maybe you didn't know before well I I think probably the biggest adjustment for me is thinking like a coach you know when you think like a coach you're always thinking about process you're always thinking about what do I have to do to get the outcome and we have to be a little bit more outcome oriented to create some interest to some degree I think but I'm still going to try to stay in that process oriented type of approach to you know what we do because I think it's interesting to people to kind of know what happens behind the scenes you know ESPN is kind of an iconic brand which is great to be involved with so many people and how ESPN has elevated you know the interest in all sports but especially college sports you know when I was a kid growing up there was one game a week on TV on Saturday and that was it and um so this has been fantastic for players for fans uh for the game itself so um and I appreciate even though sometimes I wasn't so nice to the media when I was coaching all you all have done to elevate and promote the game and I think ESPN has been a big part of that it's worth remembering too that we now hold the rights to the SEC so all of the SEC games will be on ESPN and ABC the Disney family of networks really excited about that as well as our um big presence in the college football playoff owning those rights as well my my favorite story about you transitioning into television was actually at the Masters we we do a show called Welcome to the Masters and coach was kind enough to come on and you may not remember this but we we did our interview and then we were going to something else and we we had transitioned differently because you came and we were like we're just going to blow everything off because that's what you do for Nick Sav and um Jason Kelsey obviously so I did something different we went to break and immediately he asked me what happened there what were they saying in your ear how did you know where to go and I thought oh my God he's really interested in the TV part and how this all works and the reality was it was all craziness in my ear and it was like my brain with scrambled eggs but I thought that was that was a really great indicator of how dedicated which no one doubted that but how dedicated you would be to this well I think you know Jason probably you know being a competitor being players being in competition for so many years you really want to do things well yeah and now this is a new gig to use my term that I use in Ireland and there's a lot to learn a lot to learn about it so that you can do it well and it's very challenging in which you know I like the challenge but I also have a lot of pride in performance which I know you do you couldn't play at the level you did for so long so um that's the interesting thing to me to try to get as much information from the people who have experience as you possibly can absolutely what's surprised you so far you've been in media for so long and and you and your brother have done so many great things and continue to do so many great Congratulations by the way on the news deal um what's been different about this so far for you um well first of all I haven't I mean I did the Hall of Fame game but I'm still waiting to learn a lot um and as coach said you know you reach out to people that are in the space and you try and gain as much knowledge and information to make sure you're doing a good job of it uh for me the biggest difference that's unique about this one is it's alive you're on air yeah yeah like the podcast stuff I can say any dumb thing I want to Travis and cut it out like it doesn't make final show like this one you got to be on it you got to offer something pointed to to give the viewer or or the fan to take something with them and uh you know I look forward to that um this one's on the game like it's I'm going to be at the game for most of them and you're going to feel that energy and I'm a part of the audience's experience in a different way now so I'm looking forward to that as well said also week Two Philly's home opener yes have you thought about it what's I'm just trying not to end up like Pat and uh D being at the tailgate in uh Philadelphia is going to be hard for me um I I I'm looking forward to participating in tailgates for the first time in a long time uh outside of Buffalo this past year but um you know it's going to be wild it's going to be fun to be back there week two um you know you spend so much time as a player being on the field uh with the fans I was fortunate I wasn't fed out for 13 years and the community is I mean this where my wife and I live we want to keep living in Philadelphia uh so it'll be a very fun experience to be out there I think we're doing it from Xin live which is in the parking lot which bold decision ESPN was that St Mar decision over there that's a little bit of a while we'll see what happens but um it'll be a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to being home and uh and you know taking that on yeah you experienced Pat in Dublin anything you want to share with our crowd here I'm sure you all saw Pat McAfee enjoying himself um on his show he did a great job of disguising a hangover because the show he did in the pub the night before I mean I was on like 15 minutes into the show and he had already had seven guinnesses I was like you better to slow down man it's a long night I think he had 30 more after that so your advice wasn't taken it was not my coaching Point did not hit home but anyway um I think he brings great energy and personality that it really is helpful to me because it relaxes me yeah and you're not as worried about messing up because you're saying if what he's get away with us okay it's going to be hard to yes yeah I was going to say when you're talking about you know can edit things out of your podcast I think that's how Pat just talks on TV F we're not we're not editing any of this out I've known Pat for a while went to I forget which Pro one in Arizona was the first time I met him he's not playing anything like that's who Pat is he is I mean the way his mind is just always on and he can rattle things off so quick I I'm not just saying this he's part of the ESPN I think he's the most talented guy in the industry as far as that like he's just he's truly truly special in that regard and um and anybody that's not afraid to let the personality show generally is fun to be around we like that again you guys can ask questions at any time so feel free to raise your hand we'll continue our conversation but anytime you have anything we'll bring you a microphone you know Jason Monday Night Football obviously is something that you grew up watching with your family you you played in so many Monday night games now you are going to be part of the group The Voices that people hear when they turn that TV on to get ready for Monday night what does that mean to you well first of all sorry for everybody has to listen to my raspy voice um I you know I got uh you know Monday Night Football growing up that was the night of football and I think it still is and ESP has put a lot of resources into making sure that that's the case and we got an incredible crew together but even talking to my brother in the whole process of deciding you know what what am I going to do and he's like dude you're going to be on Monday Night Football and like right away you think I me for me I go are you ready for some football come on yeah so it's like Hank you had some rest I can do that one already that was great um yeah I I mean this is a like coach said ESPN is an icon that was what was on an RTV growing up non-stop it was ESPN before you went to school if you didn't catch it the night before cuz you didn't have phones the only way you knew if the Indians won or the Guardians is if you watch ESPN in the morning and uh if we missed it in the morning it' be on the moment you got home uh and my brother knew everybody's stat line I'm like dude you're watching too much ESPN right now you need to read some books but he it was just like it was it consumed us the brand and the the images of our childhood so to know that I'm now going to be a part of that on Monday night crew with an incredible cast around me yeah like Scott pel and Ryan Clark and swag shf is going to be up there occasionally who I don't even know what he does in a spare time I look at his phone nothing he's got too many phones but it's um it's it's it's pretty crazy yeah congratulations by the way on that it's pretty cool to to be able to be a part of this group um so it's funny because oh we have a question let's go there first go right ahead and introduce yourself and tell us where you're from uh Neil vest from Newsday this Jason you speaking of Monday Night Football you guys have an interesting opener uh with a guy you you know saw a lot through your career Aaron Rogers what what do you what do you expect from him this year I don't know what I expect from Aaron I expect the Jets to be very good I mean if you look at their last season uh their defense was was one of the best in the NFL and we've seen this a few times with Premier quarterbacks with experience and Poise who were great players when you marry that up with a great like I still remember what ready on Tampa Bay I was like this is like cuz Tampa Bay's defense the year before nobody talked about because they didn't make the playoffs that defense was so good and Aaron's walking into a similar situation coming off of the injury now it's a little bit more of a question coming off the injury is is he going to sustain and be the guy that he's been I tend to think yes like usually people aren't suddenly different than they've always been um you know age does play a factor but you know this is a guy who's really smart he could make any throw on the field he makes others around them better and you pair it up with a great side of the ball on the other side I think it's going to be really good now they're playing the best team over the last like six or seven years in the NFC I mean ever since K Shan has gotten to San Francisco they've been they've been huming so it's going to be an awesome first week I can't wait yeah there's so much to be excited about with that game too and a lot of interesting story lines the 49ers we don't know what's going on with Brandon IU quite yet they need Trent Williams to get I think that's more important even than I well nobody's really talking about it because it's not the sexy position but Trent and not only that Trent is he's proven that he'll hold out I mean he did it in Washington for a full year so I like I don't know what's going on there um but we'll see I know that they're probably still going to be pretty good because KY Shanahan's the hell of a coach and you got Christian mord they got they they got a great defense they they got a lot of good pieces in that building uh even without those guys they are better obviously with those pieces but um I I have a feeling the 49ers are still going to be pretty Dar good thec I can't wait to see too what it looks like to have Garrett Wilson and Mike Williams and other players on that offense that really help Garrett shine because I think he is one of the biggest stars in our league I think we have another question over there go ahead it's Rob to affili inquire um curious about what the difficulty has been transferring to TV like what's the most difficult aspect of now talking about you know NFL on a studio Show versus on your podcast or you know on just various spots this for me or coach or both oh for you sorry I mean it could be for both of you but I'm I mean coach is he's got more knowledge than I do I'm trying to soak up stuff just like all you guys are right now by listening to him talk I uh Studio stuff is it's similar like coach said in you prepare and you try and make sure as prepared as possible uh for that moment and it's also similar that because it's live and there's a human element that at any moment it could change and things could go sideways so I think for me I'm just going to try and go into it as prepared as possible so that I'm comfortable to be able to go wherever the conversation goes um yeah I've never done a studio show I did the one earlier this year I did the the the the desk on Thursday night last year on Prime which thankfully they they made it easy for it was a glorified interview right like it wasn't a lot of poin in uh opinions on Sports uh or football so I think this is it's it's a challenge I'm looking forward to um and R's ask me how's it different I can't answer that until I start doing it as much as I i' like to but I know that just like football you surround yourself with really good people that are really talented which I'm fortunate to have on that desk and the resources that ESPN has and I just get to go out there and offer my frame of reference on football which thankfully I've been doing a lot already uh in the building and out of so I feel pretty comfortable doing that uh ladies and gentlemen Pat McAfee has entered the room I just want to catch you recovered yet yeah are you okay hey I was watching the West Virginia spring game preparing for the Penn State West Virginia game and guess who's running out around on the field with a headset and I'm saying I can't get away from this which team won which team won it was the spring game yeah me versus Pat White I was coaching one team he was coaching other which team won coach I don't remember my team won I took some of your leadership and went you boys are going to be such great additions to ESPN in the sports media space I mean Jason the way you look is so cool first of all but also the way you've been able to kind of navigate this while being a respected offensive line which is not something that's normal if offensive lineman get any attention normally every other offensive lineman hates that person instead it's been a complete opposite every offensive lineman thinks you're the perfect offensive lineman to represent all of them you're the man you're going to crush on Monday nights and Nick it is an honor to sit next to you on that desk uh in Ireland was a little hung over maybe a little still boozed up which I do apologize for but you were part of get that whole thing in Miss Terry dancing we are lucky to have you and uh I can't wait to watch you guys make Sports even better than ever before I did not me to interrupt this entire thing although it seems like that is my life these days I just wanted to watch into's talk I uh got the plane in earlier going to have to change the duty time which I know you know about uh cuz I want to see you too do your thing I'm a massive fan and Laura you're one of the greatest hosts to ever touch a microphone so I'm lucky to be here just want to watch you guys do your and uh obviously can't par of it but I love you guys yeah Pat take a seat anywhere and you can ask questions too if you want we're trying to get more questions going in here so we'll get back to you I do want to Echo something that Pat said there uh when we found out at ESPN that we were getting these two we found out at different times right just the internal conversations to let you guys in on how that went it was like wow I mean all of us are sports fans too right so to know that two of the absolute best in the business right but but at their craft would be joining what we do um I can't even begin to describe how special it is it's going to be so much fun to continue to watch them long careers we hope here at ESPN and I would just say I haven't been able to spend a ton of time with you Jason but so much respect for everything that you've done and how youve handled your family and how wonderful of a father and a husband you are and Coach you've always been so wonderful to me so um over the years I just respect you so much and you are really really dang good at TV things that you prepare for and there's a good chance that those things will happen in the game what I found in the broadcast area is it's much more broader in terms of what can happen so the preparation seems to be a little broader and maybe only 10 or 15% of what you prepared for ever really comes up which is a lot different than when you were coaching or playing so that's just something that I was thinking based on Preparation which is the most important thing in either aspect as a player or coach or in broadcasting but how broad and where the conversation can go how could you be prepared for all those aspects is a little different yeah that's so true I mean especially in live games having been on the sideline for a lot of these games too you literally never know what's going to happen I love when we'll get people say oh you know your producer must have told you to say that it's like no no no if I said something it came from me because it is happening all live right there in the moment and that's one of the biggest Thrills I think in this entire business go ahead Andrew Andrew Maran from the athletic think I have two questions ask him one at a time uh as a coach when you looked at game day um how important was that in terms of recruiting process and wanting the show to be on campus had that work out in terms of your mindset as a coach I I I thought it was huge first of all um I was one of the first I thought that sort of tried to open the doors to ESPN and give them access when we were building a program in Alabama because I thought that access would actually reach a lot of people create an image uh we're trying to build a brand uh this was the best way to do it and I think it impacted recruiting tremendously and I don't think there's anything bigger that happens on a college campus in the fall than when you have game day there and that that's that's a huge attraction it's and and the the exposure that it brings to the university uh the town as well as your team is phenomenal so all those things to me give you a chance to uh enhance your brand which is what really helps you be able to recruit quality players and quality people in the program and then I know especially if you had a noon game or earlier game you probably just focused on your game plan but when you were coaching did you or the players did you watch it was it on the background I'm thinking when it's not obviously on your campus how did that work out in terms of when you're in the when you're on the sidelines as a coach you know obviously not when you're coaching but pregame well I think when you're coaching and probably same when you're a player as Jason was for a long time is you're so focused on what's happening with you it's almost the difference between you know looking at things through a straw I mean you you only see a little bit and that little bit is what's going to impact you in terms of your preparation and how you can help your team go play well so all these external factors and the excitement around the game and all that is something that you're almost sequestered from psychologically and you actually want your players to be sequestered from that psychologically as well because you want them to stay focused on what they need to do to go be able to execute well in in the game so that's something that's totally different for me now because you're looking at lots of games like if we were playing a game I was worried about our game who we were playing how we prepared for that game and now you go on a game day set and we're going to talk about a whole bunch of games cuz we're going to represent college football probably better than anybody ever could in that three-hour window that we have you know on game day and that's what we want to do and that's our goal so you're looking it so much more rather than just this is our game which I think is huge you were watching Miami you were watching uh cam Ward film on the way over here for Miami Florida watching a lot of film these days go ahead hi um well first of all thank you so much I'm so honored to be here my name is Delia galra I went to the University of Alabama roll tide U yeah true bag grad um I start my own sports Media Company it's called Sports Girls Club it makes Sports for the girls um and I know all of you are parents and so I just kind of wanted to ask well first of all Jason why didn't Jason bring jeans for Jason I'm just kidding Jas brings jeans Chas uh just kidding um but I did want to ask what is your message to the young um the younger audiences watching you guys and aspiring to these careers and um just especially young girls too we're seeing a surgeon that too is that for me all right all each of you I um thank you you know it's hard to say you know aspiring to be like a professional player cuz I don't think that that really becomes tangible until you're in college and you really start seeing people firsthand go at least for me I was I was not a like a high round recruited guy coming out of high school um I would say uh dedicate yourself um into something that you love and that's something that you're going to uh know that you're going to want to be the best in the world at and that you're going to strive to do that on a daily basis and don't get caught up and my coaches talk about the noise I mean the noise can be anything it can be you know outside it can be people in your own home it can there's a there's there's a lot of people that are going to tell you you're not good enough you can't do it they're going to be tell you and maybe worse as coaches said called a rat poison are going to tell you you're the best in the world Y and the people that really have a strong sense for where they are and what they need to improve on and what they need to do to fix the things that they need to regardless of whether that I have a strong feeling I've never done anything on football but that probably correlates its success in all sorts of fields yeah so really try and keep an honest perspective of yourself and uh and work yeah work to be the best you can I think the the biggest key from my perspective having been doing this at this company for 10 years and then prior to that um just very briefly is be so well researched that no one can catch you unawares you have so much extra preparation to where you can't be caught off guard you can't be in a situation where you're going to be nervous or you're going to be exposed or or anything like that that that we worry about right as as women who most of us have not played football so how do we make sure that we have more knowledge than anybody and and also I know I didn't play the game I'm curious about the game I love this game it's it's my favorite thing in the entire world to hear from those who have done it you know at such a high level and the people that I'm so lucky to work with on NFL live and SEC nation and Monday Night Football and all these different properties that I'm thankful to touch here and what I found is that you get a lot more respect when you come at it with class and knowledge and kindness I think just treating people really well Works in um ways that you don't even realize you know when it's happen happening and then for me I I'm 35 but I really think that what I hope happens in the rest of my career is that I can say okay that woman because of maybe something small that I was able to do she now has a career in this business and and and really paying it forward in tangible ways is how we can continue to grow this space for women I love that you know I I I think that um you know part of all of our education especially when we go college is we're all faced with challenging circumstances whether they're academic whether they're personal whether they're athletic and to me in athletics you get you know sort of confronted with a lot of challenging circumstances so you know how do you react to those how do you adjust to those how do you adapt to those what kind of choices and decisions do you make about those and it goes back to a what do you want to accomplish and B like I used to ask every player when we recruited to come to Alabama what do you want to accomplish here I would say I want to get an education and I want to play in the NFL someday and I would say to them do you know what that entails and most of the time the guys can't answer that one but these are the things you need to do that's what process is it's a definition of what you need to do to accomplish the goals that you have and then we would establish what those things were that would help him accomplish those goals but then I would go ask them on every day right how are you doing about getting a degree someday and I said I'm not so good coach I'd say why and he'd say I missed too much class I didn't see my tutor whatever it is but I am trying to teach that guy to self assess which is what Jason was talking about because eventually you're going to be out on your own in the world and there's going to be nobody to monitor you like your parents did or like some coach did and I don't care if you're male female it doesn't matter it's all the same in terms of how am I going to re respond to challenging hey sh from border uh Jason you it seems like with this new deal you're going to have a more lucrative post playing career than you did as a player which is not everyone can really uh say they've accomplished yeah what do you think makes uh what you do on your podcast so valuable and then how are you going to carry those skills over to uh what you're doing here I don't I don't know I think um I think on the podcast you get first of all organic loving relationship between two brothers who are honest with each other and it comes across and we have good personalities that I think gener audience members appreciate and like and want to watch and listen to which I don't know I agree fully with that but they're there um I think that we're very very open People by by nature and I think that we uh we share things and we obviously are leading exciting lives that people want to follow and and I think that all that stuff helps that have value uh because the more people that watch the more money advertisers spend um and for me uh how I'm going to try and take that here is I'm going to continue to try and be authentically myself nearly everybody I've talked to in the space besides they offer a lot of advice but the main piece that everybody said is you know be yourself let your personality show be authentic and honest that people appreciate that and I think that um I'm going to try and carry that same level of authenticity I've had uh in my podcast really my whole life throughout being a player I think that people appreciate that they can tell when you're trying to sell them a used car or not and U I think for for me that's my biggest thing that I think will help me have success as well as putting the work in and prepare and making sure that you know what you're talking about I think there's a tremendous interest that everyone has every fan anybody that's involved in any kind of sports that these guys can articulate what it's like to be a player everybody wants to know that how did you do that everybody wants to know that for 15 years how did you do that and if you can articulate that that's invaluable to people and I think that's what these guys have shown an ability to do which is going to be very helpful to them sucessful great ahead um hi I'm Leah Arnold with youth journalism International you all have proved to be amazing leaders in your career um what would be the most valuable lesson you learned about leadership coach you go first well um that's a long story for me because to me there's three kinds of leaders you know there kind of a l Fair leader who just I'm the boss you should do what I say and then there's transactional leaders which is what I was for a long time um which means everything's about results it was coach to win coach to win coach to win and when you won you patted people on the back and that was good because you gave them part positive reinforcement but when you lost you were negative and you didn't really teach and if you have negative experience and there's no teaching that goes along with that it kills morale and that's that's the kind of Coach I was until 1998 we've Michigan State played Ohio State and Ohio State was number one from the very beginning of the season and I thought we were four and five and they were talking about fire me in Michigan State and I thought we had no chance to win so I called Dr Rosen who work with Jason who was a sports psychiatrist and I said I don't know what to say to the team and he said you've been too result oriented your whole life you're always worried about outcome you're a transactional leader you need TR be transformational create a vision for these people on what you want to accomplish Fe somebody that they can emulate set a good example care more for them and what's going to help them be successful not help you be successful that's manipulation and show them a value based process that's going to create value for them so I became a transformation leader now if you look we won that game at Ohio State incidentally and if you look at my record from that game in 1998 on is completely different than what it was before then because you cared about other people and players don't care what you know until they know that you care and all that transcended into a different kind of personality uh on our team a better togetherness uh better relationships with players that really helped us be successful it's amazing um I would just quickly say that I think it's about being selfless and when you can genuinely look at the people around you on your team or whoever you're leading and say I really want you to succeed I want you to have more success than I have then you will become a great leader yeah I mean I I hate to steal from both of you guys um actually I don't I I will um I think uh the best leaders the best coaches the people that are there that are their constituents genuinely feel like this person wants me to succeed and they value my opinion and my frame reference in the right way and I think for me like my job as a leader of a room is to make sure that these guys know that I care for them that I that I want them to succeed and I want us to win and I'm willing to do and put myself in harder positions for the betterment of the collective and um I think that you you do that over the course of the season and the best teams you have you have strong leadership at the top but everybody takes on that that type of mentality and it starts right with the head coach and it trickles down to the to the leaders below them the moment a player feels that a coach or a superior is looking out for themselves more than the collective it is the beginning of the end you really have to make it about them I mean what La said what Jon saying that um it's not to help you be successful that's manipulation it's to help them be successful and you create a value based where they can see that because if you make it about the player and you make it about them look everybody's selfish everybody's self-absorbed everybody's ambitious nobody wants to be irrelevant everybody in this room wanted to get picked in a little L baseball game you put the bat up and you go like PS and see who gets everybody wanted to get picked nobody wanted to be irrelevant and nobody wants to be Irrelevant in the world so you can take those things and make somebody really have a chance to be successful because you make it about them you know you can say do it for the team Nobody Does it for the team there's no I in team but there is an i in win and that's because the individuals make the team what it is so you have to have the individuals that believe and trust and respect the principles and values of the things that you're helping them do that it's going to create success for them and then the team will be successful because of that you ready to run through a wall or what I am no but I'm serious this in this this Dynamic that he's talking about is perfect because so often in sports it is preached about the collective and that it's not about the individual but the reality is people are intrinsically and individually motivated and the team is only as good as the individual parts that comprise it and so often people miss that they miss that that so like you it's not about you but it is about you it's about us through you and like everybody's got to be bought in on the individual bis and every time we sit down and watch a game and figure out what went right and what went wrong it was some individual that messed up that P to go wrong yeah so I mean who ever got your biggest as chewing like of all time if you had to think back on more just think about that's a hard question answer that many asses chew on these lines where I really learned and I tell this story a lot but we had a player I don't mention his name was a freshman started as a freshman this was back when we were first starting the program at out of bound and um you know he was an African-American guy and he was walking on campus went past the fraternity house and they yelled some racial slurs at him or whatever and he goes and gets in a fight with some of these guys well the cops could have arrested going give him ass Sal charge they brought him to me in my office and I said hey man you can't do that stuff and be on Alabama's team he came across the table and was going to choke me and said where I come from people don't call you those names without you doing something about it I said okay I agree with you you did the right thing but if that had given you an assault charge you're going to be a first round dra pick and if that had given you an assault charge you're going to be a third round draft pick cuz you got a felony offense so if you're a first round draft pick you're going to make million if you're a third round gra pick you going make 3 million so even though I agree with you is it worth it to be right for $27 million he said coach you'll never have another problem with me go ahead froms this question is coach and Jason uh there's been a lot of talk this week about Coach priman Buffalo refusing to take questions from a Denver post columnist whose coverage they didn't like now that you're both joining the media new to the media I'd love to get your take on the story first of all I have not followed it closely enough to know what was said and what has got Cod Prime so upset um so I don't know that I feel comfortable like answering his response to it um I think so I'll speak on my own right about how I've handled stuff that I haven't liked what people have written and I think you know within reason again I don't know what was said for me you're always taking first of all you're trying to walk out as much as it's possible because it's really meaningless like what does some guy saying something have anything to do with my ability to play the game it means nothing and at the end of the day if I focus on what I'm going to focus on and I work to get better I like I'm I control the narrative at the of the day if I win and I go out there and play well and I go out and do my job they don't have a choice but the right that this dude won the football gameer this guy did his job well so that's the way I take negative criticism in general but I will prep this again I have no idea what this guy said about Prime and I think a lot of Deion Sanders and a in a lot of guards like I think he is just was a world class player and he's doing something in college football that is quite frankly unique and transformative and very interesting to me so I don't know the intricacies of that so I don't really feel comfortable making a quote on that specific you know um when I first became the head coach of Michigan State and only had one year ahe coaching experience at the University of Toledo the media was making me out to be the till of the HT I mean I had a terrible reputation in media so I went home one night and I said to miss Terry I said you know these people are killing me and it's not who I am and she said have you ever watched yourself so she made me watch an interview where I was anxious I was nervous uh I was not very respectful of some of the people's questions that they were asking he said she said they're going to kill you until you develop relationships and communicate with these people and quit being anxious quit being nervous try to be positive control as Jason says the things that you can control and there's no sense in having a bad relationship with anybody because it's only going to hurt your image long term if you don't communicate with people so no disrespect to Paul fine bomb I mean he works for ESPN and and I like the guy I tried to teach him how to play bump and run 15 years ago and that was that was disaster but I mean every time we lost a game at Alabama he killed us it's the end of the era I'm finished Nick San's done I never ever had a bad relationship with Paul because I understood he was doing his job it was his opinion it had nothing to do with what I was doing and how I was going to try to help us be successful and I was not going to let that affect me and how I thought and what I did so and I think as a coach you're probably much better taking that approach uh than to go the other way because you know I think it this turns more and more negative as you go and I don't think that's very helpful it also it also gives the power to that person if somebody's affecting you you've empowered them like I know it's easier said than done trust me all said things that we've been pissed us off before but I think when you look at it from that like just focus on Fire Control just yeah I guess Paul's an Alabama fan by the way um I think we have one more maybe maybe two more okay good uh this uh for you Nick um a lot of change in in college sports recently do you have any sort of thoughts on with what this looks like in 5 to 10 years whether you know employee status two conferences you know it's something that that exists outside of the NCA just any sort of okay so this is a hypothetical question that you're asking me so am I coach now or my media person I guess I got to distinguish between the two in terms of how I answered it you whoever you want I'm just kidding now I I think that um you know there's there's a lot of good people working on redirecting uh College athletics in a sustainable fashion because I don't think where we are right now is very sustainable and I think it's important because you know College athletics have been so important to so many people and I'm not just talking about football and basketball I'm talking about if you watch the Olympics women's sports a lot of these people were developed in college so I think it's it's important that we can keep having a system that allows us to create opportunities for All Sports male female revenue non-revenue and and I don't I'm not sure that the path we're on right now is sustainable now with this do uh whatever you want to call it that we're going to get handed down from the judge in terms of it's going to include some profit sharing I think that'll be helpful but how they decide to distribute that money uh relative to Title 9 relative to uh Revenue sports non-revenue sports will go a long way to say how are we going to sustain this so look College athletics has never really been a business nobody takes a profit it's Revenue producing and it's got to be such a huge Revenue that you reinvest a lot but what do you do with some of it for the players because it's gotten so huge that players deserve something and we need to give the players something but I think collectives raising money to pay players pay for play free agency twice a year it's not a sustainable model yeah and uh I think I have great passion for College athletics and college football and I think it's better than it's ever been 12 team playoff expanded conferences all these things are really really positive but I don't know that internally we're going and I'm talking about the big picture 22 sports or 21 Sports at Alabama if that's going to be sustainable it's kind of like our Mercedes business if we're making money in sales and parts and service are losing money eventually what we going to do with parts and service shut it down and just sell cars well if these people aren't making money and we don't have enough money to go around what are we going to do with sports you're going to cut expenses because you can't really increase the revenue that much greater so all these things are really important factors I think in terms of where do we go and I don't have the answer to the question I just know a lot of people are spending a lot of time trying to figure it out and behind the scenes I'm trying to help do that as best I can because it's so important to me that it has success in the future and we continue to create opportunities for young people yeah yeah I mean I don't know that I have much to add the the one thing that drives me crazy is the free agency thing the the the portal that opens up twice a year like I don't know at the bare minimum why there isn't a commitment for Le every contract you sign there's a commitment a number of years to like give to people around you and like I don't know that's the one thing for sure the right way I think could be fixed of like hey let's let's make some type of commitment here rather than just you know you can do whatever you want at any time and it's free and it's the wild west and to your point it ends up hurting players sometimes too you know they they think they need to transfer and they end up somewhere and that's not where they should have been and yeah absolutely I think we have one more question hello okay sorry coach hi um I'm Skyler with People magazine happy to be here thanks for having me um Jason a fun one for you okay fans are obsessed with your album it's when you're not on the field all right all the way down to the flip flops and all no flip flops today sorry what can we expect from your wardrobe um with your Monday night broadcasts will you be open to makeup for the cameras will you be changing your appearance more buttoned up tell us oh man Seth do I have to wear a suit I don't even know what I'm supposed to do who am I talking to here um it's tough to answer cuz I don't know even know what I'm wearing tomorrow let Al when I wear in 2 weeks um yeah I don't know I I'm very much normally when I'm not at the professional setting or something that uh my image is representative of another company am I worried about what I wear I wear what's comfortable what I think is functional and something that I want to put on because it's quite frankly easy to put on the reason I wear SL sandals is because I don't want to have B over put on socks that's how lazy this is outside of that but um I uh I don't know this is a it'll be interesting to see how that uh unfolds for myself uh and I'm just going to try and wear things that represent I guess what I like and what ESPN will allow me to they said that you got it from everybody over there you can wear whatever you want so be careful be careful should come back Pat's Pat's letting me off he's he's changed the game in that all right I think unfortunately we have to wrap it up but once again we want to thank you guys so much for being here today and thanks of course to Jason and coach for sharing so much um I do want to say we talked a lot about leadership and the next two people who you will hear from here are the examples of exemplary leadership here at ESPN I've been fortunate in my time here for the last decade to kind of grow up with them and and learn so much from them they've given me countless opportunities they've given these two great opportunities as well so without further Ado two of my favorite people RZ Durant who is our executive VP of programming and Bert Magnus the president of content at ESPN enjoy you [Applause] guys and um Jimmy you talk a little bit about our programming rights agreements we've been on a rule this year with WNBA NBA NCAA cfp those goes on I know Jimmy talked about it a little bit RZ but um it's been a big eight months what are your Reflections on all of our deals and what can you say about that first say and I think I've had a chance to now meet and speak to everyone thank you'all again for being here I hope you're enjoying the day and find it to be a good new of time and Laura was very generous with her introduction Laura you know Laura's kind to us because she knows I love her kids cutest kids so we just put that out there for very generous introduction um I when I look back on the past almost a year and a half as you mentioned what are my Reflections one long nights y'all look at the the the many deals that were done over the past 18 months it was a it was a lot we jump we jumped right in so that's definitely a rection reflection and lots of time in conference rooms so there's that I feel very U appreciative I'm very proud of what the team has accomplished and I emphasize the team because I am blessed to have a very dedicated experienced team that is how you do all the deals that Jimmy mentioned being done over the past year it is not me it is us and it took it took a very much took a team I you know I think about just the opportunity to get to know some of our partners even better as you sit across the table from them understand their priorities work together as a partner to find Solutions together that's been really um memorable for me I'd say ktina for the past year even outside of the and there are other deals right there was nwsl there's tgl so there's there's a lot that's been happening and I am um I'm a pre of the team that helped pull those together I also look back on the past year and about all that we've done in women's sports just the success of women's sports and I when I talk about that I don't talk about our just our commitment to women's sports our commitment to women's sports isn't new this isn't about the past 18 months I've said before we've been seeding this for the past 40 plus years but to see women sports receive their due across with sports fans has been very energizing and very rewarding so there's a lot that I reflect on and but I think that the primary feeling is one of Pride I'm proud of what we what the team has done I'm proud of our partners trusting us with their content and to grow their categories and I'm just I'm proud of what we're seeing in the sports awesome I'll take the next one U our media day is obviously very timely and just earlier this week Burke unveiled a new content structure Burke you want to just talk about the the philosophy and your vision moving forward for your division yeah uh first of all I apologize for an eight page memo and requiring everybody to sit through through nobody's bad intention or or or fall W Bill collaborations with the leags and Walt Disney World Resort with Marvel Comics like to be able to do that is something that is uniquely Disney that only we can provide our partners so now I think about the a match reach across platforms the iconic I um and our parks and other properties it matters to our partners to be able to to to not only place their content with us but to tell their stories across our um across the various platforms and networks with all Disney Company the other thing that I'll add to that is um when you think of Disney we are storytellers at heart and Burke just talked about his organization and what they do better than i' say anyone is tell Sports and connected stories so the storytelling that is a Hallmark of what makes Disney Great and The Innovation that is an important part of what we do well at Disney we talked about these the the the mega cast we talked about the Toy Story the Marvel IP it is the combination so I don't think it's one piece of that containa I think it's the combination we have the reach we have the platforms we have the various businesses we have the storytelling chops like no other we have the Innovation when you bring all of that together that separates Disney and and gives our partners something here that they're not able to get anywhere else up the session before this was obviously focus on football with with Nick and Laur Jason and we're coming off a a fantastic week zero for college football got a great Monday Night Football opener week one of college football this weekend can you just talk across the board about what are you most excited about about football this really is sort of the the start of ESPN's year in a lot of way he sming that's a good sound yeah well Dublin was fun I didn't go but it was amazing all the content that we created out out of that opportunity week zero I kind of still chuckle that which is kind of we just kind of invented a a few years ago uh with with with the help of the NCA getting approval for play dates on on that week but um listen a couple things really that panel I'm very excited about that panel first and foremost but actually before we do that why don't we I'm going to show you a video that that includes one thing that I'm that I'm really excited welcome in six time Super Bowl waiting head coach Bill bellich PR time Coach of the Year coach uh let's get right to it well since this is my first show I got to get the another po of Famer who had a pretty good start to his career in fact that's his first preseason pass 48 yd touchdown I face mask Eli it was I could can we yeah what is can you see that that Eli I've always said bad weather bad routes receivers don't like to running routes in bad weather rain snow wind cold it's not just about catching the ball it's just the routes aren't very good either three guys covering a tight end on a 2- yard Route and nobody on the on the seam route this bad communication bad defense and then they all look at each other like we know something went wrong do we know what it is Bill right there the Mike's responsible for that guy in cover four as you know Payton there's two ways to play that either the got to carry him and the safety stays on the weak side or the mik drops him and a weak safety comes over and poaches strong on number three and so in this case neither one of them happened the tight end didn't carry him and the safety didn't come over so one of those two should have happened I'm not sure which one we're seeing these long longer and longer attempts [Applause] now yeah that looks like my seven AR wide right all right so that was uh that was a rehearsal uh that that pyton and Eli did with uh coach belich during our preseason game the hall of fame um so you know asking about what I'm most excited about for football both college and pro uh are really based in in some of our great talent additions um you saw Jason Kelce obviously joining Monday night countdown uh Nick Savin joining college game day coach belich is going to do um 11 Manning casts and appear generally during the first quarter or first half of each of those games um obviously there's a chemistry there already um uh bill has also joined already started the Pat McAfee show on a weekly basis that conversation is incredible um and it's just like football at a PhD level in a fun and funny way um and you know we couldn't be more happy to have uh Bill join the team through these two vehicles um and and really you know bring his his uh unique uh presentation and and like I said expert um you know analysis of football to both of those environments so having him on Pat show having him on uh the Manning cast is going to be uh incredible it's year two of Scott velt on Monday night countdown we've added Mike Greenberg to Sunday NFL Countdown so all of these Talent upgrades you know to frankly two categories in college and pro that we were already loaded in my opinion uh is just got me even more excited about this coming season um another thing that um you know that uh coach belich is going to do with pton uh is going to be a new original series on ESPN plus called breakdown uh which again if you remember a series we did years ago with Kobe Bryant called detail where they where he really went you know incredibly deep into the X's and O's of games that had had recently happened we're going to sort of rerun that Playbook if you will and have Payton and coach belich on a weekly basis look uh both break down and look ahead to coming NFL games often times our Monday night game but not not always so again ridiculous you know if you're a football fan to hear to evees drop on a conversation between Bill bich and pton Manning breaking down you know a game at a at a really high level meant for uh that level conversation too but in an entertaining way so all of those things together plus I would say the entirety of the SEC which feels like a deal that we did a long time ago it starts Saturday um and then an expanded college football playoff which is just going to be it's going to ramp up the intensity in college football all season long during the regular season and makes for an incredible story lines from the first round games through the cfp so football's back that's great that's going to an exciting show on plus great announcement um we're going to open it up for questions so we have people who have mics in the room um raise your hand and if you have a question for b um know we have hey guys Ken with the sports be group I want to go back to the the I guess one of the challenges came out early to AI personalization and if you look back the mega cast I think was one of the first real personalization efforts in the industry and people at first thought it was a waste there are a lot of people who said this is why why are you doing this no one wants to watch these alternate angles what do you see as your challenge from a programming standpoint of the demand for personalization the alternate broadcast obviously is one as well so we see the Challenge from storytelling when people want more personalization how you can staff for that how you can kind of deliver on all those fronts yeah I mean to us it was never a waste because you know Ros mentioned Innovation we always look ahead to try and be you know again to try and appeal to the broadest possible audience to try and be relevant with fans in a in a number of different ways um the mega cast might have been a little bit ahead of its time but it was never a waste of time um and we learned incredible you know lessons from from doing that we learned pretty quick things that worked and things that didn't work um you know and we're going to continue to do that that's morphed into things like you know the Toy Story initiative with with volumetric uh motion capture video it's going to be whatever whatever's next it can be incredibly low Tech and it can be incredibly high-tech and you can capture audience in both ways and you know we're we're we're just going to continue to do that for big events um I think it does I think the one thing we have learned is that it really does take a big event to do an all cast around right you know um I don't think we're to the point yet where it's so personalized or so specialized that you know you can really do it for a run-of-the-mill regular season game in sport X or sport y I think that day will come by the way but but I think right now our our focus is on uh continuing to aggregate audience across platform across uh technology however you know however uh it's possible and our partners love it there is not there's not a there's not a short list of Partners who want in on the outcast there is a long list so to ver point is not a small undertaking so we have to be thoughtful about what makes most sense but of course everyone is looking for not just reach but for audience's mansion and when you think about what's done with Toy Story what's done with big city greens and there'll be others but the different audiences where there is still a main broadcast or a main production for the fan who wants the main production but there are other Solutions and other options and other it's it's about that it's about options and other options around around um big games big games that are deserving of this we find that it only adds to the audience so when we can do that and when it makes sense our partners appreciate it next question hi Brian steinber from variety I know you just hired a v you're going to hire a vice president Super Bowl yes um oh that for a job title the game in 27 coming up first time this's had it in number of years given all these since you try new formats all cast Etc are there any Visions you have for for different ideas how to play that over ESPN Disney when you do have it play I mean it first of all it's been we our last Super Bowl corporately was Super Bowl 40 in Detroit so this will be 61 uh so it's been a while and we're different company I I mean I I this sort of informed the the idea of of creating a position to essentially be a project manager on this effort while we still have two and a half or so years before it happens we already know it's going to be in La um which is very convenient from a Disney perspective um you know uh we're we're as you can tell from from being here on campus a lot of stuff goes on all day long here um my wife is really fond of saying there's no off seon uh which is totally true um but you know that also inform having a dedicated person to really run this project because by the time February 14th 2027 comes around and by the way yes the Super Bowl is on Valentine's Day I don't know if you guys are tracking on that yet um but the Super Bowl is on Valentine's Day that ought set up for some interesting uh things but uh but we we think it's really really important that that that that a person who can cut across the Walt Disney Company entirely um you know is dedicated every single day when they get out of bed to you know to for us to do this Super Bowl like it's never been done before and I I don't want to throw out any specific Concepts because there's lots of ideas that are percolating already but it's going to be it's going to be special and and uh you know and we're excited about that oh Jason go ahead Burke you were talking before about uh belich and what he's going to do for the network you guys just had Nick Sabin in the room obviously they have a great relationship that spans decades you were talking about unique original content are there any plans to have them collaborate together to create some on air content yeah I with the US Tennis Association so ESPN will continue as the exclusive home of the US Open throughout 2037 um here in the US and the Caribbean and in Canada with TSN and RDS we'll also continue with exclusive Spanish language rights in the US on EES so we are very excited I talked to earlier about our continued commitment to women's sports tennis is one of those categories one of those sports that l up to that naturally and we are we are proud of what they've accomplished we're proud to be part of their story and very excited for this to be our longest term tennis agreement um with us open you heard it here first and I and I will be asking a Rost for tickets in me of course made do the f f bam bam what are the how me you see these working conditions I put up with On The Run y yeah go just so we know this is bad beat get why do people do this not was Point that's where the winners are don't let me get hot baby sort of feels like I was cheating on you and then I brought the people that I was cheating on you with right into your face but I love that this but the football people hey Justin Tucker was going to beat your ass dude you must always have as I do oh you Che now I get on the now we got it now you you want me to say go dogs or what can you too late we got it no can I could go on I can't explain every natural phenomenon the tide the grass the ground oh that was my way just messing around I couldn't like bar G spr the tree now you got coconuts what's the lesson what does it take away don't mess with my we need break away we're Spencer Spencer edited that last night how rare is it for everyone here to be in Bristol like it just doesn't happen anymore so watching that and then watching you guys and just thinking about how awesome it is to work with all of you and how disappointed it must be for you guys to have to work with me day some range of emotions uh thank you all for being here I know it's been a long day it's hot outside rest some lights the conditions are suboptimal but hopefully uh we can send you uh out on your way with a good time so that Mr van we're entering the 10th anniversary in September of your addition of sports center over the past decade a lot of things have changed you guys have stayed on top for very long time have you done that I don't think there's any real secret to just being embracing what we've always been which is is just we enjoy sports you know um I think that's something that that Pat and his guys do it's about you don't have to be positive in the face of things that deserve to be scrutinized but I think that you know Sports connects us like very few things and we are lucky enough to come on after the biggest event and um I think we created a lane that's pretty comfortable as for me as a host with my guy Steve and our crew behind the scenes who deserve so much credit and for our guests and our and our audience I think it's a comfortable place um we I would just I just want to say this at the beginning just the idea of being here with this crew we've never all been together at once at one time and it's it's fantastic to do it uh I was just saying this to greeny um I have such an appreciation like night like we get handed to Baton all right Joan bu can is a gigantic number on Monday nights it's our job not to F it up okay and I think we figured out a decent way not to do that but I just I've had I give so much credit to what's going on in the mornings and what goes on from the early Sports Center to greeny to Stephen A the Pat and his guys that are like bat and clean up I think Burke said early on it was like Murderers Row and it's true I mean they their ability to create and maintain and N uh and uh cultivate an audience in the morning to me is astounding uh and I give them an enormous amount of credit I just uh I have so much appreciation for it what we're trying to do at night as I say is just maintain who we've always been I've been doing this a long time and luckily I still enjoy it I wake up every day excited because it's something exciting and different and new will happen every day and we're the ones that get to come out and talk about it it's not difficult you don't have to you don't have to fake uh enthusiasm for that and you know I think gratitude is an important thing to have me guy my guy EJ and I talk about it all the time I got get two job not a got two job and we have one of those so I think just maintaining that sincere appreciation for what it is we get to do uh and we'll do it as long as they ask me to uh is is really a very simple key I think hopefully people can identify with that senat amen El you had a front row seat to an incredible women's college basketball season culminating in almost 19 million viewers watching national championship game how would you like to see ESPN continue uh to play and and and and grow the women's game and women's sports in General Ming board um first of all also Echo everything that SVP said this is super cool I had checked three times I was like yall want me to do it with them wow okay cool um I kind of joke that I think ESPN is already like the Mondo Duplantis of women's sports do you guys know who that is yeah right like he get the bar and he just keeps breaking his own record so that's good right like we have owned this space more than anyone else has and I think that what we're seeing right now is the fruits of our labor how intentional we've been for many many years in platforming these with women um so more of the same with that right more platforming and all those things um but I also think it involves making sure that we're amplifying and centuring women analyst um and also the personalities as well uh because it can be as intentional um and literal as having a women centered show um that is you know specific to whatever respective women's sports but I also think it's just in that we can organically sort of skew female if we were just amplifying the voices that cover those women um I I give so much credit to Pat McAfee uh my mentions and how I interacted with fand looked very different after he was gracious enough to extend an invitation to come on and talk about the women's basketball tournament because it was a totally different fan base from what I'm used to on the 6 p.m or from who listens to my show and so uh I think it's about that as well because ultimately um if you fall in love with the women who are talking about these if you trust us if we built a trust with you and a report with you then you're more apt to not only follow us but believe us when we tell you uh that this storyline is big or that this game is really big so I think it's suful more of the same of what we're doing in terms of platforming the athletes but then also centuring the women that cover it as well aw touch self serving but what else P you're coming up on an anniversary of ESPN as well it's not 10 years years but it's the the one year anniversary of the show debuting uh it was September 7th um you've been here about a year and a half though you did the deal with with Jimmy and Bob in May of 23 so looking back on the past year and a half how would you evaluate how it's going first of all uh I will ACC the senent everybody that just spoke including you fos it is an honor to be on the stage with you and I think that was a massive piece of the deal getting done with Jimmy and Bob whenever I wanted to take my show uh to a network and find a home and like go to a place that can help amplify help maybe book the show help it kind of take it to the next level I shopped at a lot of places I negotiated with a lot of people it was covered by some of the folks in here how it all went and whenever Jimmy and Bob kind of came to me and really said that they would like me to join the ESPN lineup it was such an honor because of the Network that has been built on the backs of the people that are sitting on the stage uh next to you so getting a chance to be on a network that you guys have built and carried was certainly a dream come true to be alongside of you and um I think the announcement initially was received very negatively by my people so my fans that watch digitally for the last five six years as we've been live every single day even through the co time we were the only show that was still alive we didn't miss a single day because the laws in Indiana versus New York City and California so we had a lot of people that spent some very tough times with us every single day on their phones being the doofuses that they didn't escape from what was kind of happening so whenever I announc that I'm getting a chance to join this legendary Network alongside these incredibly talented people my fans were mad about it my fans were not happy about it they thought that my show was going to change they were very loud about that they attacked me and my guys in a lot of different ways and we knew that the show was not going to change but they certainly couldn't wrap their mind around it and then whenever the show starts and the way it was kind of wrote out and announced it was more so announced as like a talent acquisition when really it was like a rights licensing rights deal just like what happens with the college football playoffs just like what happens with the NBA deal that just took place just like what happens with NFL for multiple Monday Night Football games we are the ones that are just providing the show in ESPN is paying us to air the show program in network we prided ourselves on being a head of the girl and so we were ahead of the curve when it came you embracing him so I thought about all of those different things and I look at what first take is and I literally take a nuget the piece of material from every single person up here and what it represented and I saw what was relatable to the audience and then I tried to remember that when I'm following up one of the greatest hosts in the history of the business in green was coming on from 8 10:00 and then it's my turn it's 10 it's 10:00 a.m. and it's like all right here we go he set the table now I got to knock this bad boy out of the park and hand over to the to Baton to Pat and his crew and everybody else down the line and that's how it works GRE Stephen A mentioned you setting the table I've seen it 600 in the morning you come in and you cooking everybody else is just like a little little asleep little hung over there and you come in and you're firing you seen in the Thunder too they've got he's cut his sandwich know you're doing yeah before grey has a cut for him but you see it he talks about that setting up the table the boys are watching it everyone's watching it as you set the agenda for what we're going to talk about until Sports come on again what's your North Star as you're doing that aside from sandwiches well I can didn't um try and encapsulate what Stephen was saying in a phrase so when I first started doing talk shows in Chicago and on the radio in the 90s a very smart program director said to me your job as a talk show host is not to create interest it's to reflect it and I've always remembered that and that has always been my driving um model I I and and I think I said this on your show one time uh Pat when when you were asking me about I forget what it was now but why why don't you do more of this on new show I have no agenda other than what I think is going to be of the greatest interest to the greatest number of people like goes back we did that on Mike and Mike before there was social media before we had this kind of immediate feedback um and now we can get quarter hour by quarter hour even minute by minute ratings and see what stuff is um resonating and what stuff is not um I'll give you a great example of that people will sometimes talk about all you guys do is you you ride the Dallas Cowboys you talk too much about the Dallas cowo all right I did the NBA shows with Stephen A for two years we were in Denver at the NBA Finals the Denver Nuggets are on the verge of winning their first ever NBA championship they're in the finals for the first time they've they're going to win Stephen A are walking through the arena and the fans in the arena are yelling cowboy stuff at Stephen A this stuff resonates so I don't I don't have an agenda the a great example of that would be the explosion in popularity of women's sports that have come along in the last few years I've said many times in my 32 years that I've been hosting shows on TV and the radio the two biggest changes by far have been technology and the enormously increased role of women both as participants and and for my purposes more importantly as viewers and as listeners and you have to constantly evolve and be serving the audience what they want because at the end of the day ESPN pays us but we work for the audience they're the ones who decide if we have a job or not because if they stop watching then ESPN I think I saw bur in here they're going to go find someone else so it's as simple as that to me my my North Star is what do I think is going to resonate with the largest possible number of people in the most meaningful way there's really no other agenda L you are part of sports center obviously but so much more than that you've got game day you've got Sports CER on Snapchat got around the horn just still on the air we're still doing it we love it um ESPN is more than a m wide what would you like to see us go deeper on well I think clearly I need to be invited on more shows there might be one or two I've never done um so I would never be audacious enough to tell anybody what they should do on their respective uh show as certainly not one that I just sort of guessed appear on but I would say uh I have worked really hard in my career being veral enough to be able to go uh on many different platforms and serve whatever that show needs um and I'd like to consider myself unique but certainly I'm not a unicorn and I think that what I would love is the reason that I've had the opportunities to do so many different things is because people think outside of the box when it comes to me in terms of what a typical sports center anchor looks like and I remember been here eight and a half years now and I remember when I first came in I was like well you know what are the chances I could do this or do or do and they were like you're a sports center aner that's not you do Sports Center like that's what you do and so I think that one a great example of that was what step a allowed Sports Center to do just a couple of weeks ago he was gracious enough to extend his platform to allow Sports Center anchors who didn't and usually don't have an opportunity to show and flex a different muscle they were so geep Stephen I like there's people that have worked here for years and were like this is one of the biggest things for me because it ow them to show chops in a different way I would love for us to be able to think outside of the BX a little bit and have a little bit more cross-pollination um I think sometimes in a place this big you can exist in silos and certainly you understand why like every single entity it's its own thing um but I would love for there to just be a little bit more of a symbiotic relationship and just understanding that there's so many people here uh that are incredibly talented and if you think outside the box a little bit um then you know good things happen essentially we're all here to do the same thing which is entertain and educate and serve sports fans and I think there's just really creative ways to do it and I Echo what SVP and Stephen A said when we signed Pat McAfee I've been a a fan of Pat for a long time I met him doing get up years ago um when I was feeling in for L Rel at the time and I was like oh we're we're we're shaking it up like we're doing something very different I I love that and I dig it and I hope that there's more of that more innovating um more thinking outside of the box and really sharing uh across platform some of the incredibly talented people that work here out of me we're in the middle of doing sports center and she goes grenny I can help but notice you're wearing a green tie there is that because the Jets are playing and my first thought was I'm going to get fired right oh my God I'm going to get fired they're going to think I was rooting for the Jets on the air then we started Mike and Mike about two years after that and there were a lot of people who criticized me like crazy all over the country for openly rooting for my teams I'm the ambassador to HBC week over the last years we generated about 12,000 Scholarships in TAS HBCU students always a plus and and I just can't um I'd be remiss and neglecting to give tremendous gratitude to ESPN and Disney one of the years we had the event at Disney World in Orlando and HBCU week was basically uh just started out of Delaware years ago before they came to me asking me to be the ambassador and Disney jumped right on board and an incredibly supporter of me and what we're trying to do with HC everybody up here who's help first take along the way because making First Take what it has been and what it has become has been a gravitational force for so many people that want to be associated with the show to make big things happen that extend far beyond this business for folks that are less fortunate than us they looking for a help in hand and looking looking to be uplifted and we've been able to pull that all grateful to everybody up here thank you all so much [Music] [Music]