John Skipper didn’t hold back any opinions in his appearance at the Sports Business Journal’s Media Innovators Conference. Appearing on stage with John Ourand, the Meadowlark Media boss discussed his time with ESPN and DAZN.
Asked about Barstool Van Talk, the cross over show with Barstool Sports, Skipper responded by calling it a “catastrophe.” The show only lasted one episode after ESPN’s own employees objected to the show being on air.
“I think the toxicity of (Barstool) has only been proved last week,” he said referencing Business Insider’s report about Barstool founder Dave Portnoy to justify the decision to pull it off the air.
Big Cat, who was part of Van Talk and also one of Barstool’s most popular personalities wasn’t having it. He took to Twitter to object to Skipper’s characterization of the brand.
Asked about why his time at DAZN wasn’t the triumph some expected, Skipper was blunt. No deal with any major American sports leagues doomed the streamer from the start. Without what he called “first tier” rights, DAZN tried to “aggregate some things” around boxing. That failed to catch on as well, although he doesn’t regret the play.
Skipper said that what he characterized as “passion sports” could never carry a streaming service to success. If a fan base isn’t large, it will never be able to financially support a platform.
“Until you can get the NFL, or the SEC, or the NBA on a streaming service, it’s going to be marginal in this country.”
One service that does have first tier sports rights are regional sports networks. But don’t mistake that to mean that Skipper has faith in their business model. Without 24-hour programming, he says they aren’t really players in the sports television space. He called RSNs “the great imposter in the world of sports”.
Skipper isn’t afraid to voice his opinion and when he speaks, the industry listens and reacts. It will be interesting to see how many people want to push back on the thoughts he shared. Don’t forget, John Skipper will be a part of the 2022 Barrett Sports Media Summit in March in New York City.