BSM Writers
Beyond The Mask: Henrik Lundqvist Embraced 2nd Career in Sports Media
“It’s not a coincidence you see a lot of goalies working [on] panels and analyzing the game because that’s a huge part of playing in goal.”

Published
10 months agoon

Plucking the strings of an acoustic guitar, Henrik Lundqvist found himself beneath the bright lights once again, poised to put on a worthy performance. Just as he aimed to stop pucks from going in the net as the star goaltender of the New York Rangers for 15 seasons, Lundqvist sought to captivate viewers as half of a musical duo featuring former NHL forward Paul Bissonnette.
Their performance of “Good Riddance” by Green Day was in tribute to Rick Tocchet, a former NHL on TNT studio analyst who recently departed the network to serve as head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.
Biz and Hank have reunited for a special performance tribute to friend and new Canucks coach, Rick Tocchet 🥲🎶 pic.twitter.com/rBj1U9FfGz
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) January 26, 2023
Lundqvist serves as a studio analyst for TNT’s coverage of the NHL, breaking down players and teams throughout the broadcast and bringing his own unique style to the set. His pursuit of a post-playing career in sports media was no guarantee from the moment he retired in August 2021; in fact, he never intended to stop playing the game and competing for a Stanley Cup championship at that time.
During the 2019-20 season, Lundqvist had lost playing time to young goaltenders Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev, and by the year’s end, his deal was bought out by the team. In an effort to continue playing, Lundqvist signed a contract with the Washington Capitals – marking the first time in his NHL career that he would not step between the pipes for the Rangers.
Lundqvist never played a game for the team though, as it was discovered in a medical exam that he would need open-heart surgery to replace his aortic valve while also having an aortic root and ascending aortic replacement. Less than two months after the successful five-hour operation, he was back on the ice rehabbing and attempting to make a full recovery – but a few months in, he began to feel unexpected chest pain. Following a medical checkup, Lundqvist was told he had inflammation around his heart. It was a significant setback that required him to step off the ice, take off his goaltender equipment and rest for several months.
— Henrik Lundqvist (@HLundqvist) December 28, 2020
After discussions with his family and friends, Lundqvist determined that the risk of taking the ice outweighed the rewards and officially stepped away from the game. Rather than conjuring hypothetical scenarios wherein he did not experience the misfortune and played for the Capitals, Lundqvist looked to the future amid the ongoing global pandemic and thought about how he could best enjoy his retirement.
“I was just mentally in a very good place,” Lundqvist said. “I didn’t have a choice; I guess that makes it easier sometimes when the decision is made because you can’t go back-and-forth – ‘Should I?’ ‘Should I not?’ Yeah, I wanted to play but it was just not meant to be for me.”
Before any definitive resolution on his future endeavors was made though, the Rangers announced that the team would retire Lundqvist’s No. 30 in a pregame ceremony during the 2021-22 season, making him just the 11th player bestowed that honor in franchise history. As a five-time NHL All-Star selection, 2011 Vezina Trophy winner, and holder of numerous franchise records, Lundqvist had the accolades to merit this profound distinction.
HENRIK IN THE HOUSE pic.twitter.com/xDdjIyCanV
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 30, 2022
Moreover, he was an important component in growing the game of hockey and contributing to the greater community, serving as the official spokesperson for the Garden of Dreams Foundation and founder of the Henrik Lundqvist Foundation. He also was a two-time recipient of the organization’s prestigious Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award, honoring the player “who goes above and beyond the call of duty.”
Throughout the night, attendees regaled Lundqvist with chants of “Hen-rik!” and were treated to flashbacks of some of his memorable career moments. The night was of monumental importance for Lundqvist, during which he expressed his gratitude to the Rangers’ organization, former teammates and fans. Then, Lundqvist — referred to as “The King” — promptly took his place among team legends beneath the concave ceiling of “The World’s Most Famous Arena.”
“When I look back at my career, I know, to me, it was all about preparation; how I practiced and how I prepared for each game at practice,” Lundqvist said. “There’s no regrets, and I hope people, when they think about how I played, [know] that it was 100% heart and commitment to the game.”
To be honest I can’t really put in to words how amazing last night was. I had so many moments throughout the night that felt surreal. Thank you to the entire @NYRangers organization for what you have done for me and my family❤️ #NYRforever pic.twitter.com/hjouXZWdKw
— Henrik Lundqvist (@HLundqvist) January 29, 2022
Before this ceremony though, Lundqvist and Rangers owner James Dolan had held several meetings with one another. The purpose of these conversations was to determine the best way for Lundqvist to remain involved with the team, its fans, and the community. In the end, he was named as a lead studio analyst on MSG Networks’ broadcasts of New York Rangers hockey before the start of the 2021-22 season: the start of his foray in sports media.
This past summer, Lundqvist negotiated a new deal with Madison Square Garden Sports and Madison Square Garden Entertainment in which he maintained his in-studio responsibilities while increasing involvement in other areas of its sports and entertainment ventures. In this new role, Lundqvist supports the business operations for both companies, assisting in digital content development, alumni relations, and partner and sponsor activities.
When Lundqvist is not in the studio or the office, he can often be found at Madison Square Garden taking in New York Rangers hockey, New York Knicks basketball, or one of the arena’s renowned musical performances. Usually, when he is in attendance, he is shown on the arena’s center-hung video board as an “NYC Celebrity” and receives a thunderous ovation from the crowd.
“The network is just part of it, but it feels great to come there,” Lundqvist said of Madison Square Garden. “Every time I go there – to see the people that I’ve known for so long – but also I love that place; I love The Garden. I think the energy [and] the variety of things that happen there is something I really appreciate. It feels really good to be a part of that.”
Sitting alongside former teammate and studio analyst Steve Valiqutte and sportscaster John Giannone, Lundqvist appears in the MSG Networks studios, located across the street from the arena, for select New York Rangers games. From the onset, he brought his allure and expertise to the set and appealed to viewers – so much so that national networks quickly began to take notice.
“I enjoy watching hockey [and] talking hockey, but the main thing to me is the team; the people that you work with,” Lundqvist said. “The guys on the panel [and the] crew behind. I really enjoy that part of it and having a lot of fun off-camera.”
One month later, Lundqvist was on his first national broadcast for the NHL on TNT where he and Bissonnette famously performed a cover of “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica that went viral on social media. It had been known that Lundqvist was a musician, famously performing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in his Rangers uniform to celebrate the end of the 2012-13 NHL lockout.
In fact, during his retirement ceremony, the Rangers gifted him with a custom-made guitar painted by David Gunnarsson, the same artist who used to paint Lundqvist’s goalie masks.
Aside from occasional music performances, Lundqvist brings an esoteric base of knowledge to the NHL on TNT panel as its only goaltender. Whether it be through player breakdowns, interviews, or dialogue with other analysts, Lundqvist has a perspective to which few professional hockey players can relate. There are various goaltenders among local studio panels surrounding live hockey game broadcasts, and Lundqvist is in a unique situation with MSG Networks in that he and Valiquette are both former goaltenders. Yet on Turner Sports’ national coverage, he is the only voice speaking to this different part of the game.
“It’s not a coincidence you see a lot of goalies working [on] panels and analyzing the game because that’s a huge part of playing in goal,” Lundqvist explained. “Yes, you need to stop the puck, but a huge part of being a goalie is analyzing what’s going on. We can never really dictate the play so you need to analyze what’s happening right in front of you.”

In broadcasting at both the local and national level, Lundqvist is cognizant of the differences in each network’s studio programs. Lundqvist says appearing on the MSG Networks studio panel is more about being direct with the viewer, whereas the NHL on TNT views its panel as being conversational in nature. With Turner Sports, Lundqvist also asks his colleagues about the different teams around the league since he is most familiar with the Rangers both as a former player and studio analyst.
“I’m closer to the Rangers; I see more of what’s going on,” Lundqvist stated. “When you work [national] games, maybe you focus in on teams on the West Coast or [part] of the league you don’t see as often. You try to talk to the other guys on the panel and the crew and figure out things that are interesting about those teams.”
Hockey is a team sport, and Lundqvist felt grateful to play with his teammates and face his competitors over the years. Now as an analyst though, it is his job to analyze their games and critique them when necessary; however, he does not try to be excessively critical.
Lundqvist knows the trials and tribulations associated with the sport and can relate to scenarios many players face on a nightly basis. Therefore, he thinks about his own experience before giving an opinion, especially a critique, instantiating it with comprehensible, recondite knowledge and/or by recounting a similar situation.
“I’d much rather give them positive feedback obviously because I know it is a tough game,” Lundqvist said, “and sometimes it might look like an easy mistake, but if you can give the viewer a better explanation of why he did that, they might have a different view of that mistake.”
Now metaphorically being beyond the goalie mask, Lundqvist’s vision of the game has evidently shifted. He discerns just how intense the schedule is and the rapid pace of the game, axioms he was aware of while playing but inherently avoided thinking about. He has implemented his refined viewpoint of the game accordingly into his analysis, simultaneously utilizing the mindset and savvy he cultivated on the ice. It is, quite simply, a balancing act.
“I think people can be pretty quick to jump on guys and critique them,” Lundqvist said. “That’s where maybe you take an extra look and try to understand why it happened and give those reasons. I think that’s where it helps if you played the game [for] a long time and just love the game [because] you have a pretty good understanding of why guys react a certain way.”
The challenge tacitly embedded in the jobs of most studio analysts – Lundqvist’s included – is in presenting the information to the audience in a manner through which it learns without being confused. It is a delicate craft that takes time and genuine understanding to master, especially related to promulgating hockey analytics as Valiquette does on MSG Networks and within his company, Clear Sight Analytics.
“There’s a lot of educated viewers out there, but there’s also a lot of people that maybe don’t watch as much hockey,” Lundqvist said, “so you want to find that middle ground where you kind of educate both sides.”

By broadcasting both locally and nationally in addition to working in a specially-designed business operations role, Lundqvist is staying around the rink in his retirement while facilitating the growth of hockey. Despite the profusion of young talent, dynamic action and jaw-dropping plays, viewership of the sport on ESPN and TNT’s linear channels has dropped 22% from last season, according to a report by Sports Business Journal.
For Lundqvist though, he does not feel much has changed from playing regarding his responsibility to advance the reach and appeal of the sport. He played professionally for 20 years, beginning his career in his home country of Sweden, primarily in the Swedish Elite League (SEL). In the 2004-05 season, his final campaign before arriving in New York City, Lundqvist had won the award for most valuable player. Furthermore, he was recognized as the best goalie and best player, leading Frölunda HC to its second Elitserien championship in three seasons.
His NHL debut came five years after he was selected in the seventh round of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft by the New York Rangers but unlike many rookies over the years, he came polished and prepared to embrace the lights of Broadway. Following an injury to starting goaltender Kevin Weekes, Lundqvist was inserted into the starting lineup and, from that moment on, virtually never came out.
By the end of his first year, he had been named to the NHL All-Rookie Team and was a Vezina Trophy finalist for best goaltender. Additionally, he remains the only goaltender to begin his NHL career with seven consecutive 30-plus win seasons.
“I think the league is doing a great job of growing the game,” Lundqvist said. “In the end, it comes down to the product and right now, it’s a great product. I feel really good about, the best way I can, to promote the game [by] talking about it, but… it feels like I’ve been doing that for 20 years.”
One means through which Lundqvist attempts to grow the game is within the studio demos he performs with the NHL on TNT, displaying different facets of the game in a technical manner. The show also embraces the characteristics of their analysts and implements them in lighthearted segments, such as zamboni races, putting competitions, Swedish lessons and, of course, musical performances.
“I’m huge on mindset and the pressure,” Lundqvist said. “I love to talk about that type of stuff and give the viewer a better understanding of what goes through their heads. In terms of personality, I don’t know if I can say [that] I’m a serious guy because I love to have fun and laugh and do fun things.”
Lundqvist thoroughly enjoys what he is doing both locally and nationally, and he ensures he surrounds himself with people he wants to be around. There are plenty of other broadcast opportunities for former hockey players, such as moving into the booth as a color commentator or between the benches as a rinkside reporter. At this moment though, he is more focused on being immersed in his current roles, performing them to the best of his ability while ensuring he allocates time to spend with friends and family.
“I see myself more as an analyst in the studio more than traveling around and being in the rink,” he said. “I think that’s another thing with the schedule; it works really well with my schedule to have one or two commitments with the networks, but then I have other things going on in my life that I commit to.”
Plenty of comparisons can be drawn between playing professional hockey and covering the sport from the studio in terms of preparation and synergy. Yet the end result is not as clearly defined since “winning” in television is quantifiably defined as generating ratings and revenue. Undoubtedly, Lundqvist is focused on doing what he can to bolster hockey’s popularity; however, he also wants to enjoy this new phase of his career being around the game he loves.

“In sports, you win or you lose,” Lundqvist explained. “With TV, you want to be yourself [and] you want to get your point out – but at the same time, if you do it at the same time you’re having a good time, I feel like that’s good TV.”
Once their careers conclude, many athletes think about pursuing a post-playing career and oftentimes end up taking on a role in sports broadcasting. On MSG Networks alone, there are plenty of former players who take part in studio coverage on live game broadcasts, such as Martin Biron of the Buffalo Sabres, Bryce Salvador of the New Jersey Devils, and Matt Martin of the New York Islanders. At the national level, Turner Sports employs Paul Bissonnette, Anson Carter, and Wayne Gretzky for its studio broadcasts, while ESPN’s top studio crew includes Mark Messier and Chris Chelios.
All of these former professional hockey players had an obligation to regularly speak with media members, answering questions about games and the season at large. Lundqvist maintained a professional relationship with journalists and beat reporters, and he most enjoyed taking questions when the team was doing well. Regardless of what the end result of a game was though, he had a responsibility to divulge his thoughts and, in turn, be subject to criticism and/or negative feedback.
His stellar career and persona all came from emanating a passion for the game – and it continues to manifest itself beyond the television screen. Listening to those passionate about the game discuss it usually engenders euphony and lucidity to viewers, analogous to the sound of the puck hitting the pads or entering the glove. It is a timbre Lundqvist created 27,076 times throughout his NHL career (regular season and playoffs) in preventing goals, and one he now aims to explain en masse.
“The reason why I kept going to the rink and put all the hours in was because I really enjoyed it,” Lundqvist said. “If you decide to go into media or whatever it might be, I think the bottom line is [that] you have to enjoy it and make sure you have good people around you.”

Derek Futterman is a contributing editor and sports media reporter for Barrett Sports Media. Additionally, he has worked in a broad array of roles in multimedia production – including on live game broadcasts and audiovisual platforms – and in digital content development and management. He previously interned for Paramount within Showtime Networks, wrote for the Long Island Herald and served as lead sports producer at NY2C. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @derekfutterman.
BSM Writers
Jim Boeheim Made a Career Out of Treating Media Poorly, But Now Wants In on the Action
You have now become what you once despised and loathed. Maybe you didn’t understand the impact or importance of the relationship when you played or coached, but now you’re one of us. It borders on hypocrisy.

Published
15 hours agoon
December 7, 2023By
Andy Masur
For the first time in nearly half a century, former Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim is starting a new job. After 47 seasons with the Orange, Boeheim began his broadcasting career earlier this week, after agreeing to a deal with ESPN, ACC Network, and Westwood One.
On the surface, it’s great news for basketball fans, who now get to hear what a coach who won over 1,000 games has to say. For others, especially those in the media, welcoming in this new voice comes with a little trepidation. Why?
I’m not sure that Jim Boeheim has the same assessment about how he treated the media. He felt like defending himself was necessary, but it went past that on many occasions. It’s hard for some in the business to understand why companies bring in people that treated their own reporters like crap in the past.
I know that Boeheim isn’t the only former coach or player who didn’t treat the media with respect and now becomes a member himself. Now, he’ll debate, I’m sure as others have, that they aren’t the media just because they’re on television or radio now. Here’s the thing: You are. You have now become what you once despised and loathed. Maybe you didn’t understand the impact or importance of the relationship when you played or coached, but now you’re one of us. It borders on hypocrisy. It makes me wonder how he decided to join ESPN following a long coaching career.
Former NFL receiver Randy Moss joined the ranks back in 2013. Moss had a mercurial relationship with the Minnesota media over his career. Some of it was not on him, but nonetheless, he was quick to distance himself from the moniker of “media member”.
He told Sports Illustrated, “I don’t like that term. I am not part of the media. That’s not my label, and I don’t want it to start now. I love the game of football, and this is just a new way for me to be part of the game.”
I get it, but when your paycheck comes from a media company, well, you’re the media. Maybe not in the same respect that a reporter or anchor is, but still the media.
Jim Boeheim surely had his issues with the media through several memorable run-ins over the years. He called out journalists for their questions. He’s questioned their integrity and seemed to enjoy belittling reporters when he had the opportunity. That’s fine, it’s his prerogative, and perhaps some stories run deeper than the surface level with the reporters. I don’t claim to know that. Maybe the parties came to an understanding after the press conference was over. Great. But again, why does it have to come to what it did with Boeheim?
Of the many clashes with the press, one in particular came in 2013 when Andy Katz, then of ESPN, tried to ask a question following a Syracuse loss to Connecticut. Katz asked what the UConn series meant to him, and Jim Boeheim refused to answer the question saying, “I’ll answer anybody’s question but yours.” Instead, he went all in on his feelings about Katz. Calling Katz “an idiot and really being a disloyal person.”
Katz later said he believed Boeheim’s feelings stemmed from Katz’s reporting on Bernie Fine, the former coach at Syracuse who was accused of sexual abuse by two former ball boys on ESPN’s Outside the Lines and was terminated.
There were many other ‘dust-ups’ with veteran reporters, but Boeheim seemed to save his worst venom for student journalists who are learning the ropes. Young aspiring journalists seemed to be better than a postgame spread for a hungry coach.
Just last season, student reporter Sam Corcoran asked Boeheim for the status of Benny Williams after the sophomore was absent from the game against Virginia. Media members had been told that Boeheim would address Williams’ absence after the game. When Boeheim did not discuss Williams in his opening statement, Corcoran asked, “Coach, what’s the status on Benny Williams?”
Boeheim immediately lost his cool.
“Is that your question?” Boeheim said. “Is that the most important question you have?”
The coach followed it up by telling Corcoran his attitude, “isn’t really good either.”
Jim Boeheim goes off on the media after the Syracuse loss 👀 pic.twitter.com/620rodfQZ5
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) January 31, 2023
Come on. Syracuse is a ‘media school.’ This is where students go to learn and Jim Boeheim knows that. It didn’t stop another run-in with a student came after the team lost by four points to North Carolina and student reporter John Eads asked the coach why he thought the team couldn’t close out tight games. Instead of answering the question, Boeheim responded with, “We’re done,” and exited the press conference.
Other things have shown Boeheim’s distaste for the media. It has been inferred, though not proven, that he had a hand in the firing of Syracuse radio personality Brent Axe in March. Axe worked for Galaxy Media, a company that Boeheim is a partner in station ownership. Axe was let go because the President and CEO Ed Levine did not like the way Axe covered the Orange.
I’ve been in enough press conference settings and around many coaches who have suffered through bad seasons or bad games. Every once in a while, there’s a tipping point and things go sideways. But at the same time, I watched Michael Jordan answer questions, night after night, that were much worse than those, with class and dignity. Not trying to embarrass the questioner, of course not knowing that individual’s story or experience level.
We have a job to do. So does he. Look, I’m not intending to just pick on Jim Boeheim here. He’s the focus because he’s the latest that has clashed with the media in a previous life, only to become a member of the club. There are hundreds of these cases.
The late Bobby Knight was a nightmare for reporters over his time at Indiana. He often told reporters he hated the media. Knight was once quoted as saying, “All of us learn to write in the second grade,” he said of the media. “Most of us go on to greater things.” Knight made a good analyst though due to his personality. You never knew what he might say, so it was always ‘tune-in worthy’. But still, a man who made it known how much he despised media, joined the ranks.
Deion Sanders was one of the few to play in both the NFL and MLB as a pro. When he was playing for the Braves and Falcons at the same time, it was football season, and this meant that it was also the postseason in the major leagues. The Falcons had a regular-season game scheduled on the same day as the Braves’ playoff game. Sanders opted to play in the football game and received criticism from broadcaster Tim McCarver. As a response, Sanders tossed cold ice water all over McCarver. Sanders was a high-profile media star that critiqued many a player. There are and were many others as well.
Media training as these players and coaches are coming up the ranks would help this situation. Understanding the role of the media in the success of the league’s each is playing/coaching in, would provide some good perspective. Everybody has a bad day, but many of these individuals were repeat offenders and now are trying to extend their careers in a field they loathed.
I’m not rooting against Jim Boeheim. I wish him the best in his new line of work. His insight and experience level could enhance the broadcasts he does. That’s not in debate. It just makes me a little weary and causes me to shake my head in derision, every time someone that showed such disrespect to the profession, becomes one of us.

Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at [email protected].
BSM Writers
Rod Lakin Sees the Power of 94WIP on Display Every Day
“It’s crazy. WIP, I’ve never in my career seen a station so ingrained with the community.”

Published
15 hours agoon
December 7, 2023By
Brian Noe
Think about your biggest change in life. When did it occur and how big of a change was it? Was it relocating for school or work? Did it involve something more serious like death or divorce? We all experience major changes in life. How we respond to those changes reveals a lot about us as individuals. For 94WIP program director Rod Lakin, one of the biggest changes he’s ever experienced was moving from sunny Phoenix to the City of Brotherly Love. That’s like going from the chill vibes of a Phish concert, to being thrown straight into the mosh pit at a Lamb of God show.
Lakin didn’t just change addresses and get used to less sun. Immediately after beginning his new gig, Angelo Cataldi, an iconic host in Philly for 30 years, revealed his plans to retire. The major change box was officially checked for both Lakin and WIP.
Since that time, Rod Lakin and WIP have pivoted beautifully. The lineup is strong. The ratings are great. Life is good. We always talk about quarterbacks being cool under fire. Can you imagine if a program director like Lakin panicked during challenging times? WIP wouldn’t be where it is today if that were the case.
In the conversation below, Rod Lakin talks about the challenges he experienced while relocating across the country. He reveals the time he was most nervous as a PD. Lakin also shares excellent stories about Bryce Harper and a multitasking police officer. Only in Philly. Enjoy!
Brian Noe: How long did it take for you to feel comfortable in a new market over there in Philly?
Rod Lakin: I was out here on my own for the first few months. My family was back in Phoenix. That gave me a good chance to get to know all the people here and get a good understanding of the market and the way it worked. I think probably by the end of the year. I felt pretty good, like I was in a good place in terms of just understanding the way the city worked and the station. It took me a few months.
BN: I would think going from Phoenix to Philly is a huge change. Would you say it was as great as you expected it to be?
RL: Oh, definitely as great. My timing was good just because in Phoenix, the last summer I was there, the Suns were in the NBA Finals against the Bucks. It was just crazy. You’ve got to remember too, that was coming out of the pandemic. People were in the stands for the first time. It was the first time there were large-scale crowds again. The energy for that series was just completely nuts.
I remember thinking at the time, “I just love this, and this is what you want to be doing every day”. And then you come out to Philadelphia, and it is every day. These fans just get into it whether it’s Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, or anything else, they live and die by their teams.
BN: You were in Phoenix when the Suns came so close against the Bucks. You were also in Philly when the Eagles came so close to beating the Chiefs in the Super Bowl. When you think about those two outcomes, which was the bigger disappointment?
RL: Oh, man, that’s tough. That’s tough because the Suns have never won a championship before. For people that grew up in Phoenix, it’s like their first love because that was really the first professional sports team in Phoenix. But the Eagles one, that was crushing. Just to come so close. I went to the game. It was fun for me just to be back in my hometown, and then see the Eagles in the Super Bowl. It was the first time I had been to a Super Bowl. It was soul-crushing. So I don’t know, I’m not going to pick. I’m just going to say they were both equally bad.
BN: How about the challenge of losing Angelo Cataldi and not missing a beat? How has that been for you and the station?
RL: I mean, it’s been great. The new morning show has done a great job and that’s a huge task. We talked about it when we made the change, I knew Angelo was an institution out here, but I don’t even think I could really grasp how big he was until we made the announcement. Then we had the final show. What he meant to the city over the last 30 years, it’s just incredible.
So, yeah, to have a morning show come in with those kind of expectations and filling those kind of shoes, and to have the success that we’ve had, I think has been great. I think it’s gone better than any of us had a right to expect. It’s been nice.
BN: When Angelo moved on from doing a daily show, did you think about him being a guest once a week or having some type of presence on the station?
RL: Yeah, sure. Yeah, you have to think about all of that. But, ultimately, it comes down to the person too. Angelo, when he retired, was writing a book, which is out now. LOUD, it’s a great book. It’s on AngeloCataldi.com, or on Amazon bookstores. It’s really good book. He wanted to dive headfirst into his book. That was really where he was at the time.
Then for us, we wanted to place all energy in the new show. So yeah, we had discussed a couple of different options, whether it’s calling in or just having a semi-regular role at the station. But at the end of the day, he wanted to do his book and we wanted to get started on the new chapter for WIP. We’ve had him on, he’s been back promoting his book for the last month or so. We’ve had him on all the shows. It’s been great to hear his voice again.
BN: What convinced you that the current lineup was the best for the brand moving forward?
RL: Well, with Joe [DeCamara] and Jon [Ritchie], I knew that they already had a really good existing show. I felt like the pieces were in place to make it go to the next level. They have a good sense of humor. It was really about getting that show to the next level, adding complementary pieces because that had been a big part of Angelo’s show as well with contributors. Just putting it all together and making sure that we’re supporting it fully.
For middays, to have an opportunity to bring someone like Hugh Douglas back to Philadelphia was great. Joe Giglio, who has been doing evenings at WIP for a number of years, was ready to take that next step. Then putting them together and seeing that instant chemistry, it really worked.
I didn’t tell them, but Hugh came into town because he was inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame almost about a year ago, I had him come in studio with Joe when he was doing his evening show. It was a tryout for me. They didn’t know about it. I could tell they had really good chemistry from the beginning. And then [Jon] Marks & [Ike] Reese in the afternoon, have been doing great all along.
I just knew that the pieces seemed to fit the culture, too. Hugh being somebody that everybody knew and worked at WIP previously. That was a really like, turnkey option for me too. I think it’s been great.
BN: How would you describe what it’s like to hear chemistry? What does that sound like to you?
RL: Yeah, it’s hard to say. It’s not anything you can really describe fully, you just kind of have to have an instinct for it. I guess the best way I could put it is, if you put somebody on the show and it sounds like they’re just being interviewed, as opposed to you putting somebody on the show and it sounds like they’re having a conversation. That really is the big difference, I think. And with Hugh, like I was saying before when he came in last year, when he and Joe did that hour together, it was supposed to be an interview. But really, it turned into a conversation.
BN: How do you think working for Arizona Sports and Bonneville prepared you for WIP and Audacy?
RL: Well, first of all, my old job in Arizona, it was just great because on the partnership level, they had all the teams. That really taught me early on the importance of these partnerships. Coming out here to WIP, we have two great partners with the Eagles and the Phillies, I had a lot of muscle memory on situations I dealt with in Arizona. That taught me a lot. And just the great leaders that I had there. Scott Sutherland and Ryan Hatch were mentors and they helped prepare me for future success.
I often fall back on lessons that they taught me, especially getting out here in the beginning, they were really good resources to talk to and help me. It’s a big change. Until I moved out to Philadelphia about two and a half years ago, I lived in Arizona. [Laughs] I never lived anyplace else. So it was a big shock for me.
BN: Working with all of those professional franchises in Phoenix and Philadelphia, what’s the most nervous you’ve been as a programmer?
RL: The last example I can think of, and it was here, I came in to make the announcement for the new morning show, and I had to sit across from Angelo as he interviewed me about the change and all of that. I was just so intimidated. He’s just this larger-than-life guy. I wanted to make sure that I was conveying to the city of Philadelphia why I thought this is the right choice. He made me take a phone call from a fan. I had to actually act like a host, take this guy’s call, and ask him questions and all that. That’s probably the most nerve-wracking thing I can remember recently.
BN: I can just imagine Angelo. Did he try to make you nervous on purpose?
RL: It’s a whole story. At one point, he had a program director that he brought on the air to take calls, and it didn’t go very well. I think the program director told one of the callers to go to hell or something.
BN: [Laughs]
RL: So it was kind of like a bit, he wanted me to do it. Obviously, I wasn’t going to do that. But I remember when the guy called in, he introduced the caller, and I don’t even know what I said. I remember Angelo just like motioning to me like, “Alright, keep going, ask him another question, keep this thing moving”. I was like “Oh my God.” It was very purposeful on his part. For sure.
BN: Can you think of a funny bit or anything over the years that one of your hosts did that you thought was hilarious?
RL: Funny bit. I’m sure there are many. There are stories I could think of that are probably not appropriate to talk to you about.
BN: [Laughs] What is the most inappropriate yet still appropriate phone call you’ve heard over the years? Meaning the guy wasn’t cussing, you didn’t have to dump it, but you were like, wow, this is pretty wild right now?
RL: Well, recently, before the Dallas/Eagles game, we had a caller on the midday show. He was just going on this epic anti-Cowboys rant and how much this rivalry means and how much he hates the Cowboys. Then all of a sudden you hear this little sound. It’s like a police siren. It was a police officer who’s pulling somebody over as he was talking and making this big Cowboys rant.
BN: Oh, that’s great. Man, you know you’re in a hardcore sports town when that’s the case.
RL: Seriously. Yeah, and we had Jason Kelce on the morning show. He calls in on Wednesdays. He said that Nick Sirianni, the Eagles coach, played the clip of that on WIP to the team before the Dallas game just to get them fired up.
BN: Oh, wow. How big of a compliment is that to your station?
RL: Yeah, it’s awesome. We’ve had a few, like Bryce Harper. We have this great caller Chuck from Mt. Airy who calls in on some of the shows. He was talking about Bryce Harper. Then Bryce Harper hit a home run that night and then in the postgame talked about how he hit it for Chuck.
It’s crazy. WIP, I’ve never in my career seen a station so ingrained with the community. To have one of the biggest stars in baseball listen to WIP first of all, which he does, and then make a point in the postgame show to say that he hit a home run for one of our callers, I don’t think that happens anyplace else.
BN: How about for you personally, just future goals? Do you think long-term or the next day?
RL: Yeah, next day. You go through a situation like I went through where you move cross-country to the huge powerhouse, sports radio brand. Then, a week later, the guy that’s been doing morning drive for the last 30 years says he’s going to retire. That’s enough. Just the expectations of living up to my predecessors here and making sure we’re putting out a quality product for the audience. Especially right now with the Eagles and the Phillies having such great seasons.
We have these great market conditions. For me, every day is just how do you execute the opportunity? That’s what I focus on.
BN: When you started off your sports radio career, if someone would’ve told you, “Look, man, this is the way it’s going to go. You’re going to be in Phoenix programming a great station. Then you’re going to go to Philly and you’re going to be programming WIP.” If someone had told you that, what would have been your reaction?
RL: I would have been really surprised. [Laughs] I didn’t really know early on in my career whether or not I was going to pursue something on air or behind the scenes. Certainly, the idea of being a program director was not on my radar at that time. It was only until I became an executive producer in Phoenix, and I got to know a lot of the great program directors around the country that I really started thinking about that as being a viable career path for me.
So yeah, I would’ve been pretty stunned if you told me I’d be in Philadelphia right now talking Eagles and Phillies with you, and moving my family across the country. That would not have been something I would’ve expected, but I’m happy.
BN: I’m glad you’re happy. It’s funny, man, because if I were in your shoes, I would be like, man, how are they going to treat me? How are they going to react? Are they going to be like, this guy is from Phoenix? What are we doing? It sounds like you didn’t feel like that at all.
RL: I mean, I didn’t. I’m sure there were people that were thinking that. I know I would’ve if I were here. But everybody from the beginning was very receptive to what I had to say. It wasn’t like I was coming in saying, all right, here we go, let me show you how we did things in Arizona. I came in to listen and just to align and enhance the brand here. I think we’ve landed in a good place.

Brian Noe is a columnist for BSM and an on-air host heard nationwide on FOX Sports Radio’s Countdown To Kickoff. Previous roles include stops in Portland, OR, Albany, NY and Fresno, CA. You can follow him on Twitter @TheNoeShow or email him at [email protected].
BSM Writers
Does Mark Cuban See a Bubble That is About to Burst in Sports Media?
“The now-former Shark Tank star has a good track record of identifying the ideal time to bail.”

Published
2 days agoon
December 6, 2023
America’s top professional and college sports leagues have been living on easy street for the last ten years. Whenever their broadcast rights come up for negotiations, the NFL, NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, the SEC and the Big Ten have been able to count on a line of bidders eager to get in on the action.
That party may be close to over though. Amin Elhassan of Meadowlark Media said last week that Mark Cuban may be the first to see it and that is why he is ready to sell off his majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks.
“That whole streaming money that everyone’s been talking about for years, like, ‘oh, when this next TV deal is up, it doesn’t even matter if Disney and Turner aren’t ponying up.’ ‘Oh, Amazon and Netflix are going to come in and just dump billions of dollars,’” he told co-host Charlotte Wilder on their Oddball podcast. “That’s not been the case. So I think Mark Cuban’s looking and he’s saying, ‘oh, this is the bubble and the bubble is about to burst.’”
He then pointed out that everyone in the NBA should be concerned if Cuban is the one with that vision. The now-former Shark Tank star has a good track record of identifying the ideal time to bail.
“He founded this thing called Broadcast.com,” Elhassan explained. “They pioneered the technology that allows people to stream video on the Internet. The reason why you’re able to watch anything on your phone, tablet or computer is because Mark Cuban and the company that he founded. He founded it and he sold it and within a few months, the dot com bubble crashed and that he made out like a bandit and everybody else was like Pets.com. ‘Ahhhh! We broke!’ So I definitely to me, it feels like the ship be sinking and ‘let me get off before everyone starts to figure it out and clamor.’”
Now, it should be noted that Cuban was recently asked about keeping the Mavericks a family business and passing control of the franchise down to his kids one day.
“I wouldn’t put them through it,” he said on a recent edition of All the Smoke. He then went on to explain that team owners need to court investments from real estate developers.
“That’s where the money is going be coming from potentially,” citing expensive real estate deals like the ones to get new areas for the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers.
It’s very possible that Cuban doesn’t see the single majority shareholder model as a viable way to own and run a team anymore. It’s also possible he just wants to enjoy being rich and not have as many responsibilities. It was on that same episode of All the Smoke that the 65-year-old revealed his time on ABC’s reality show Shark Tank is coming to an end.
But this is a sports media site. We pour over rights deals and potential deals looking for justification or game changing strategy. Let’s dive into the idea that Cuban sees a bubble that is about to burst.
If Amin Elhassan is right, and that is indeed how Cuban feels, he is not alone. 97.1 The Ticket’s Mike Valenti said the same thing earlier this year, although his prediction was less about the demand diminishing and more about customer dissatisfaction with the product.
Valenti’s point is that leagues’ rights will not hold their value if the streamers and networks they sell to make it hard for fans to see the games. The NFL is putting playoff games behind a paywall. Regular season action in Major League Baseball, the NHL, and college sports are already there.
Puck News founder and former editor of The Hollywood Reporter Matthew Belloni disagrees. He told me that the willingness to allow some big games to be streaming exclusives actually makes a league’s rights more valuable to media companies in 2023.
“There’s a big push in the entire streaming industry right now to raise profits, even at the expense of growing subscriber numbers and usage,” he told me via email. “Using premium sports, the top driver of subscription and engagement, to increase profitability, makes perfect sense. All these games *should* be behind a paywall. Thats where they will benefit their broadcaster most, even if the leagues might want greater accessibility.”
Cuban and other owners are yet to settle on new broadcast deals for the NBA. Commissioner Adam Silver may have been overly optimistic in insisting that the league could triple its current revenue in its next TV rights deals, but he and team owners have been willing and eager to look at new revenue streams and more modern broadcast deals in order to help them get there.
Still, it’s hard not to think about two outlets when it comes to the NBA on TV – ESPN and TNT. Maybe other networks will get involved in the bidding, but at this point, it is hard to picture a world where those outlets and ABC are not airing NBA games.
Do Disney’s plans for the future of ESPN inch us closer to a bubble bursting for media rights deals? If the network will be a streaming product by 2025, will Bob Iger and Jimmy Pitaro be more conservative with what they are willing to spend money on and how much they are willing to pay?
I asked Belloni if he expected the company’s projections for what ESPN can generate as a streaming product are more likely to make it less agressive with the NBA and other rights deals in the short term.
“It’s not a question of aggressive vs frugal, it’s what does Disney need to compete in sports,” he said. “Iger has said he wants ESPN to be available on streaming by 2025, which isn’t that far away.”
He added that it doesn’t mean that competition stops. Other networks and streamers want in on the NBA. There are major commitments to the NFL, the SEC and others that Disney has to honor as well. Iger and Pitaro are not going to let those get away. They have to sustain the brand’s value no matter what form the network takes.
“Renewing top tier rights like the NBA will be key to that push because ESPN will be an expensive product, but he also should expect less revenue in the short term because making ESPN available digitally will exacerbate cord cutting,” Belloni said. “Hence why he is looking for a deep-pocketed partner to invest in ESPN and help defray the costs of those rights packages.”
Amin Elhassan is an incredibly smart guy. He didn’t simply see Cuban’s sale announced and jumped to the conclusion that a rights bubble is about to burst and he did a great job of explaining that.
He did leave out the part about who is buying Cuban’s stake in the Mavericks and what she plans to do with it.
Miriam Adelson is a Republican mega donor and widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, who’s Las Vegas Sands Corporation built three resorts in Las Vegas and seven other properties across Asia.
Sports gambling has become a right versus left issue in Texas, with Republicans coming down on the side of “ain’t gonna happen.” Adelson’s investment in the Mavericks is said to include plans for an entertainment and casino complex near Dallas.
Mark Cuban may be “down to Earth for a billionaire,” but he is still a billionaire obsessed with his public image. Remember how furious he was with Draymond Green in 2017 when the Warriors’ star said that the term “team owner” invoked the unpleasant idea of one person owning another? Cuban is not completely abandoning the team. He will continue to run basketball operations in Dallas. If he really saw a rights bubble that was about to burst, it seems more likely that he would want to put as much distance as possible between himself and the perceived failure.
This deal is not about Cuban’s projections for sports media’s future. It is about Miriam Adelson recognizing an opportunity to wield political influence and add a few billion to her net worth.

Demetri Ravanos is the Assistant Content Director for Barrett Sports Media. He hosts the Chewing Clock and Media Noise podcasts. He occasionally fills in on stations across the Carolinas. Previous stops include WAVH and WZEW in Mobile, AL, WBPT in Birmingham, AL and WBBB, WPTK and WDNC in Raleigh, NC. You can find him on Twitter @DemetriRavanos and reach him by email at [email protected].
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