LeBatard Show Archives
Posting videos of "The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz" and "Highly Questionable."
Sports Biz: ESPN Highly Quarantined w/ Dan Le Batard & Friends UPDATE: CANCELLED! Now DEBATABLE! Now DONE!
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Highly Quarantined (@HQonESPN) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Highly Quarantined (@HQonESPN). Watch Papi and his co-hosts everyday on ESPN at 4:30 pm et! Instagram: highlyquestionable. Miami, FL
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Highly Quarantined (@HQonESPN) | Twitter
The latest Tweets from Highly Quarantined (@HQonESPN). Watch Papi and his co-hosts everyday on ESPN at 4:30 pm et! Instagram: highlyquestionable. Miami, FL
typical white woman after a break up....lolshit was hilarious....n tht Asian chick kept letting her have it...
The Dan Le Batard–ESPN Marriage Ended a Long Time Ago
Dan Le Batard is set to part ways with ESPN after a rocky relationship.
www.si.com
The Dan Le Batard–ESPN Relationship Couldn't Be Salvaged After One Specific Incident: TRAINA THOUGHTS
JIMMY TRAINAUPDATED
EC 4, 2020ORIGINALEC 4, 20201. The Dan Le Batard–ESPN marriage will come to an end Jan. 4, when the popular host does his last radio show and last episode of Highly Questionable.
For anyone who pays attention to sports media, the breakup isn't a shock. The relationship between Le Batard and the network seemed fractured for a while.
The latest incident occurred last month when ESPN laid off Chris Cote, one of the producers of the The Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz.
"We were blindsided by him being let go," Le Batard said on his show. "It's the greatest disrespect of my professional career, that I got no notice, no collaboration, that [producer] Mike Ryan told me that Chris Cote had been let go. I would have loved to work something out, if anybody had told me, to protect him."
Le Batard ended up hiring Cote as his assistant, which was not only a great gesture, but also sent a message to ESPN.
Shortly before the Cote controversy, ESPN had moved The Dan Le Batard Show With Stugotz off of television and onto ESPN+, while also chopping an hour off the show.
Clearly, this was not a kumbaya relationship.
Things between ESPN and Le Batard always seemed bumpy, though, which never seemed to make sense given Le Batard's popularity. You'd think ESPN would value someone with such a loyal following, but instead, the network gave the impression it was nervous about Le Batard being a wild card.
This is a man who once gave his MLB Hall of Fame ballot to Deadspin and paid for billboards that took a shot at LeBron James for leaving Miami. But in the world of sports talk radio nonsense, these are not things that should ruffle many feathers. Plus, both incidents happened years ago.
In my opinion, the real turning point in the Le Batard–ESPN relationship happened in the summer of 2019, when the network made a big stink about Le Batard taking President Donald Trump to task on his radio show for supporting chants of "Send her back" directed at U.S. Representative for Minnesota Ilhan Omar.
After saying Trump was "instigating racial division," Le Batard, whose parents came to the United States from Cuba, said, “We here at ESPN haven’t had the stomach for that fight, because Jemele [Hill] did some things on Twitter and you saw what happened after that, and then here all of a sudden nobody talks politics on anything unless we can use one of these sports figures as a meat shield in the most cowardly possible way to discuss these subjects."
Le Batard added, “The only way we can discuss it around here—because this isn’t about politics, it’s about race; what you’re seeing happening around here is about race and it’s been turned into politics—we only talk about it around here when Steve Kerr or [Gregg] Popovich says something. We don’t talk about what is happening unless there’s some sort of weak, cowardly sports angle that we can run it through, when sports has always been a place where this stuff changes.”
While the Le Batard–ESPN relationship came to an end Thursday, it really ended when Le Batard made these comments. ESPN's reaction to his comments was so over the top. ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro had a face-to-face meeting with Le Batard to talk to him about what he said, even though Le Batard said nothing wrong and nothing that should be considered even remotely controversial.
The bottom line is ESPN values vanilla, don't-rock-the-boat, stick-to-sports hosts over creative, authentic, original hosts.
ESPN wants its hosts arguing about who the NFL MVP is and whether LeBron or Jordan is the best player in NBA history. The network doesn't want its hosts dipping outside of the sports world.
Who cares if the person running the country has botched the pandemic response in epic fashion, and who cares if the same person is trying to steal a presidential election? Don't you DARE mention those things on a three-hour radio show. STICK TO SPORTS!
Once Le Batard made those comments last year—again, in my opinion—it put a target on his back. So his show loses an hour. His producer gets fired. And now the company parts ways with him.
Le Batard will sign with another company instantly and, hopefully for his fans, it will be with a company that doesn't muzzle him.
2. In what should be a fun watch, NBC Sports will have map wizard Steve Kornacki on its Sunday Night Football pregame show and at halftime of the Broncos-Chiefs game to break down the playoff picture.
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Who Will Win the Breakup: ESPN or Dan Le Batard?
ESPN announced Dan Le Batard will be leaving the network after a tumultuous last few months that saw him feud with the company at times. Given that it is not
www.si.com
Dan Le Batard out at ESPN after network ‘blindsided’ him
Dan Le Batard is officially in his last month at ESPN. The familiar radio voice and TV host will leave the company after a final day of shows — “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” and…
nypost.com
Dan Le Batard out at ESPN after network ‘blindsided’ him
By Greg Joyce
December 3, 2020 | 4:39pm | Updated
Dan Le Batard out at ESPN after network ‘blindsided’ him
Dan Le Batard is officially in his last month at ESPN.
The familiar radio voice and TV host will leave the company after a final day of shows — “The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz” and “Highly Questionable” — on Jan. 4, Le Batard and ESPN announced on Thursday.
The Post’s Andrew Marchand reported last month that a breakup was likely coming and on Thursday, ESPN executive vice president and executive editor Norby Williamson said in a statement that the network and Le Batard had “mutually agreed” to move on.
“Gracias to ESPN for unleashing Papi and Stugotz upon an unsuspecting America, and for lending its substantive credibility to our careening clown car,” Le Batard said in a statement. “Can’t believe Stugotz finally achieved his dream of becoming a high-priced free agent.”
Dan Le BatardGetty Images
“Highly Questionable” will remain on ESPN after Le Batard’s departure, the network said. ESPN had previously moved the show to an earlier time in the day and cut his national radio program by an hour.
Le Batard also expressed his displeasure last month when he said he was “blindsided” by news of one of his producers, Chris Cote, being one of the 300 people ESPN laid off. He called it “the greatest disrespect of my professional career,” though he took on Cote’s salary as a personal assistant and gave him a raise.
“To our loyal army of concerned fans, and to everyone who walked along and played an instrument in our Marching Band to Nowhere, know that it is a very exciting time for us, not a sad one,” Le Batard said Thursday. “And that you’ll be hearing our laughter again soon enough.”
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Dan Le Batard and the Twilight of the "Former Journalist"
The longtime ESPN radio and TV star is moving on, and with him the glory days of the sports network’s talent strategy
www.theringer.com
Dan Le Batard and the Twilight of the “Former Journalist”
The longtime ESPN radio and TV star is moving on, and with him the glory days of the sports network’s talent strategy
By Bryan Curtis Dec 4, 2020, 9:26am EST
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It’s no surprise Dan Le Batard is leaving ESPN. The news was so inevitable that if Le Batard saw it on a radio rundown, his own contrarianism would make him pick a less obvious topic. Did you guys see this Cris Collinsworth thing … ?
But his move is still revealing. When Jemele Hill made a Le Batard–style leap to TV, she dubbed herself a “former journalist.” Former journalists were print stars. A decade ago, in an odd twist of fate, they were handed the keys to ESPN. Former journalists had the run of the network; it was their playpen, their ATM machine. Not every former journalist has left ESPN for Substack yet. But Le Batard’s exit makes it clear their golden age is over.
In hindsight, it might seem obvious that ESPN would turn its creative engines over to print veterans like Tony and Mike, Michael and Jemele, Dan, Bomani, and Pablo, and the cast of Around the Horn. At the time, it wasn’t obvious at all. It seemed kind of weird, like an inversion of the typical TV hierarchy. That’s part of what made it so exhilarating.
Back in the ’90s, ESPN added news-breaking reporters like Chris Mortensen and Ed Werder. Under former magazine publisher John Skipper, who became ESPN’s president in 2012, the network hired more columnists. The idea was that their clippings gave their TV opinions credibility and weight. They could flash the names of their old newspapers like a detective flashes a badge.
Hill, who was an Orlando Sentinel columnist before joining ESPN, was once told by a producer: “I can’t teach you how to have an opinion. But I can teach you how to be on TV.” Thus, a former journalist was born.
If ESPN filling its daypart with ex-writers wasn’t the obvious move, it wasn’t clear writers wanted anything to do with ESPN, either. “Print people did not want to be on TV,” said Hill. “We looked down at television people. We considered ourselves to be the real intellectuals and journalists, not people who were on television.”
In time, print people realized that to make seven figures they had to (a) write the next Moneyball; or (b) find a TV gig that was less embarrassing than the 11 p.m. sports. “Once people started to figure out that with the radio and TV you can make a shitload of money, then that’s what changed the game,” said Hill. “It’s like, ‘Wait a minute. I can still write, but I can get paid a few thousand dollars on the side to do television?’” According to the New York Post, Le Batard earned about $3 million per year.
ESPN cast some of its former journalists as pure assholes. (In such cases, there was a direct correlation with the writer’s eagerness to first cast themself as an asshole in print.) Even so, the former journalists’ salaries and reach grew massively.
A handful of former journalists found paradise. They got an ESPN show—usually produced by Erik Rydholm—that was an extension of their personality. Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon got that kind of show. So did Michael Smith and Hill, at least with His & Hers. Le Batard might have discovered it in its truest, weirdest form.
Le Batard made his relationship with his dad, Gonzalo (a.k.a Papi), the central conceit of a daily ESPN show. Highly Questionable’s other cast members were people Le Batard called friends. The ethos of Le Batard’s radio show, as described by TV writer Mike Schur, was “to mock the concept of sports radio—to make you feel bad for ever liking sports radio, or thinking it was worth your time.” The show’s brushback pitch to the uninitiated—“You don’t get the show!”—was a reminder of just how much Le Batard was getting away with.
Being a former journalist could be so fun that it disguised a few things. One was that TV hosts got the glory of slinging opinions with few of the messy side effects. “The truth is, I wasn’t writing pieces and having to walk into a locker room every day and answer for what I wrote,” said Hill. “I didn’t have to talk to any coaches or any players.
“Once you get to TV and you have so much more distance between the people you’re actually talking about, you become an entertainer.”
Moreover, the TV hosts’ old papers were crumbling. Tim Cowlishaw has noted that he beamed in to Around the Horn from a newsroom that was being thinned by layoffs and buyouts. ESPN wasn’t just a final, lucrative destination for newspaper writers anymore. It was becoming—through its website, ESPN the Magazine, and later Grantland—one of their few stable homes.
Then ESPN began to shrink. The decline of the cable model led to several rounds of layoffs, the most recent of which claimed Le Batard producer Chris Cote. (Le Batard, who called the way the network handled the layoff “the greatest disrespect of my professional career,” gave Cote a new job and paid the salary himself.)
After taking over in 2018, ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro, who may not share Skipper’s interest in print stars, put guardrails on what his hosts could talk about on-air. That caused an eruption from Le Batard, who asked why he had to wait for an athlete to have a political opinion before he could have one himself.
There’s a story about ESPN and politics there. There’s also a story about control—a type of control ex-columnists weren’t used to at their newspapers, much less at ESPN. In August, Le Batard lamented that ESPN had cut an hour from his radio show just as the sports world was dealing with the issues he specialized in. “Noon Eastern, beginning Monday, Mike Greenberg,” he said. “I just want you to absorb that.”
Pitaro insists he values journalism, like Skipper. It’s more precise to say Pitaro doesn’t put the same value on words—and, by extension, the people that write them. Or wrote them. ESPN still offers great forums to former journalists like Tony and Mike, Stephen A., and Woj. But when ESPN goes searching for credibility and weight, it’s more likely to seek out Peyton Manning than a columnist.
The twilight of the former journalist comes at a horribly ironic time. The pandemic added 50 miles per hour to print’s rate of decline. Writers are pivoting to Substack. To podcasting. To … well, if you have another idea, be sure to tweet it out. Going multimedia is no longer the capstone of a print career, as it was for Le Batard; it’s a way to save your career from oblivion. These days, a former journalist is what you call a journalist who needs a job.
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After Much Sparring, Dan Le Batard Is to Leave ESPN in January (Published 2020)
Le Batard, a radio- and television-show host, had recently criticized his bosses for laying off one of his producers, and he has bashed the network’s reluctance to allow commentary on politics.
Since he was named president in early 2018, Pitaro has sought to steer the network away from commentary that can be deemed political. He has said survey data shows fans don’t want to hear political discussions on ESPN and has told employees to discuss politics only through the lens of sports.
The strategy worked to quell some of the controversy that surrounded ESPN in 2017, when the “SportsCenter” host Jemele Hill called the president a white supremacist. But it began to seem less viable this summer, after the killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis prompted topics of racism and police brutality to dominate the sports landscape. As The New York Times reported in July, some employees said they had been told to tone down their coverage of racial issues in sports.
“It was never explicit, it was just sort of us reading the room,” Elle Duncan, a “SportsCenter” anchor, said in The Times article.
ESPN Employees Say Racism Endures Behind the Camera
July 13, 2020
Le Batard’s departure from ESPN somewhat parallels the experiences of Bill Simmons, who also carved out his own empire at the network but eventually split with the company after he antagonized his bosses once too often and the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement when renegotiating his contract.
Still, Le Batard seemed to recognize that he benefited considerably from his ties to the network.
“One of the afflictions that comes with ego is the idea that you are responsible for your success and that ESPN isn’t,” he said on the radio in 2016, after “Any Given Wednesday” — Simmons’s post-ESPN television show on HBO — was canceled. “It is another reminder: ‘Do not leave ESPN, man. ESPN is a monster platform that is responsible for all of our successes.’”
Those comments, however, came before John Skipper, who had a strong relationship with Le Batard, resigned as ESPN’s president and before Simmons sold The Ringer, his website and podcast network, to Spotify for a reported $200 million.
It is not clear what Le Batard might do next, but in the statement announcing his departure, he declared in his typically absurd manner that he was not done.
“To our loyal army of concerned fans, and to everyone who walked along and played an instrument in our Marching Band to Nowhere, know that it is a very exciting time for us, not a sad one,” Le Batard said. “And that you’ll be hearing our laughter again soon enough.”
Kevin Draper is a sports business reporter, covering the leagues, owners, unions, stadiums and media companies behind the games. Prior to joining The Times, he was an editor at Deadspin. @kevinmdraper
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Here’s Where Dan Le Batard Could Land After Leaving ESPN
ESPN
Dan Le Batard, Stugotz and Co. have one of the most-passionate followings in sports media. ESPN is losing that following soon.
The Worldwide Leader announced this week that Le Batard is officially leaving the company at the beginning of 2021.
“Gracias to ESPN for unleashing [co-stars] Papi and Stugotz upon an unsuspecting America, and for lending its substantive credibility to our careening clown car … [T]hank you, Disney and ESPN, for a quarter century of absurd blessings,” Le Batard said in a statement.
ESPN executive Norby Williamson said it was a mutual decision.
“It was mutually agreed that it was best for both sides to move on to new opportunities and we worked together closely to make that possible,” Williamson said.
Le Batard, who hosted The Dan Le Batard Show and Highly Questionable for ESPN, is now a very coveted free agent.
It remains to be seen where Le Batard and his crew will end up, but there appear to be two logical destinations:
ESPN
Dan Le Batard, Stugotz and Co. have one of the most-passionate followings in sports media. ESPN is losing that following soon.
The Worldwide Leader announced this week that Le Batard is officially leaving the company at the beginning of 2021.
“Gracias to ESPN for unleashing [co-stars] Papi and Stugotz upon an unsuspecting America, and for lending its substantive credibility to our careening clown car … [T]hank you, Disney and ESPN, for a quarter century of absurd blessings,” Le Batard said in a statement.
ESPN executive Norby Williamson said it was a mutual decision.
“It was mutually agreed that it was best for both sides to move on to new opportunities and we worked together closely to make that possible,” Williamson said.
Le Batard, who hosted The Dan Le Batard Show and Highly Questionable for ESPN, is now a very coveted free agent.
It remains to be seen where Le Batard and his crew will end up, but there appear to be two logical destinations:
- Sirius XM
- Spotify
It will be interesting to see where Le Batard and his loyal following end up at.
Dan Le Batard and ESPN are better off divorced
By Andrew Marchand
December 3, 2020 | 9:37pm | Updated
Michael Kay and Craig Carton have first salvo in new ratings war
Dan Le Batard was so wrong that he is now contradicting himself.
In 2016, on his radio show, Le Batard said that the ego in the sports-opinion business caused people to make decisions as if they were big-time free-agent athletes. Le Batard criticized Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless for exiting ESPN for Fox Sports.
“You leave, you’re going to get lost, you’re going to do it for the money and no one’s going to know where to find you,” Le Batard said at the time.
Cowherd and Bayless have done just fine at Fox Sports. Each earned new multimillion dollar contracts after the original deals ran out. Both are still in the conversation.
Now, Le Batard is following them out the ESPN door. He and the network announced he will leave next month.
He was making around $3 million per year with a little less than two years left. And the two sides finally figured out it was time to stop the strife and get divorced.
Le Batard gets to keep Stugotz and the rest of the kids, while ESPN receives some financial relief and no longer has to deal with Le Batard’s headaches.
There is life after ESPN. Many have proven it in many different ways. Now, Le Batard will join SiriusXM, Spotify or some other podcast company or do his own thing.
–– ADVERTISEMENT ––
He will probably expand further out of sports — and his smaller, but very loyal audience can work in a subscription, direct-to-consumer world.
SEE ALSO
Dan Le Batard out at ESPN after network ‘blindsided’ him
Since 2016, the media world has further changed. Le Batard doesn’t really need ESPN and it doesn’t need him. On its networks, it needs to focus on games and news, which aren’t of strong interest to the 51-year-old Le Batard these days.
He wanted to act counterculture inside the machine. But how long could ESPN support putting someone on the air who was so openly loathing of its actual product?
Le Batard went out of his way not to talk about sports. It was fine, sometimes funny. But it wasn’t a match.
ESPN slowly disassembled Le Batard’s perch, piece by piece, slicing off an affiliate here, and an hour there, making this ending inevitable.
He loved to say he negotiated freedom instead of money as if $3 million per year were minimum wage. That is always the golden prison for the “edgy folks” at ESPN.
You can talk all you want, but when Mickey Mouse is your boss, there are boundaries that come with the big contracts. So while the new bad boys and girls on social media and podcasts can say what they want — even swear — ESPN still has rules.
Le Batard didn’t want to play by them, which is fine if you rate better. He didn’t work on radio and his TV show was at its peak with his dad on it. He can thrive digitally.
SEE ALSO
The mystery around ESPN’s most popular dad has been solved
So now, nationally, ESPN will have sports shows. In the morning, “Keyshawn, J-Will & Zubin” is not perfect, but it is better than its predecessor, “Wingo and Golic.” At 10 a.m., Mike Greenberg is more vanilla than Le Batard, but vanilla is a good flavor to sell in bulk because a lot of people like the reliable taste. Bart Scott and Alan Hahn (12 p.m.-2 p.m.) receive a nice promotion to national, followed by Max Kellerman from 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
In New York, ESPN is still figuring out what it might do. It could return an hour to “Humpty, Canty & Rothenberg,” moving it to 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on the FM dial. Greenberg would lose his FM hour, but could be on AM 1050 in New York. “Bart and Hahn” could follow from 12 p.m.-2 p.m. before Kellerman and then “The Michael Kay Show before its night-time shows featuring Chris Carlin and Larry Hardesty.
They will all talk sports. Le Batard can go do his own thing. He’ll probably rip on ESPN to earn publicity, which is a pastime after people leave the four-letter network.
In 2016, Le Batard also criticized Bill Simmons when he left ESPN and Simmons’ HBO show quickly failed.
“It’s another reminder, do not leave ESPN,” Le Batard said then. “ESPN is a monster platform that is responsible for all our successes.”
Simmons recently sold The Ringer, the company he started after leaving ESPN, to Spotify for a reported $200 million.
ESPN doesn’t need Le Batard. But Le Batard will be heard from again.
By Andrew Marchand
December 3, 2020 | 9:37pm | Updated
Michael Kay and Craig Carton have first salvo in new ratings war
Dan Le Batard was so wrong that he is now contradicting himself.
In 2016, on his radio show, Le Batard said that the ego in the sports-opinion business caused people to make decisions as if they were big-time free-agent athletes. Le Batard criticized Colin Cowherd and Skip Bayless for exiting ESPN for Fox Sports.
“You leave, you’re going to get lost, you’re going to do it for the money and no one’s going to know where to find you,” Le Batard said at the time.
Cowherd and Bayless have done just fine at Fox Sports. Each earned new multimillion dollar contracts after the original deals ran out. Both are still in the conversation.
Now, Le Batard is following them out the ESPN door. He and the network announced he will leave next month.
He was making around $3 million per year with a little less than two years left. And the two sides finally figured out it was time to stop the strife and get divorced.
Le Batard gets to keep Stugotz and the rest of the kids, while ESPN receives some financial relief and no longer has to deal with Le Batard’s headaches.
There is life after ESPN. Many have proven it in many different ways. Now, Le Batard will join SiriusXM, Spotify or some other podcast company or do his own thing.
–– ADVERTISEMENT ––
He will probably expand further out of sports — and his smaller, but very loyal audience can work in a subscription, direct-to-consumer world.
SEE ALSO
Dan Le Batard out at ESPN after network ‘blindsided’ him
Since 2016, the media world has further changed. Le Batard doesn’t really need ESPN and it doesn’t need him. On its networks, it needs to focus on games and news, which aren’t of strong interest to the 51-year-old Le Batard these days.
He wanted to act counterculture inside the machine. But how long could ESPN support putting someone on the air who was so openly loathing of its actual product?
Le Batard went out of his way not to talk about sports. It was fine, sometimes funny. But it wasn’t a match.
ESPN slowly disassembled Le Batard’s perch, piece by piece, slicing off an affiliate here, and an hour there, making this ending inevitable.
He loved to say he negotiated freedom instead of money as if $3 million per year were minimum wage. That is always the golden prison for the “edgy folks” at ESPN.
You can talk all you want, but when Mickey Mouse is your boss, there are boundaries that come with the big contracts. So while the new bad boys and girls on social media and podcasts can say what they want — even swear — ESPN still has rules.
Le Batard didn’t want to play by them, which is fine if you rate better. He didn’t work on radio and his TV show was at its peak with his dad on it. He can thrive digitally.
SEE ALSO
The mystery around ESPN’s most popular dad has been solved
So now, nationally, ESPN will have sports shows. In the morning, “Keyshawn, J-Will & Zubin” is not perfect, but it is better than its predecessor, “Wingo and Golic.” At 10 a.m., Mike Greenberg is more vanilla than Le Batard, but vanilla is a good flavor to sell in bulk because a lot of people like the reliable taste. Bart Scott and Alan Hahn (12 p.m.-2 p.m.) receive a nice promotion to national, followed by Max Kellerman from 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
In New York, ESPN is still figuring out what it might do. It could return an hour to “Humpty, Canty & Rothenberg,” moving it to 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on the FM dial. Greenberg would lose his FM hour, but could be on AM 1050 in New York. “Bart and Hahn” could follow from 12 p.m.-2 p.m. before Kellerman and then “The Michael Kay Show before its night-time shows featuring Chris Carlin and Larry Hardesty.
They will all talk sports. Le Batard can go do his own thing. He’ll probably rip on ESPN to earn publicity, which is a pastime after people leave the four-letter network.
In 2016, Le Batard also criticized Bill Simmons when he left ESPN and Simmons’ HBO show quickly failed.
“It’s another reminder, do not leave ESPN,” Le Batard said then. “ESPN is a monster platform that is responsible for all our successes.”
Simmons recently sold The Ringer, the company he started after leaving ESPN, to Spotify for a reported $200 million.
ESPN doesn’t need Le Batard. But Le Batard will be heard from again.
The departure of Dan Le Batard, ESPN’s most successful voice, has been brewing for a while
Bryan Fonseca
Thursday 5:36PM
•
Filed to:ESPN
1
Screenshot: ESPN
In early July, ESPN unveiled their new radio line-up, and the show that garnered the most attention was Dan Le Batard’s. The simulcasted program, and ESPN’s most successful podcast for multiple years running, lost an hour on-air — going from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., to 10 a.m.-noon. Not long after, it was discovered that the show would be moving from ESPN News to ESPN+.
And today, this happened, despite the extension Le Batard signed with ESPN two years ago:
It’s unknown whether Le Batard is bringing the entire brand with him, or whether such a move would include the Le Batard and Friends Network, which houses podcasts by Sarah Spain, Marty Smith, Mina Kimes, Le Batard, Stugotz, and the show’s Shipping Container. He also recently hired one of the fired said Shipping Container members and Le Batard Show producer Chris Cote as his personal assistant to keep him in the building. He even called Cote’s firing the most disrespectful act of his professional career.
Whether or not Le Batard admits it tomorrow morning, it’s long sounded as if this breakup had been brewing for years. On his own show, he’s (sometimes playfully, sometimes not) jabbed at the network’s “stick to sports” mandate under president Jimmy Pitaro, a pushback Jemele Hill wrote about last year, and why he doesn’t want to abide by such structure. Le Batard has not only been the face of ESPN’s audio division — he has been a maverick leading a fanbase of anarchists wanting to shake the table of the billion-dollar establishment. He’s the same man whose show sold out 500 Gramercy Theatre tickets in 30 seconds last May, resulting in Le Batard die-hards complaining online about how quickly they were assed out of meeting the hosts in New York City.
And Le Betard is one of sports media’s most beloved figures. His audience was a testament to his show, which included appearances from Stephen A Smith, Bomani Jones, Pablo Torre, Katie Nolan, and Nick Wright, among many others.
Whenever he steps out of bounds under said structure, speculation arises as to whether or not he’ll get suspended for simply calling out hypocrisy. And in the past, he’s also expressed a wish for the company to report more vigorously on itself.
Maybe he’s not “allowed” to talk about it tomorrow on his show. Maybe he doesn’t care, and maybe he’ll lob one final grenade before his January 4 farewell. But ultimately, whether he admits it or not, Le Batard hasn’t needed ESPN for some time.
Bryan Fonseca
Thursday 5:36PM
•
Filed to:ESPN
1
Screenshot: ESPN
In early July, ESPN unveiled their new radio line-up, and the show that garnered the most attention was Dan Le Batard’s. The simulcasted program, and ESPN’s most successful podcast for multiple years running, lost an hour on-air — going from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., to 10 a.m.-noon. Not long after, it was discovered that the show would be moving from ESPN News to ESPN+.
And today, this happened, despite the extension Le Batard signed with ESPN two years ago:
It’s unknown whether Le Batard is bringing the entire brand with him, or whether such a move would include the Le Batard and Friends Network, which houses podcasts by Sarah Spain, Marty Smith, Mina Kimes, Le Batard, Stugotz, and the show’s Shipping Container. He also recently hired one of the fired said Shipping Container members and Le Batard Show producer Chris Cote as his personal assistant to keep him in the building. He even called Cote’s firing the most disrespectful act of his professional career.
Whether or not Le Batard admits it tomorrow morning, it’s long sounded as if this breakup had been brewing for years. On his own show, he’s (sometimes playfully, sometimes not) jabbed at the network’s “stick to sports” mandate under president Jimmy Pitaro, a pushback Jemele Hill wrote about last year, and why he doesn’t want to abide by such structure. Le Batard has not only been the face of ESPN’s audio division — he has been a maverick leading a fanbase of anarchists wanting to shake the table of the billion-dollar establishment. He’s the same man whose show sold out 500 Gramercy Theatre tickets in 30 seconds last May, resulting in Le Batard die-hards complaining online about how quickly they were assed out of meeting the hosts in New York City.
And Le Betard is one of sports media’s most beloved figures. His audience was a testament to his show, which included appearances from Stephen A Smith, Bomani Jones, Pablo Torre, Katie Nolan, and Nick Wright, among many others.
Whenever he steps out of bounds under said structure, speculation arises as to whether or not he’ll get suspended for simply calling out hypocrisy. And in the past, he’s also expressed a wish for the company to report more vigorously on itself.
Maybe he’s not “allowed” to talk about it tomorrow on his show. Maybe he doesn’t care, and maybe he’ll lob one final grenade before his January 4 farewell. But ultimately, whether he admits it or not, Le Batard hasn’t needed ESPN for some time.
ESPN & Dan Le Batard Announce Host will Leave Network in January
ESPN and Dan Le Batard announced today that Le Batard will be leaving ESPN early next year to pursue a new opportunity. The ESPN Radio finale of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz will be Jan. 4, the same day Le Batard will host his last episode of Highly Questionable – which will remain on ESPN.
espnpressroom.com
ESPN & Dan Le Batard Announce Host will Leave Network in January
ESPN AudioStudio Shows
Michael Skarka3 days ago
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Greeny will move to 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET; Bart and Hahn will Join National ESPN Radio Lineup from 12 – 2 p.m. Beginning Jan. 5
ESPN’s Weekday Commentary Show Highly Questionable will Continue with Contributing Team
ESPN and Dan Le Batard announced today that Le Batard will be leaving ESPN early next year to pursue a new opportunity. The ESPN Radio finale of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz will be Jan. 4, the same day Le Batard will host his last episode of Highly Questionable – which will remain on ESPN.
“It was mutually agreed that it was best for both sides to move on to new opportunities and we worked together closely to make that possible,” said Norby Williamson, ESPN executive vice president and executive editor. “We thank Dan for his many years and contributions to ESPN and wish him all the best going forward.”
Le Batard said, “Gracias to ESPN for unleashing Papi and Stugotz upon an unsuspecting America, and for lending its substantive credibility to our careening clown car. Can’t believe Stugotz finally achieved his dream of becoming a high-priced free agent. I’m forever indebted to Erik Rydholm, Matt Kelliher and their vibrant team for providing a creative oasis across a decade, and for expanding the Le Batard family to include so many brilliant colleagues who have become forever friends, bonded eternally by laughter and love. Want to also extend my gratitude to Chuck Salituro, Jimmy Pitaro, Traug Keller, Marcia Keegan, Connor Schell, Juan Diaz, Mike Foss, Amanda Gifford, Liam Chapman, Megan Judge, Elizabeth Fierman, the Hialeah-soaked crew at Imagina …and when did this become a droning acceptance speech instead of a quick goodbye? In short, thank you, Disney and ESPN, for a quarter century of absurd blessings. To our loyal army of concerned fans, and to everyone who walked along and played an instrument in our Marching Band to Nowhere, know that it is a very exciting time for us, not a sad one. And that you’ll be hearing our laughter again soon enough.”
ESPN Radio lineup & Highly Questionable
On Jan. 5, Greeny, with Mike Greenberg, will move to the 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. ET timeslot, followed by Bart & Hahn which will join the national ESPN Radio lineup from 12 – 2 p.m. every weekday. The show, which features Bart Scott and Alan Hahn, has been a fan favorite on 98.7FM ESPN New York since its debut in January. Both Greeny and Bart & Hahn will be simulcast on ESPN+.
ESPN’s weekday commentary show Highly Questionable, will continue to be a key part of the network’s television lineup featuring a contributing team, including Elle Duncan, Domonique Foxworth, Israel Gutierrez, Bomani Jones, Mina Kimes, Katie Nolan, Sarah Spain, Pablo Torre and Clinton Yates. The show will continue to be produced remotely due to COVID-19, but will be based long term at ESPN’s New York Seaport Studios. Le Batard and his father, Gonzalo “Papi” Le Batard, will host their final episode of Highly Questionable on Jan. 4.
“Greeny’s move will provide fans with a seamless transition from Get Up to Mike’s more in-depth takes on radio. Bart & Hahn has a great following in New York and we’re excited to bring that show to a national audience on a regular basis,” said David Roberts, ESPN senior vice president, production. “Highly Questionable will also continue to build on its success, engaging with fans every weekday afternoon, led by a contributing team of signature personalities.”
An ending we all saw coming for Dan Le Batard, ESPN’s last maverick
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In the end, ESPN just didn’t get the show anymore.
Chalk it up to irreconcilable differences. It was probably always going end in divorce for the Miami Maverick and the worldwide leader in sports. Dan Le Batard built one of the most popular radio shows in America by poking fun at sports. ESPN built one of biggest brands in America by taking sports very, very seriously.
Seems incompatible. That’s why this breakup was inevitable. On Thursday afternoon, what we all saw coming became official: Le Batard and ESPN are parting ways. The final radio broadcast of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz for the network will be January 4 and Le Batard and his father will also host Highly Questionable for the final time that day.
It will feel like the end of an era when ESPN’s last maverick signs off. Another feisty, original voice, like Bill Simmons, Jemele Hill, and Michael Smith, is gone. This departure stings more, though. Le Batard has worked in some capacity for ESPN for over two decades, but became a more prominent figure when his Miami broadcast went national in September 2013. His radio show is routinely ESPN’s most downloaded podcast.
Le Batard proudly insisted that his show wouldn’t change when it joined ESPN’s lineup. For the most part, it didn’t. That’s what eventually got in him trouble with his bosses. In hindsight, it might be more surprising that Le Batard lasted this long. When you make your living by refusing to fit into a corporate box, eventually the corporation is going to box you out.
ESPN reportedly paid Le Batard $3.5 million a year. That’s a lot of money for someone that management stopped supporting.
Le Batard is an agitator. He dared to mock LeBron James after James left Miami to return to Cleveland. Le Batard put up billboards that read “You’re Welcome LeBron; Love, Miami” with pictures of the two rings James won with the Heat. ESPN didn’t like that and suspended Le Batard. He dared to talk about Donald Trump and called ESPN’s “no politics” policy “cowardly.” ESPN didn’t like that. And while Le Batard wasn’t suspended, he did take some time off.
So, we can’t be surprised when ESPN started to agitate Le Batard. We all saw the beginning of the end. Le Batard’s show was cut from three to two hours. Le Batard didn’t like that. The content of the show was reduced by too many commercials and sponsorship reads. Le Batard didn’t like that. And then, ESPN laid off his longtime producer Chris Cote without notice. Le Batard REALLY didn’t like that and rehired Cote as his personal assistant.
The Cote layoff was probably the final straw. But maybe we need to go back further. In December 2017, ESPN president John Skipper stunningly announced that he was leaving. An emotional Le Batard cried on-air, saying “This person has created everything that exists here at ESPN for us. He did it because of how he cares about minorities and their causes. So every success that we’ve had — I didn’t want to work for ESPN, I wanted to work for this man.”
Yes, Le Batard did re-sign with ESPN in 2018 after reportedly flirting with SiriusXM. The fact that he even considered this move told you that relationship was on shaky ground, post-Skipper.
Skipper got the show. What Le Batard has created is a spoof of a traditional sports program. It’s wacky and wonderful. He taught us that just because sports is a business, that didn’t mean we have to take sports so seriously. What a refreshing respite from the usual gasbags.
Le Batard mocked of the drudgery of press conferences with the Useless Sound Montage. Le Batard mocked the ridiculousness of gambling “experts” by having Celebrity Prognosticators on to pick games. Le Batard mocked toxic masculinity with Man 101.
These radio bits were designed to get you into the circus tent. Many people enjoyed the messy-by-design style, particularly via podcasts. Of course, some people didn’t. And their comments would be greeted by the sound of Le Batard’s dad, Papi, yelling “You don’t get the show!”
That’s entertainment. And because Le Batard was so entertaining, his audience would listen up when Le Batard had something important to say. Whether it was him talking about being the son of Cuban exiles. Or him sharing stories about the plight of minorities.
Le Batard was never going to stick to sports. His strategy made him popular and rich. It also might have made him a target for ESPN executive Norby Williamson. Under Williamson, ESPN is taking sports very seriously. And that’s not fun.
What’s next for Le Batard, Stugotz and their crew, known as the Shipping Container? The show will likely continue to exist in podcast form. Or it might move to satellite radio. Wherever it goes, the Miami Maverick will continue to be a success.
There are plenty of people who still get the show, even though ESPN doesn’t.
ESPNRADIOBy Michael Grant on 12/04/2020
Shares
In the end, ESPN just didn’t get the show anymore.
Chalk it up to irreconcilable differences. It was probably always going end in divorce for the Miami Maverick and the worldwide leader in sports. Dan Le Batard built one of the most popular radio shows in America by poking fun at sports. ESPN built one of biggest brands in America by taking sports very, very seriously.
Seems incompatible. That’s why this breakup was inevitable. On Thursday afternoon, what we all saw coming became official: Le Batard and ESPN are parting ways. The final radio broadcast of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz for the network will be January 4 and Le Batard and his father will also host Highly Questionable for the final time that day.
It will feel like the end of an era when ESPN’s last maverick signs off. Another feisty, original voice, like Bill Simmons, Jemele Hill, and Michael Smith, is gone. This departure stings more, though. Le Batard has worked in some capacity for ESPN for over two decades, but became a more prominent figure when his Miami broadcast went national in September 2013. His radio show is routinely ESPN’s most downloaded podcast.
Le Batard proudly insisted that his show wouldn’t change when it joined ESPN’s lineup. For the most part, it didn’t. That’s what eventually got in him trouble with his bosses. In hindsight, it might be more surprising that Le Batard lasted this long. When you make your living by refusing to fit into a corporate box, eventually the corporation is going to box you out.
ESPN reportedly paid Le Batard $3.5 million a year. That’s a lot of money for someone that management stopped supporting.
Le Batard is an agitator. He dared to mock LeBron James after James left Miami to return to Cleveland. Le Batard put up billboards that read “You’re Welcome LeBron; Love, Miami” with pictures of the two rings James won with the Heat. ESPN didn’t like that and suspended Le Batard. He dared to talk about Donald Trump and called ESPN’s “no politics” policy “cowardly.” ESPN didn’t like that. And while Le Batard wasn’t suspended, he did take some time off.
So, we can’t be surprised when ESPN started to agitate Le Batard. We all saw the beginning of the end. Le Batard’s show was cut from three to two hours. Le Batard didn’t like that. The content of the show was reduced by too many commercials and sponsorship reads. Le Batard didn’t like that. And then, ESPN laid off his longtime producer Chris Cote without notice. Le Batard REALLY didn’t like that and rehired Cote as his personal assistant.
The Cote layoff was probably the final straw. But maybe we need to go back further. In December 2017, ESPN president John Skipper stunningly announced that he was leaving. An emotional Le Batard cried on-air, saying “This person has created everything that exists here at ESPN for us. He did it because of how he cares about minorities and their causes. So every success that we’ve had — I didn’t want to work for ESPN, I wanted to work for this man.”
Yes, Le Batard did re-sign with ESPN in 2018 after reportedly flirting with SiriusXM. The fact that he even considered this move told you that relationship was on shaky ground, post-Skipper.
Skipper got the show. What Le Batard has created is a spoof of a traditional sports program. It’s wacky and wonderful. He taught us that just because sports is a business, that didn’t mean we have to take sports so seriously. What a refreshing respite from the usual gasbags.
Le Batard mocked of the drudgery of press conferences with the Useless Sound Montage. Le Batard mocked the ridiculousness of gambling “experts” by having Celebrity Prognosticators on to pick games. Le Batard mocked toxic masculinity with Man 101.
These radio bits were designed to get you into the circus tent. Many people enjoyed the messy-by-design style, particularly via podcasts. Of course, some people didn’t. And their comments would be greeted by the sound of Le Batard’s dad, Papi, yelling “You don’t get the show!”
That’s entertainment. And because Le Batard was so entertaining, his audience would listen up when Le Batard had something important to say. Whether it was him talking about being the son of Cuban exiles. Or him sharing stories about the plight of minorities.
Le Batard was never going to stick to sports. His strategy made him popular and rich. It also might have made him a target for ESPN executive Norby Williamson. Under Williamson, ESPN is taking sports very seriously. And that’s not fun.
What’s next for Le Batard, Stugotz and their crew, known as the Shipping Container? The show will likely continue to exist in podcast form. Or it might move to satellite radio. Wherever it goes, the Miami Maverick will continue to be a success.
There are plenty of people who still get the show, even though ESPN doesn’t.
His show was better pre espn when it was just south Florida
I miss the rants
Colleagues React to Dan Le Batard Leaving ESPN
Le Batard will host his final edition of Highly Questionable on January 4th. The network does plan to continue the program moving forward without him.
barrettsportsmedia.com
the end ......."with ur mom .."
I'm wondering if they just gonna give the show to Bomani now.