How ESPN’s deal for the UFC and Fox’s deal for the WWE came together & LaChina Robinson on covering Women’s Basketball

Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Audacy

News, Business News, Sports, Sports News

4.3 • 721 Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2018

⏱️ 66 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 14 of the Sports Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch features two guests: Sports Business Daily media reporter John Ourand and women’s basketball broadcaster and podcaster LaChina Robinson. In this podcast, Ourand discusses his reporting on the deal ESPN signed for UFC rights and the deal Fox signed for WWE Smackdown; how each deal came together; why ESPN was interested in UFC and where the programming will run; whether UFC has growth potential as a broadcast property; whether ESPN will examine the UFC with a journalism eye or merely as a promotional partner; how and why Fox came to get the WWE; whether Fox will use its FS1 debate shows to promote WWE; the economic calculations of both deals; how the World Cup viewership declines should be analyzed; the 2026 World Cup deal for Fox, and much more; Robinson discusses her myriad of jobs in women’s basketball including working for ESPN, Fox Sports, Raycom’s ACC women’s basketball, the Atlanta Dream, and espnW; the challenges of forging a career broadcasting and reporting on a niche sport; why women’s basketball and women’s basketball players face heavy sexism on social media; why some men have issues with women’s basketball; the genius and legacy of Pat Summitt; the struggle to get listeners for her podcast; working as a public speaker, and much more. You can subscribe to this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher and more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody. This is Richard Deich and welcome to the sports media podcast. My producer is always is Lou Pellegrino. Two guests this week, two different conversations, but you are going to enjoy them both.
0:11.1	John O'Rand is up first. He is the sports media reporter for the Sports Business Daily and Journal. And we go very deep on his story on how Fox procured the WWE and how ESPN procured UFC,
0:24.8	whether these were good deals, what we can expect from these two networks in terms of the
0:28.9	programming of those two particular assets. And we'll also talk to John about World Cup viewership
0:34.2	and what he thinks of the ratings that Fox and Telemundo have got.
0:38.1	LeChina Robinson follows after that.
0:40.7	She is a women's basketball broadcaster for ESPN, as well as Fox, does Atlanta Dream Games.
0:46.6	And she's really an interesting figure in the sport in that she has figured out a way to be a women's basketball broadcaster while working for multiple organizations.
0:55.7	And that generally speaking, you know, unless you are a Rebecca Lobo or a Holly Roe, you have to
1:02.1	hustle basically to make a living covering women's basketball.
1:05.8	And she does that and she does that exceptionally well.
1:08.3	She's a pioneer in the field.
1:10.1	And we talk about basically what her job is like, how she navigates her schedule,
1:15.1	and how she makes a living covering women's basketball.
1:19.1	And then finally we get into, and I'll be blunt,
1:21.1	why women's basketball gets so much shit online, particularly on Twitter,
1:25.2	from the kitchen comments that WMBA players get a lot of sexism out there
1:30.1	and LeChina Robinson is one of the best people to talk about that. So John O'Rand and LeChina
1:35.1	Robinson coming up on the sports media podcast with Richard Deich. All right, I am joined by, as I said at the top,
1:41.7	a regular of this podcast, John O'Rand of the Sports Business Daily and Journal.
1:47.7	John, I know you are on deadlines on multiple stories, so I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me on the sports media podcast.
1:54.3	I have nothing but time for you, Richard.
	...

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