Part 2: What Ari Emanuel Talks About With Trump and the Rock

The Town with Matthew Belloni

The Ringer

Society & Culture

4.3 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In Part 2 of Matt’s conversation with WME executive chairman and TKO CEO Ari Emanuel and TKO president Mark Shapiro, they discuss how the NFL's next rights negotiations will influence the entertainment industry, how the UFC ended up with Paramount and why it almost went to Netflix, and Ari’s relationship with the Rock, David Ellison, and Donald Trump (01:35). For a 20 percent discount on Matt’s Hollywood insider newsletter, ‘What I’m Hearing ...,’ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠click here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Email us your thoughts! ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thetown@spotify.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Host: Matt Belloni Guests: Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro Producers: Craig Horlbeck and Jessie Lopez Theme Song: Devon Renaldo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What's up? It's Todd McShay, host of the McShay Show at the Ringer and Spotify.
0:04.6	We're building this thing up and I couldn't be more excited to be back, talking college football
0:09.6	and everything NFL draft with the most informed audience out there. That's you.
0:15.0	My co-host, Steve Mention, I will be with you three times a week throughout the football season
0:19.8	with all the latest news, analysis,
0:22.0	and scouting intel from around the league. For even more insight, subscribe to my newsletter,
0:27.8	The McShea Report, to access my mock drafts, big boards, tape breakdowns, and other exclusive
0:33.9	scouting content you can't get anywhere else. It's going to be a great season.
0:39.4	And I hope you'll be with us at the McShay show every step of the way.
0:45.4	It is Friday, October 10th. Yesterday, we had part one of Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro, who are
0:52.7	partnering on a new events company and also got into
0:56.3	tons of topics, everything from sports rights to the future of the agency business to what
1:03.6	they talk about, what Ari talks about with Donald Trump. So we decided to split it into two
1:07.8	episodes. Part two is today. Yes, the Trump stuff plus the lightning round where I fire some fast questions at Ari and he tells me to go screw myself. He actually didn't. I think he controlled himself a little bit on this episode. But it's very fun. No call sheet today. It's part two of Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro. From the ringer and puck, I'm Matt Bellany and this is the town.
1:35.0	Where's the ceiling on sports rights?
1:37.9	Forever increasing?
1:39.9	Are we headed for a top?
1:41.3	Is MLB going to have to take a haircut?
1:43.7	Like, where are we in that?
2:00.8	Yes, baseball is taking a cut, right? And then the regional model in terms of the rights that they sell to ESPN, which is in short order, that will camouflage some of it. But it's the middle that's going to get cut out. I'm not saying baseball is the middle. It's obviously a premier sport, a premium sport as well. but the middle is going to get cut out because the NFL is going to open their deal, if not sooner than 29,
2:05.6	and they're going to get big increases. And the NBA's got their $76 billion deal.
2:10.9	But there's got to be a ceiling. There's got to be a ceiling on these rights.
	...

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