The Sports Owners In Epstein's Inbox and the NBA At The All-Star Break
Edge of Sports
Dave Zirin / The Nation
4.8 • 619 Ratings
🗓️ 17 February 2026
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, I have some choice words about the athletic oligarchs who knew Epstein way too well. I am also joined by the hoops savant, Arya Shirazi, about the NBA at the All-Star Break and what to do about tanking.
Zirin, The NFL Owners and Olympic Organizers in Epstein’s Inbox
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/nfl-owners-casey-wasserman-epstein-files/
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Edge of Sports podcast. I'm Dave Ziron. This week we're going to talk to the hoops savant, Ariya Shirazi, about the midway point of the NBA season, what has surprised us, what has not, |
| 0:23.9 | who has disappointed us, and who has made us proud. |
| 0:27.3 | And what the heck are we going to do about tanking anyway? |
| 0:31.3 | But first, I really want to talk about something that's getting no publicity anywhere |
| 0:36.9 | on the sports media page, |
| 0:38.3 | and that is the intersection, the collision, if you will, of Jeffrey Epstein and the world of sports. |
| 0:45.3 | So let's start there, and then we'll go to the savant himself, Ariya Shirazi. |
| 0:50.3 | Okay, look, child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein did not want to just ingratiate himself to tedious billionaires. |
| 0:59.4 | That's neither the company nor the alleged blackmailing opportunities he sought. |
| 1:04.6 | Epstein wanted culture shapers in his presence, and, as we just saw during halftime at the Super Bowl, |
| 1:11.4 | nothing shapes the culture quite like the athletic industrial complex. |
| 1:16.1 | The website front office sports went through the latest tranche |
| 1:20.5 | of hurriedly redacted Epstein files and for even for those who have lost their capacity to be shocked, |
| 1:26.9 | it is shocking just how many NFL |
| 1:30.4 | franchise owners were in the Epstein orbit. |
| 1:34.6 | They include, and this is a partial list, Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, |
| 1:40.4 | Steve Tisch, co-owner of the New York Giants, and first cousin of Jessica Tisch, the current New York City Police Commissioner. |
| 1:48.2 | Stephen Ross, owner of the Miami Dolphins, Ziggy Wolf, owner of the Minnesota Vikings, Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlanta Falcons, and others as well. |
| 1:56.6 | There are more NFL owners on the Epstein list than attended the Super Bowl. |
| 2:01.9 | Now, denials have already been sputtered and their public relations machines are working into overdrive, denying any implications of being anything more than incidental acquaintances of Epstein and his partner in trafficking children, Jelaine Maxwell. |
| 2:18.8 | And as hard as their PR mavens are working to deflect attention, |
| 2:22.3 | the sports media is working just as hard at ignoring all of it. |
... |
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