The Puerto Rican singer and rapper was announced Tuesday as the main performer for Super Bowl 26, despite never recording any songs (fully) in English and his ongoing refusal to tour in the United States, saying he fears immigration officials would target his audience.

“The Bunny Guy has been selected to be the halftime entertainment – I don’t care,” O’Reilly chuckled on his “No Spin News” show this week. “But it’s such a good story.”

To give his viewers a taste of what’s to come, O’Reilly played a brief clip from one of his music videos.

“That was good, huh? Not exactly The Four Tops, but I’m an old guy and you can make fun of me,” O’Reilly said. “Go ahead. OK, so that’s Bad Bunny. Doesn’t sing songs in English. Never had an English song. But he does speak English.”

O’Reilly made note of the NFL’s current era of halftime artists – Kendrick Lamar, Usher, Rihanna, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg – comes courtesy of Roc Nation founder Jay-Z, who books the league’s entertainment. The Bad Bunny selection sparked backlash for his lack of English lyrics and stance on immigration politics – but O’Reilly didn’t flinch at any of that.

“Is this uh, ‘Good for America?,” O’Reilly mused, chuckling. “I don’t think it’s bad for America. I mean, most people watching aren’t going to be that favorable to the Bunny Guy, but I don’t know if it’s a deficit,” playing a clip of the artist [real name: Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio] explaining his concerns about ICE posting up outside his concert venues.

When asked this week whether ICE really planned to target the show at the home of the San Francisco 49ers, DHS secretary Kristi Noem said agents will be “all over that place.”

“So, the Bunny guy is is afraid to come here,” O’Reilly said. “OK, at least he’s honest, right? I like the Bunny being honest. … So, I could reassure you BB – a little nickname I’m giving him – you can tour in the United States. ICE is not going to bother you. And if they bother you, I’ll help you. I’ll actually uh go wherever you are. You call me … and I’ll actually go where you are until ICE knock it off.”

As for the performance itself, O’Reilly says “The Bunny Guy” has a short leash to keep him entertained.

“I give everybody a chance,” O’Reilly said. “I’m going to give Bad Bunny a chance. Bad Bunny’s got like three-and-a-half minutes with me. If he arrests my attention, I’ll watch the rest. If he doesn’t, I’m gone.”

But he doubled down on his offer for whatever support he can give: “You come to the USA. Anybody hassles you, you let me know.”

Watch the entire segment – and hear who O’Reilly would have liked to see perform at the Super Bowl halftime show – in the video above.

The post Bill O’Reilly Defends Bad Bunny Super Bowl Pick, Offers to ‘Help’ if ICE Interferes: ‘Call Me’ | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

The news was confirmed by Fox Sports via X.

“Mark Sanchez was injured in Indianapolis on Saturday and is currently recovering in the hospital in stable condition,” the broadcaster explained. “We are deeply grateful to the medical team for their exceptional care and support. Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark, and we ask that everyone please respect his and his family’s privacy during this time.”

Sanchez joined the network as a sports analyst in July 2021.

TMZ reported authorities in Indianapolis received a phone call reporting the stabbing at approximately 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning. Sanchez was scheduled to call the Colts vs. Raiders game at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday.

Sanchez played for USC from 2005 to 2008 and was drafted by the New York Jets as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.

The post Former USC and NFL Quarterback Mark Sanchez in Critical Condition After Indianapolis Stabbing appeared first on TheWrap.

“Absolutely, as sports moves from predominantly linear to predominantly streaming, there is a challenge with the ability to find the sports you want to watch, however there’s also an opportunity for a platform like Roku,” Roku head of sports Joe Franzetta said at TheWrap’s TheGrill 2025 panel “Sports & Streaming: Driving Value Across the Ecosystem,” moderated by CBS sports anchor Jaime Maggio. “

Sports’ migration from linear to streaming has proven to be a windfall for the various leagues, with TV and streaming rights worth a more than $29 billion this year, and projected to grow to $37 billion by 2030. But it’s also led to games being divvied up to different services and broadcast channels, forcing fans to do their homework to figure out where to catch their favorite teams.

With Roku partnered with many of the major leagues, Franzetta noted it aggregates and bundles content in an effort to replicate the ease of the linear TV sports viewing while taking advantage of new technological advances, including personalization, interactivity, targeting and other additions. “There’s all sorts of things that you can add over time that make the experience both more robust and more personalized,” Franzetta said, pointing to fantasy football, merchandise and ticket sales.

A big point the panelist made was the importance of understanding the audience. Fubo, for instance, employs a massive analytics team to analyze what sporting events viewers are watching out of the 55,000 available to them, according to Pamela Duckworth, head of Fubo studios.

Franzetta’s Roku team utilizes AI machine learning to tailor recommendations, though he admits it’s a work in progress. “It’s got to continue to train itself and to get smarter,” Franzetta said. “It’s a critical development loop that has to be ongoing.”

That ability to know what viewers want and more effectively cater to them will be key all of the players.

“It will also add a whole level of efficiency for the platform and retaining subscribers, which I think is a big challenge for platforms now, as people jump around from platform to platform,” Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management CEO and President Ross Gerber said. “A highly personalized environment is really important.”

The desire for that personalized environment was the impetus for the creation of Bleacher Report over a decade ago, with EVP and general manager Bennett Spector explaining sports coverage was predominantly focused on national happenings, and the outlet sought to create a space for fans to focus solely on their teams.

Still, as the bar for personalization gets raised even higher, Spector revealed AI is instrumental in that goal, saying “we can see, did you read an article, did you watch a video? Did you comment on a poll, and we start feeding a very personalized team and topic experience,” Spector said.

While the fragmented viewing experience might cause a headache for sports fans, the embrace of sports on streaming has also given streamers the opportunity to test out new challenger brands, as Franzetta noted that streamers have “more shelf space” than linear channels.

“There are a lot of really competitive sports out there that are really well produced, that have well-funded businesses and good business models,” Franzetta said. “They eventually want the big fat check, but in the meantime, they’re trying to create excitement and awareness for what they’re doing.”

Duckworth pointed to Fubo’s bet on Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, which they helped market and has now been boosted into Fubo Sports Network’s top 10 and has done so well that Fubo became a minority owner. “We’re looking at all these smaller sports and seeing if we want to invest in them and then take them to the next level,” Duckworth said.

Catch up with all of TheWrap’s TheGrill 2025 coverage here. Watch the full Sports & Streaming: Driving Value Across the Ecosystem panel below:

The post Streaming Sports Execs Break Down How They’re Dealing With a Fragmented Viewing Landscape | Video appeared first on TheWrap.

The deal will allow the USA Network to air at least 50 regular-season and playoff games every year, most of which will be Wednesday doubleheaders, along with select coverage of its semifinals and WNBA Finals games in some years. The network will also launch dedicated shows analyzing the games.

The arrangement expands the number of games USA was expected to air when the NBA struck a rights agreement with NBC last year, ahead of the spinoff announcement.

“Partnering with VERSANT and USA Network marks another significant milestone for the WNBA’s continued growth,” WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said in a statement. “As demand for women’s basketball continues to rise, partnerships like this expand the visibility and accessibility of our game. By establishing a weekly primetime destination for fans, this agreement will showcase the excitement of the WNBA to more households than ever before and further elevate the incredible athletes in this league.”

Versant President of Sports Matt Hong said USA “will be a destination for WNBA viewers all season long, as we showcase the star power across the league in our marquee Wednesday night doubleheaders and build toward the intensity of the WNBA Playoffs and WNBA Finals.”

The deal reflects the wonkiness of Versant and NBC’s uncoupling, requiring the new company to pursue its own negotiations with talent and content partners. MSNBC has hired dozens of journalists as it fleshes out its own newsroom, including some from NBC News. It will fully decouple from NBC’s news organization next month.

The post Versant Strikes 11-Year Rights Deal With WNBA as It Splits From NBC appeared first on TheWrap.

On Saturday, comedian and actress Heather McMahan was caught on camera joining in with fans of the American team in chants of “F–k you, Rory” over the microphone on the first tee at Bethpage Black. The viral video of her voice led PGA of America to announce that she would not emcee the tournament’s final round on Sunday.

“Heather McMahan has extended an apology to Rory McIlroy and Ryder Cup Europe and has stepped down from hosting the first tee of the Ryder Cup,” the statement read.

McIlroy was loudly taunted and cursed at throughout the weekend, even when he was about to take his shots on the course. He was mocked for failing to hold on to his lead at the 2024 U.S. Open, his Masters victory this past spring was declared a fluke, and even his marriage wasn’t off-limits.

It got to the point where McIlroy struck back on Saturday, telling one spectator to “shut the f–k up” on camera as he was preparing to take a shot out of the rough, making it back onto the green after lashing out.

Another taunting spectator drew the anger of McIlroy’s teammate Shane Lowry, who pointed out the spectator and demanded his ejection. According to ESPN, at least two spectators were ejected from the Ryder Cup, while New York state troopers provided security escorts for McIlroy.

Finally, towards the end of competition on Saturday, McIlroy turned towards the stands, pointing at multiple fans in USA gear and repeatedly yelling “f–k you.”

“I don’t mind them having a go at us,” McIlroy told reporters afterwards. “Like, that’s to be expected. I mean, that’s what an away Ryder Cup is. Whenever they are still doing it while you are over the ball and trying to hit your shot, that’s the tough thing.”

While Team USA attempted to mount a massive comeback on Sunday, the hole was too deep to climb out of as Team Europe won its ninth Ryder Cup in the last 12 editions of the event by a score of 15-13.

The post Ryder Cup Emcee Steps Down After Leading American Fans in ‘F–k You’ Chant at Rory McIlroy appeared first on TheWrap.

Chances are Feb. 8, 2026, will go down as one of the most intense days in the history of sports streaming. 

On that Sunday, NBC and Peacock will air two of the biggest sporting events of the year: the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics and Super Bowl LX. And it will be doing so in the middle of the 2025-2026 NBA season, which they’re carrying for the first time in more than two decades.

The rare trifecta underscores NBC and Peacock’s massive bet on sports, a $29 billion juggernaut that has media companies rethinking their programming lineups. Peacock, in particular, needs the boost that popular sporting events can bring given that it’s still the smallest of the major streaming services and the only one still in the red. 

Now with the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, it has two crown jewels of the sports world, along with the return of the NBA giving it a consistent, season-long lift. 

“It’s definitely an embarrassment of riches,” Rick Cordella, president of NBC Sports, told TheWrap. “We have the manpower to pull it off, and we’re excited to see what you can do when you take three big events and put them in a very close proximity to each other.”

NBC’s sportspalooza will start on Oct. 21 with the return of the NBA to NBC in an 11-year deal that will reportedly cost the network $2.5 billion annually. All games that will be aired on NBC Sports will also stream on Peacock, a move that will test how the platform handles consistently airing major sporting events. (No NBA games, however, will air on NBC on that critical Feb. 8 date.)

The NBA’s season will kickstart the lead-up to what NBCUniversal has dubbed “Legendary February,” though this isn’t the first time NBC has aired the Olympics at the same time as the Super Bowl. In 2022, the NFL’s biggest game aired on NBC while the network was also airing the Olympics. That game averaged 112 million viewers when it came to total audience delivery, becoming the broadcast’s most-watched show in five years. 

But in 2022, Peacock was in a very different place. The streamer was two years old, only had 9 million paying subscribers and, due to time zone differences, was airing an Olympics in the U.S. that was taking place while most Americans were asleep. 

Peacock will be entering next year’s more time zone-friendly Olympics in Italy with 41 million paid subscribers and a streamer that’s proven it’s not only possible but profitable to go all-in on the Olympics. NBC and Peacock’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Paris 2024 Olympics set a viewership record, securing 180 billion minutes watched across the 17-day event. Olympics viewership was so high it led to a 3% lift in total TV viewing in the U.S. 

[Note: Data for the above chart was found in a variety of media reports. Also, NBCUniversal is nearing a three-year media rights deal with the MLB that would reportedly be worth $600 million.]

As the Paris Olympics proved, there is value in offering viewers a deep dive into every sport available, a goal that the company utilized Peacock to accomplish. But the Super Bowl as well as the NBA All-Star Game will challenge the streamer’s ability to deliver on a mass viewership scale. “Arguably, if they can do well on both of those, it seems like they should be able to drive their subscription numbers,” Shirin Malkani, co-chair of the sports industry group at Perkins Cole, told TheWrap.

The question is, will NBC be able to deliver on these massive sporting events? It’s a schedule that seems primed to challenge not only NBC and Peacock as sports hubs but also their technical capabilities in this modern era of digitally streaming live events.

Rising to the challenge

Having the rights to these sporting events is one thing, but if people are unable to stream them, it’s going to be a failure. That’s where Patrick Miceli, the chief technology officer for Global Streaming and NBCUniversal Media Group, comes in. 

“The stakes for delivering a rock-solid viewing experience at scale with these major events are only getting higher as fan expectations grow,” Miceli told TheWrap. 

To prepare for these games, the Peacock team started testing for live events months in advance to ensure that the streams would broadcast at an acceptable bitrate and without interruption across every region, internet connection and device. The team is also relying on Peacock’s history of airing live sports. Aside from the 2024 Olympics, there was last year’s AFC Wild Card game, which averaged 24.6 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That Olympics was also praised for its technical innovations. The streamer is also home to WWE Main Event and routinely airs games from the Premier League and Big Ten college football.

The NBA games, which will start in late October, will also test Peacock’s setup. Miceli considers these games an opportunity to see how Peacock subscribers engage in live events, allowing them to make real-time adjustments to optimize the viewer experience. Those insights will then be applied to other NBA games and live events.

“We’re fortunate to have such a strong foundation of sports content and background in broadcast that allows us to continuously test and experiment throughout the year,” Miceli said. “Every game, every broadcast is essentially a stress test that helps us prepare for moments like February when all eyes are on our platform’s performance.”

While the Winter Olympics requires Peacock to scale its platform horizontally — meaning that the platform has to be ready for multiple people watching several live streams of different sports concurrently — the aggressive interest around the Super Bowl also means the platform will have to scale vertically — or be prepared for far more people than usual to live stream a single event on the platform. To account for these increased demands, Miceli’s team has been “simulating thousands of viewer traffic patterns and activity loads” to prepare for the expected millions of viewers.

“I knock on wood every time we have a big event,” Cordella said. “I have complete confidence that we will pull that off. We’ve done it in the past. We’ve done it at a very high-quality level.”

Shifting to sports and away from scripted

The addition of the NBA didn’t just create technical demands — it also had an impact on NBCUniversal’s strategy around content. 

When NBCUniversal first started pursuing a deal to acquire the rights to the NBA, the goal was to build out NBC Sports’ year-round programming. Cordella admitted that while NBCUniversal is busy with the NFL and college basketball in the winter — as well as the Winter Olympics every four years — the slate is “thinner” in the spring. Before the NBA’s return to NBC, the network only had the Kentucky Derby and the U.S. Open, leaving a gap around the April/May timeline, into which the NBA fits perfectly. The deal also includes WNBA games, which Cordella identifies as “the undervalued portion of the asset that we see moving forward.”

Many also see this partnership with the league as an investment in NBC’s streaming vertical. 

“Growing Peacock and its subs is important for [NBC]. In their profits and losses, they’re willing to overspend, in my estimation, because they think there’s upside for Peacock,” Bob Lynch, founder and CEO of marketing and data analytics firm SponsorUnited, told TheWrap.  

While the deal expands Peacock’s sports offerings — which Cordella predicts will attract new viewers — the NBA’s arrival on NBC cut out three hours of primetime programming on the network. Those cuts prompted the cancellation of six NBC scripted series (“Grosse Pointe Garden Society,” “Lopez vs. Lopez,” “Night Court,” “Found,” “The Irrational” and” Suits LA”) ahead of upfronts in May. 

Despite the cuts, NBCUniversal feels confident the live sports event will serve as a promotional vehicle for its other entertainment content, with NBCUniversal TV and streaming chief marketing officer Jenny Storms telling TheWrap, “When someone tunes in for sports on NBC or Peacock, we also want them to discover and fall in love with all the content we have to offer across scripted, unscripted, film and beyond.” Storms pointed to the “massive reach” garnered by the Sept. 4 NFL Kickoff game across NBC and Peacock that the companies used to drive viewers to the premiere of “The Office” spinoff series “The Paper” by “weaving elements from the series into our live NFL broadcast and encouraging them to watch after the game.” Storms added that broadcast can be utilized as “a megaphone to reach audiences no matter where they are, specifically with live sports.”

Incorporating talent

NBCUniversal wants to set its sports programming apart from the pack by tapping into marquee talent. 

NBC has recruited an A-list suite of analysts to come on board for the NBA, including Brad Daugherty, Derek Fisher, Brian Scalabrine, Jamal Crawford, Reggie Miller and Grant Hill, with Mike Tirico, Noah Eagle and Terry Gannon serving as play-by-play commentators. But the real coup was signing sports legend Michael Jordan as a special contributor.

When Jordan was announced in May, Cordella noted that he was “incredibly proud” that the iconic player, whose six championships with the Chicago Bulls aired on NBC, would be returning to the network. “Michael’s legacy both on and off the court speaks for itself,” Cordella said during NBCUniversal’s upfront presentation.

“The NBA on NBC was a meaningful part of my career, and I’m excited about being a special contributor to the project,” Jordan said.

Recruiting talent with different specialties and focuses may be a way for NBC and Peacock to broaden its offerings and give the NBA audience something they can’t get anywhere else. One of the best and most successful examples is Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal’s “Inside the NBA,” a program that’s so popular it led to widespread criticism from fans when TNT parent company Warner Bros. Discovery lost the rights to the NBA to NBC. After a lawsuit from Warner Bros. Discovery, it was decided that “Inside the NBA” will continue but will be licensed to ESPN. That’s the power of a beloved commentator. The right personality or sports commentary show can become a destination in and of itself. 

As for who may be part of the Olympics and the Super Bowl, people familiar with the matter have told TheWrap that discussions with content creators as possible talent are ongoing, potentially taking a page out of the NFL’s playbook. That could be especially alluring, considering the fact that the NBA has consistently ranked as the most-followed league on social media in the U.S.

Cordella noted that recruiting social media creators isn’t the team’s main focus, but, “at the end of the day, we’re trying to be innovative within our television broadcast or our streaming broadcast.” 

“Whether NBC can lean into its existing talent or creator talent that it poaches from other platforms or develops themselves, that’s an interesting place where they could potentially grow,” Malkani said.

Not stopping sports growth 

NBCUniversal is showing no signs of slowing down on its sports expansion, with news breaking in August that the company is nearing a three-year deal with Major League Baseball (MLB) to broadcast games across NBC and Peacock. Cordella said there was nothing to announce yet, but called the MLB a “top sports property in America.”

“We’ve had it historically on NBC, so it would be a great property … if we’re lucky enough to get it back, we’d love to have it back,” he said.

Peacock has gradually raised its prices, and could potentially hike them again ahead of its February sports marathon. “Everything that we do at NBCU Comcast is price and value, and we assess it, not based upon what the market says is working, [but] … based upon what we’re willing to pay based on what we think it’s worth to us,” Cordella said. “We’ll see where the market goes.”

This is the sixth in a series from TheWrap exploring how sports is transforming the entertainment business. Previously in the series:

How Tech Is Changing Sports Viewership and Fandom

From Actors to Athletes: Why Talent Agencies Are Going All-In on Sports

Sports Is the $29 Billion Juggernaut Driving Entertainment

The post NBC and Peacock Are Training for the Biggest Sports Streaming Challenge to Date appeared first on TheWrap.

The network’s first-ever sports countdown series will be hosted by former NFL star Cam Newton and CBS Sports’ “We Need To Talk NOW” co-host Ashley Nicole Moss.

“This is a public service announcement,” Newton tells viewers in a Thursday teaser for the series, which you can watch below. “We’re kicking off something new.”

“We bringing sports, culture and fun to your late night,” Moss chimes in.

As the press release describes, the new program pays homage to the network’s iconic and beloved music countdown show “106 & Park.” “106 & Sports” is a collaborative effort from BET Media Group and LeBron James and Maverick Carter’s The SpringHill Company — an award-winning studio within Fulwell Entertainment.

Here’s BET’s description of the series: “Each week, Cam Newton and Ashley Nicole Moss count down the Top 10 moments in sports, from viral highlights and championship fits to locker room soundbites and trending debates, energized by a live studio audience, VIP guests and a resident DJ.”

“When I think about ‘106 & Park,’ I remember how it was a voice for the culture,” Newton says of the show, marking its 25th anniversary. “It gave artists and fans a place to connect. Now, we’re doing the same thing for sports. ‘106 & Sports’ is where you’ll get the real talk, the authentic insights and the kind of conversations you won’t find anywhere else. I’m excited to team up with Ashley and BET to build something special, something that honors that legacy while creating a new one.”

Moss also shared that she’s excited to bring life to BET’s new series in that same legacy.

“I know how much this iconic brand means to so many people, including myself,” she said. “I want everyone to know how much of an honor it is to be part of this amazing culture, and my goal is to resonate that with every show. My hope is for people to feel a connection with ‘106 & Sports’ in the same way they did with ‘106 & Park.'”

Other executive producers include Jamal Henderson, Philip Byron and Tiffany Lea Williams, with Courtney Whitaker serving as co-executive producer.

“As sports and entertainment continue to intersect, ‘106 & Sports’ represents an exciting evolution of BET’s legacy, reimagining the cultural heartbeat of ‘106 & Park’ through the lens of sports,” Williams, Executive Vice President of Unscripted Programming and Development at BET Media Group, said in a statement. “With Cam and Ashley at the helm, this will be a space where conversation feels like community, and where fans, athletes and culture collide in every episode.” 

“106 & Sports” will launch its first half of Season 1 with 10 episodes, which will air weekly on Wednesdays from Oct. 15 through Dec. 17. Episodes will be available to stream the next day on BET+.

The post BET’s ‘106 & Sports’ Sets October Premiere Date appeared first on TheWrap.

It’s Tuesday morning, say. Last night’s Monday Night Football win by the Los Angeles Chargers finished the week’s worth of football games, but the rush for sports fans is far from over. 

Your dad texted you to gloat over his fantasy football win over the weekend thanks to a stellar performance by Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson. Your buddy sent you a Venmo request for the bet you lost after Georgia’s overtime win over Tennessee. And a new podcast episode of “New Heights” with the Kelce brothers drops on Wednesday, just in time for you to rejigger your fantasy roster for the week ahead.

Sports viewership is no longer just appointment television. It is a 24/7 entertainment ecosystem and, for many, a full-time commitment. Whether you tune in for the game at kickoff or catch the social clips on House of Highlights, watching sports has extended far beyond posting up on the couch for a weekend afternoon viewing. 

In a world where attention spans are shrinking and entertainment alternatives are everywhere, leagues, teams and networks have had to adapt their strategies to cater to fans’ changing needs and embrace technology in an unprecedented way. Fans follow athletes on social media to get a daily dose of their favorite stars. XR — or mixed reality — immersive experiences allow fans to experience the game like never before. And gambling and gamification of the fan experience taps into the already addictive second-screen behavior of chronically online fans. 

“If you look at the trends with Gen Alpha and probably younger Gen Z, these people are still fans of sports, but they’re less and less watching full long form content,” Qualcomm’s chief marketing officer Don McGuire told TheWrap. “But they’re going in for highlights.”

These features show that even as sports has emerged as a $29 billion entertainment juggernaut, it’s not standing still. These innovations are designed to cater to diehard fans and casual bandwagon watchers alike, but are ultimately designed to keep audiences locked into their game or team of choice.

Sports betting, meanwhile, has emerged from the dark alleys and into the spotlight as leagues and networks lean into the addictive and lucrative market. Chris Jason, executive director of ESPN Sports Product, told TheWrap that sports gamblers and Fantasy Football players are the most engaged fan base with the network’s content, and catering to their needs has proven to be vital. 

Executives from YouTube, ESPN and Peacock told TheWrap that personalization of the sports themselves increases engagement from fans. These adaptations have become necessary tools in maintaining viewership and reaching the next generation of sports fans. 

“We know all of our fans want to ‘fan’ in different ways,” Brian Marshall, vice president of sports products and strategy at ESPN, told TheWrap. “So whether it’s a companion experience we build in the app, whether it’s some of the things that we’ve done alongside of the game, we try to find that balance of surfacing great fantasy information for fans who want it, and also making sure anyone who just wants to lean back and enjoy Monday Night Football is able to do that as well.”

A different viewing experience

New viewing habits have changed the way that sports are consumed. The increase of second screen viewing and a heightened emphasis on highlights and viral moments have altered the tried and true sports model by emphasizing TikTok-like clips that can easily be shared on social media. 

Meanwhile, sports multi-viewing, originally popularized in bars with multiple televisions, had grown so popular that some avid sports fans previously bought two monitors for their own living room set-ups. Now with multi-view options on streamers like Peacock, Paramount+, Fox One and YouTube, watching several games simultaneously has become the norm.

YouTube first launched its multi-sports viewing in 2023 for March Madness and planned for it to be an early access feature for a select group of YouTube TV subscribers. After the demand for the multi-view increased, the platform made the feature available to all viewers days later. The platform then expanded the feature to its NFL Sunday Ticket in June 2023.

Peacock first tested their multi-view setup during the Olympics — last summer’s sports breakout moment for the streamer that proved largely successful. The Olympic games brought in record high revenue of $1.9 billion for the company, with average daily viewership of 31 million across the company’s linear networks and Peacock, an 82% increase compared to the 2021 Summer Olympics.

Paramount+ launched its multiview feature for the kickoff of CBS Sports’ UEFA soccer coverage on Tuesday. And ESPN has leaned into its multi-view offerings as part of its new app and streaming ESPN platform, but Marshall said the innovations are not meant to leave anyone behind. 

“We never want to get in the way of someone who just wants to watch the game,” Marshall said. “We also want to make sure that that’s complementary to the viewing experience.”

Some stadiums have leaned into immersive fan experiences using cutting-edge technology. Chip maker Qualcomm has implemented augmented reality activations with Manchester United and virtual reality garage tours with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team, giving fans an unprecedented view into the inner workings of their favorite sports. 

“We’re talking to a TikTok-driven culture,” McGuire said. “We’re talking to a highlight-driven generation with an attention span of five seconds.”

While audiences are embracing multi-view, companies like Qualcomm are investing in the next wave of experiences.

“We can do a full live stream from a different viewpoint that people can engage with. We can do a virtual seat in the stadium … But also we can do some really cool stuff with highlights and deliver them in real time and create some really compelling experiences that map to generational behaviors.”

Gamification of sports

For ESPN, leaning into fantasy football and sports gambling has been essential for turning passive viewers into invested participants. 

Fantasy football has been around since the 1960s, but in the era of mobile games, it is more popular than ever. Over the last 12 months, 28% of North Americans played fantasy sports or bet on sports, according to a July report from the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association. Across both the U.S. and Canada, there are approximately 57 million fantasy players and 66 million sports bettors. The NFL and the NBA are the most popular leagues for fantasy sports players in North America, but the MLB, ESports and international and national soccer leagues follow closely behind.

ESPN, CBS, Yahoo, NFL and Sleeper all compete for the thumbs of fantasy gamers during the NFL season, with each hosting their own fantasy football leagues. Chris Jason, ESPN’s executive director of sports product, told TheWrap that capturing the attention of these fans leads to greater engagement across ESPN’s products. 

“Fantasy players, and also bettors now, are the most engaged segments of users we have across the products,” he said. “We also know that fantasy players over index on all the high value activities that we would care about most as ESPN.”

With its new all-in-one ESPN app, the network has incorporated gambling access through external partners into the mobile experience, something the team and fans have been pushing for for years, the sports product director said. 

“There were ways to do it, but they were filled with friction and kind of frustrating,” Jason said. “The ESPN bet app, I think, is one of the best things that you know sports bettors will get to enjoy this year that previously was not easy to do.”

For parent Disney, the move to online gambling was an about face for the family-friendly company when it first announced its betting platform in collaboration with PENN Entertainment in 2023. Over the last few years, leagues have become closely linked with legalized online gambling. Leagues have signed lucrative marketing deals with betting apps like FanDuel and DraftKings and use gambling to amp up fan engagement.

FanDuel has official partnerships with the MLB, NASCAR, NBA, NFL, NHL and the PGA. DraftKings is the official partner of the WNBA, and an official daily fantasy and sports betting partner of the NFL, NHL, PGA Tour, and UFC, as well as an official daily fantasy partner of NASCAR. These partnerships have become more commonplace as online sports betting is legalized nationwide. So far, 30 states have legalized online sports betting via either smartphone apps or websites. D.C. and Puerto Rico also allow online betting.

There are tradeoffs, though. A UCSD study from last year found 96% of sports gamblers lose money, and apps like FanDuel and DraftKings will restrict accounts once they start winning. The betting apps did not respond to TheWrap’s request for comment. 

The sports gambling industry made over $70 billion in revenue in 2024, with $41 billion coming from online sports betting, according to data from Statista. In 2024, there were 137.9 million online sports betting users active nationwide, with that figure expected to grow to 181.3 million in 2029. 

Social media playbook

Social media platforms and creators have become critical to how fans experience sports, not just during live games but also through highlights, pregame content and behind-the-scenes access. Leagues and teams actively collaborate with a variety of creators to reach new audiences, especially younger and more diverse demographics. 

“Leagues and sports teams across the board are growing their awareness metrics half over half, year over year, over this long time scale,” CreatorIQ’s director of research and insights Alex Rawitz told TheWrap of sports’ growth in the creator space. “It is one of our fastest growing categories that we track, and we see sports in general as an up and comer within the broader creator marketing landscape.”

According to CreatorIQ, both social engagements and impressions for the NFL and NBA have increased exponentially since 2020. The NBA had over 74 billion social impressions in 2024, and the NFL garnered over 53 billion. Sports fans are consuming content on social media more than ever before. 

YouTube, the exclusive home of NFL Sunday Ticket, has leaned into the creator model of sports consumption with the release of their “Watch With” feature. For the platform’s first NFL broadcast of the Chargers v. the Kansas City Chiefs game in Brazil, four YouTube creators – IShowSpeed, Tom Grossi, Robegrill and SKabeche – hosted their own Watch With streams. The feature operated like a Twitch live stream and allowed viewers to see the game through the eyes of a creator while also interacting with them through likes and comments.

“The foundation of our work with leagues began with clips and highlights around a decade ago,” Jon Cruz, global head of Sports Partnerships at YouTube, told TheWrap. “Fans of specific sports knew how to find what they needed on YouTube, but we felt that YouTube could be a good place to help leagues and teams find these fans, and draw in new fans, by leveraging their archives to deepen connection with them.”

The NFL launched its YouTube channel in 2015, and it now has over 15 million subscribers. In 2024 alone, viewers spent over 350 million hours watching official NFL content on the platform.

ESPN has even created its own TikTok-style vertical shorts tab “Verts” on its all-in-one app, allowing fans to rewatch ESPN highlights from the weekend’s games without leaving their platform. The push is intended to meet fans where they are: online.

In the age of social media, athletes’ job descriptions also transcend the field, the court and the ring. Athletes are influencers and brand identities all on their own. McGuire said that Manchester United has even invested in content creation inside the team’s training facility, the Carrington Snapdragon studio, for athletes to film brand deals, podcasts and behind-the-scenes content. These tools are no longer a suggestion for athletes but necessary for building longstanding relationships with fans and the brands they work with. 

“Some of the most effective drivers of impressions, engagements, earned media value … Those are often the leagues themselves, or in particular, the teams themselves,” Rawitz said.

Football teams like the Chargers regularly host influencers to give an inside scoop into the game and the perks that come along with it. Other teams like the Savanna Bananas have leaned into meme-able moments and viral trends to increase fan engagement with their content. Beyond clips, teams have realized the value of building a fanbase online as much as in the stadiums. 

Though athletes have greater financial opportunities through brand deals, endorsements and partnerships, being online can take a toll on their mental health. Their name, image and likeness has become as valuable as their athletic capabilities, forcing them to become more internet savvy than ever, and also sparking a transformation in Hollywood talent agencies looking to support them. 

“Athletes are as brand-conscious as they’ve ever been,” Rawitz said. “I think precisely because social media provides all those opportunities for them to build their brand, and the way that they understand doing that isn’t necessarily by being a spokesperson, pitch person in commercials – that still exists – but there’s also this new media element of actually being a little more unfiltered, a little more direct, and actually reaching fans.” 

Take Jason Kelce, the Philadelphia Eagles power center turned podcaster turned ESPN commentator. The former NFL star and Super Bowl champion built a legacy on the field but has been able to captivate audiences beyond it with social media. Today’s athletes are content creators, influencers and brands in their own right.

As technology continues to reshape how fans watch, bet and interact, the game isn’t just being played on the field anymore. It’s happening on every screen.

More from Game On: Check out TheWrap’s full series here.

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Two years ago, when Shohei Ohtani agreed to the richest contract in baseball history, the 10-year, $700 million deal was a bonanza for more than just the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was also a windfall for CAA, the Hollywood talent agency powerhouse that brokered the deal.

As sports contracts balloon into the nine-figure range and athlete endorsement deals rival the packages of A-list movie stars, the town’s biggest talent agencies are making a major play for the world’s top athletes, reimagining themselves as full-service talent shops across sports and entertainment rather than just Hollywood-focused firms.

CAA, WME, UTA, Gersh and others are changing the sports representation business through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and major investments, building the entertainment infrastructure around pro-athletes where their success on the field becomes the launching pad for a broader media career.

The expansion of the agencies into the sports world is a prime example of the convergence of entertainment and sports, with the agencies recognizing that top athletes need the same full-service representation as A-list actors. It’s another illustration of how sports has taken a massive hold over the entertainment world. As athletes look to become content creators, sign massive endorsement deals and launch media projects, the agencies are putting their cross-platform skills to good use.

It’s a lucrative market. The global sports agency services market is projected to nearly triple from $5.88 billion this year to $15.17 billion by 2034, growing at an 11.11% annual rate, according to market analytics firm Business Research Insights.

Travis Kelce is a prime example of this sports-entertainment crossover, as the popular Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs tight end and fiancé to Taylor Swift has parlayed his fame into hosting “Saturday Night Live,” cameoing in Adam Sandler’s “Happy Gilmore 2” and creating his own hit podcast in “New Heights.” But he’s not the only one.

“Certainly, there are more athletes now expressing interest in the content side of the business,” Will Funk, Range Sports co-president, told TheWrap. “It really means social media. How do we help them manage that? How do we help them with their messaging? How do we help curate that? How do we help them build their following? That is critically important.”

Here’s a breakdown of all of the top talent agencies and their work in the world of sports.

CAA Sports

Out of all the agencies, CAA Sports is the largest, having launched in 2006 and now repping more than 3,000 of the world’s best athletes in football, baseball, basketball, hockey and soccer, while bringing in a $1.14 billion haul in maximum commissions. Back in July, the agency topped Forbes’ Most Valuable Sports Agencies list for the 10th consecutive time, continuing its hot streak as the industry leader.

CAA oversees an estimated $15.9 billion in team-sport playing contracts and $4.59 billion in non-playing contracts, including endorsements. The agency’s 2025 achievements in football alone include representing all three major NFL award winners (Josh Allen, Most Valuable Player; Saquon Barkley, Offensive Player of the Year; and Pat Surtain II, Defensive Player of the Year), negotiating contracts for left tackle Rashawn Slater, the highest-paid offensive lineman, and Trey Smith, the highest paid offensive guard in NFL history and T.J. Watt, the highest non-quarterback salary in NFL history, making him highest-paid edge rusher in the NFL, surpassing Myles Garrett’s record-setting deal from earlier in 2025.

The agency also signed the most first-round NFL Draft picks for the second consecutive year. Beyond repping players on the field, the agency has built a comprehensive sports business while working with the entertainment side of the agency to broker content deals like Allen’s movie and TV deal with Skydance Sports in March.

WME Sports

WME Sports launched in late 2019 and primarily focuses on tennis, golf and action/Olympic sports. The agency reps the marquee names in tennis including Carlos Alcaraz, Coco Gauff, Iga Świątek and Serena Williams, while its broadcast division reps major on-air personalities like Stephen A. Smith and former multiple Super Bowl winner Tom Brady. 

Max Eisenbud leads WME Sports’ client representation business, overseeing tennis operations that reps six of the world’s top 10 ranked male and female players. WME services clients and identifies cross-platform opportunities through its sports content division, managing production companies for elite athletes including Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, Derek Jeter’s CAP 2 Productions, Lionel Messi’s 525 Rosario and Eli Manning’s Ten Till Productions.

Following parent company Endeavor taking the agency private, WME Sports divested its basketball representation business and its football division spun off as WIN Sports Group, allowing WME to focus on its core strengths in individual sports and broadcasting talent.

Range Sports

While CAA, WME and UTA have built their sports divisions through the acquisitions of established agencies, Range Media Partners, a talent management and production company, has taken a different approach: building the sports division from scratch with Hollywood DNA at its core. In 2022, it launched Range Sports and has already grown to 50+ employees across eight cities, completed eight acquisitions of other companies like Sunrise Sports Consulting and has built out 10 distinct business lines from athlete representation to sports content.

“We’re not really consciously trying to differentiate ourselves from our competitors, and we’re running our own playbook based on what we believe is the best path to be a hugely valuable business,” Funk told TheWrap.

Range Sports has a unique selling point: It’s the only sports agency with an in-house film and TV studio as part of Range Media Partners. Having in-house production facilities creates a one-stop shop where the agency can develop, finance, produce and distribute content without the need to partner with outside production companies.

If an athlete is having a hot moment, Range can quickly pair them with producers, writers and directors that are also management clients, for a quick turnaround with content. That integrated model has paid dividends for clients like Ilona Maher, who parlayed her Olympic rugby bronze medal into a “Dancing With the Stars” run, a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover, a podcast and an upcoming docuseries with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine — all while Range Sports handled her endorsement deals with Adidas and Maybelline.

“The one thing I love about being at and working at Range Sports is the opportunities that our athletes and our clients have within our platform,” said Range Sports Head of Football Kyle Strongin, who brokered Brock Purdy’s historic $265 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers, the largest annual increase in NFL history. “We’ve got full service, and we have a lot of access, and a lot of our colleagues are the best at what they do in that space.”

Range Sports has secured over $50 million in endorsement deals for their clients.

UTA Sports/Klutch Sports Group

UTA’s sports division operates through its partnership with Klutch Sports Group, in which it acquired a stake back in 2019. Since then, Klutch has positioned itself as the fastest-growing multi-sport agency, expanding its reach beyond its basketball roots into the NFL, Major League Baseball, the WNBA, NIL (name, image and likeness) deals and soccer.

Along with repping current Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts, the agency made waves earlier this year by brokering Myles Garrett’s $104 million extension. Klutch has repped 56 NFL Draft picks over the last three years, including five first-rounders in 2025 alone.

Klutch prides itself in helping clients build platforms outside of their sports careers and taking full advantage of all opportunities in the entertainment and culture space.

Of note, Klutch has become the dominant player in jersey patch deals, working directly with sports teams to broker sponsorship deals where brands pay to display their logos on team uniforms. The agency has negotiated more NBA jersey patches than any other agency, with recent deals spanning the Brewers, Jazz, Heat, Mystics and Grizzlies. They also serve as NASCAR’s agency of record and operate stadium sales for clients like New York City FC and Monumental Sports.

Some of the agency’s wins on the athlete marketing side include guiding Hurts to become the first NFL Jordan Brand athlete with his own merchandise line, helping A’ja Wilson launch a Nike signature shoe that sold out in three minutes, and securing JuJu Watkins’ groundbreaking NIL partnerships, including the first-ever docuseries following a women’s college basketball star.

On the international front, UTA opened new London offices in 2023 and acquired ROOF football in 2024, with global expansion a priority as the agency reps footballers across Europe’s top leagues including the Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga.

Gersh Sports

Gersh is the latest Hollywood talent agency to wade into sports, having launched Gersh Sports in December 2024 via its acquisition of You First, a global sports and entertainment agency with over 1,000 clients across 22 offices in 14 countries. The acquisition doubled Gersh’s size to over 600 employees worldwide and established the agency’s first major sports footprint, with a strong presence in soccer and basketball.

“What’s really important for us is not to abandon in any capacity what we’ve done in the entertainment, traditional, film, television, broader entertainment ecosystem,” Steve Gersh, managing partner and head of Gersh Sports, told TheWrap. “So really it’s more of a desire to diversify the business and expand the platform, all with an eye to figure out how we can co-mingle the different divisions and amplify all of the verticals together.”

The agency’s sports roster includes soccer players like PSG’s Fabian Ruiz and NBA ballers including Desmond Bane (Orlando Magic), Jarrett Allen (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Jeremy Sochan (San Antonio Spurs), plus Hall of Famers Ray Allen, Tim Duncan and Grant Hill.

Gersh’s approach focuses on transitioning athletes into entertainment brands, continuing a legacy that dates back to Gersh’s grandfather, Phil, taking NFL legend Jim Brown into major studio films after his football career, and in recent years helping WWE’s Dave Bautista transition into acting with projects like Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise.

Innovative

Innovative represents the most niche approach among Hollywood talent agencies. The boutique agency launched its sports division this summer by hiring veteran sports and entertainment lawyer Brad Small to focus primarily on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts performers. Small brings 30 years of experience and approximately 40 professional wrestling clients, including world champion Goldberg, Jack Perry and Dallas Page.

His clientele shift from entertainment to sports was accelerated by the pandemic and strikes, when athletes were among the few still earning under their contracts while other entertainment work stalled. “When Netflix is paying $5 billion for 10 years of ‘Monday Night Raw,’ that is game changing,” said Small, highlighting the growth driven by the recent streaming deals transforming the wrestling industry.

Rather than pursuing big acquisitions like larger competitors, Innovative is taking an organic approach to growth, focusing on signing talent that fits the agency’s culture. Small’s clients regularly cross over into mainstream entertainment, appearing on shows like “Dancing With the Stars” and “Shark Tank,” writing published books and serving as expert consultants on projects like “The Iron Claw,” where Small’s clients coached headliners Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White.

More from GameOn: Check out TheWrap’s full series here.

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ScreenShare, a data partnership between Screen Engine/ASI and TheWrap, tracks the Top 10 most-mentioned entertainment options every week and whether each has gained or lost momentum compared to the prior week. The chart lives on the Data & Analysis page of the WrapPRO Members Hub.

“NFL Football” holds the top spot as the season opened last Thursday with the Eagles’ Sept. 4 victory over the Cowboys. “Wednesday” moves up to No. 2 following the Sept. 3 release of the second half of its second season. “The Conjuring: Last Rites” climbs to No. 3 with its sensational Sept. 5 theatrical debut. Anticipation for “Wicked: For Good” lifts the title two spots to No. 4, nearly two months ahead of its highly anticipated release. “Superman” drops three positions to round out the top five.

“Stranger Things” slips one spot to No. 6. “Alien: Earth” debuts at No. 7 as the first season airs on Hulu. “The Summer I Turned Pretty” eases down to No. 8 as its current season nears its Sept. 17 conclusion. College Football enters the rankings at No. 9 as its season gets underway and “Dexter: Resurrection” holds steady at No. 10 with its series finale this past weekend.

Weekly Top 10 (Aug. 30 – Sept. 5)

The post NFL Football Holds Off New Film & TV Releases as the No. 1 Thing Audiences Are Most Excited About | Chart appeared first on TheWrap.