The Sports Boom — Football, Pickleball, Tennis and, um, Cricket

Mixed Signals from Semafor Media

If you feel surrounded by sports on all sides, losing the battle to keep up with new leagues (hello pro pickleball?), athlete-influencers post-game podcasts, and who’s getting paid what, you’re not alone. Sports is swallowing media, and swallowing our lives. This week, Ben and Nayeema explore whether the sports boom is driven by culture or by commerce, and if this boom might be a bubble.

To help figure it out, they bring on John Skipper, former President of ESPN and current founder and CEO of Meadowlark Media who makes a compelling case of American exceptionalism in sports, and the incentives of billionaires who own these teams.

Finally they bring on Semafor business and finance editor Liz Hoffman for a blindspot from Silicon Valley: the rise of “founder mode.”

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Find us on X: @semaforben, @nayeema @lizrhoffman or on Instagram @nayeemaraza

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