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Hosted by Puck | Audacy · 🇺🇸 US · EN · 208 episodes
Established thought leaders with verified media credentials.
Puck Sports Correspondent John Ourand and a rotating cast of industry insiders take you deep inside the executive suites and owner boxes that run the entire sports business. You’ll hear interviews with everyone from players to network execs and everyone in between. The Varsity is an extension of John's private email for Puck by the same name. New episodes publish twice-weekly, every Wednesday and Sunday.
Puck | Audacy hosts The Varsity, a news show with 208 episodes published.
The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand rejoins John to break down ESPN’s recent layoffs, which hit more than 100 employees. They explain why the NFL Network acquisition—and the massive salaries commanded by the likes of Stephen
JT Batson, C.E.O. of the U.S. Soccer Federation, joins John to lay out his vision for “the American soccer movement”—a five-year push toward two marquee moments: the 2028 L.A. Olympics and the 2031 Women’s World Cup. Bat
The Athletic’s Evan Drellich joins John to discuss MLB’s looming labor war. Evan puts the odds of a 2027 lockout at 100 percent and the chance of missed games at 75—all while baseball is enjoying a banner season with inc
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Puck’s legal expert Eriq Gardner joins John to work through a docket’s worth of sports media legal battles—from the looming challenges to the Paramount-WBD merger to the NFL’s ongoing antitrust case. Plus, a long-simmeri
Michael Ratner, C.E.O. of Fanatics Studios, and Lance Fensterman, C.E.O. of Fanatics Events, join John to discuss the wild growth and evolution of Fanatics Fest—and why immersive, interactive experiences built around hig
Wells Fargo Securities analyst Steven Cahall joins John to cut through the noise on sports media’s biggest storylines: why a sale of NBC is less likely than the market assumes, the fuzzy logic surrounding the $22 billion
With Wimbledon in full swing, John is joined by Sports Illustrated’s Jon Wertheim for a wide-ranging conversation on the state of tennis. They get into Serena Williams’ return to the court, the WTA’s player protests over
C.E.O. Eric Shanks joins John to gush about the World Cup and Fox’s decade-long investment in soccer. He discusses his biggest surprises, Fox’s always-on approach to coverage, Zlatan Ibrahimović’s unlikely TV career, the
FanDuel President Christian Genetski joins John to talk shop about World Cup engagement, the sports betting scandals putting the industry under a microscope, and FanDuel’s foray into prediction markets. Genetski addresse
NBC Sports’ Nicole Auerbach rejoins The Varsity to gab with John about all the latest chaos in college sports, from a bizarre twist in the Big Ten–SEC rivalry to the ongoing legal drama surrounding Brendan Sorsby and an
Fresh off of the Knicks' historic championship victory, John sits down with ESPN's Brian Windhorst and New York's own Mike Breen to dig into James Dolan's ownership of the team, the undervalued roster Leon Rose quietly a
John sits down with Axios media correspondent Sara Fischer to discuss the throw down set for next Sunday on the White House lawn. They discuss the press access issues and the potential growth opportunities for the UFC. T
Rich Greenfield, the LightShed partner and sports guru, joins John to weigh in on the looming NFL rights renegotiation bonanza: who wins, who blinks first, and why the league still has all the leverage in the post-cord-c
Puck legal guru Eriq Gardner joins John Ourand to explain how Capitol Hill and a veritable army of lawyers are reshaping college athletics: the fight over the Sports Broadcasting Act, the usual NIL mishegas, the Sunday T
ESPN head of content Burke Magnus joins John to discuss what's working for the network and what's in store. They chat about Inside the NBA, the state of the NBA booth, the NFL Network acquisition, and what it takes to dr
John sits down with Dan Helfrich, COO of US Soccer, ahead of the World Cup. Helfrich makes the case for the US team’s readiness and discusses how this three-nation-hosted tournament is so unique. He also explains why the
Peter Supino, the Wolfe Research super analyst, joins John to gab about the changing sports media landscape and the insider math behind two of the biggest rights deals of the decade: Apple’s curious bet on F1, and whethe
The Athletic's Andrew Marchand joins John to discuss Apple’s use of numerous iPhone 17 Pros to produce a live soccer match, and whether iPhone broadcasting could become the norm. They also get into the 2026 World Cup and
Horizon Media’s Adam Schwartz hops on the pod to discuss the state of the ad sales market with John. They talk about the vitality of the 30 second ad spot, A.I. optimization for commercials during sports broadcasts, soci
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The Varsity is hosted by Puck | Audacy. The show is categorised under news (business) and has published 208 episodes.
The Varsity has published 208 episodes.
The Varsity regularly covers news, business. It sits in the news category, with a business focus.
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The Varsity hasn't explicitly signalled guest openness in recent episodes. That doesn't rule out pitching. your hook just needs to be especially compelling and relevant to their recent content.
Episodes of The Varsity average 45 minutes. a focused format where a clear narrative arc and tight preparation matter most.
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