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The Varsity

Puck | Audacy

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.

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  • 48 episodes
  • a few times a week
  • Avg 43 min
  • English

Episodes 48

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Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • June 24 · 43 min

    FanDuel’s Next Gamble

    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 addresses the looming transparency and regulation questions head-on, and explains how he’s threading the needle between legal complexities and a consumer appetite that's only intensifying.

  • June 21 · 43 min

    College Sports Confidential

    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 unexpected political threat in Washington.

  • June 17 · 43 min

    The James Dolan Paradox

    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 assembled, and why Jalen Brunson is essentially funding his own teammates. Breen also expands on his emotional call as the clock hit zero.

  • June 14 · 43 min

    UFC's White House Fright Night

    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. The pair also chat about the brands flocking to F1's Apple era, and the Murdoch vs. NFL leverage war playing out on Capitol Hill.

  • June 10 · 43 min

    YouTube’s NFL Discipline & NFL Partner Math

    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-cutting era.

  • June 7 · 43 min

    Full Court Press!

    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 Ticket time bomb, and much more.

  • June 3 · 43 min

    Burke Magnus’s ESPN Wish List

    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 draw younger audiences in through digital and social. They also discuss the MLB.tv experiment, and Magnus reveals what's still on his wish list for the network.

  • May 31 · 43 min

    Is the U.S. Ready for the World Cup?

    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 pipeline to a top-tier MLS starts with youth development, college soccer, and the communities that support them.

Showing 41–48 of 48 episodes