There’s beatdowns and then there’s whatever the Cavs just did to the Heat. The most lopsided series in NBA history ends with a 55 point thrashing on the Heat’s home court.

It was spicy in the Bay, but the Warriors hold on by 3. Draymond with a near ejection. Alperen Sengun with 31, but short armed the game tying attempt with 9 seconds left. Jimmy Butler called Dillon Brooks a bitch, scored 23 in the second half, and the Warriors are knocking on the door of round 2.

Movin on Up - we talked about New Owner Syndrome, but Commander fans continue to live in a blissful post-Dan Snyder honeymoon with Josh Harris. Jayden Daniels is your QB for the next decade, and now you’ll break in a new, downtown DC stadium. A $4b project - even in Tariff World, that’s an insane sum. Similar to SoFi, the stadium features a translucent roof. Roger Goodell claims DC will be in the running for future Super Bowls. It’s such a competitive race, but Dan Snyder was an absolute legend of Shit Owner. In less than 2 years, Harris has found a franchise QB, playoff wins, and now a new house.

Ready to talk shareholder value? That’s right, it’s time for a media landscape breakdown. The real money. Ok guys? Triple comma club stuff. Commissioners Goodell and SIlver both recently commented on their league’s media deals. Let’s get into what they’re saying (and talk MLB at the end of course).

NFL - announcing when you’re announcing the 2025-2026 schedule is now enough of a thing that people will cheer for it at the Draft. Our nation loves the NFL. Saving any anthropological analysis of commercialization of religious holidays for later, the NFL also announced they’re tripling down on Christmas. Three Christmas Day games every year. Formerly the NBA’s personal holiday, the NFL refuses to let an opportunity of biblical proportion pass it by. The numbers are staggering. Last year’s NFL Christmas games averaged 24.2 million viewers. The same day, NBA Christmas games averaged only 5.3m. Who’s God now?

NBA - baby brother. Adam Silver threw cold water on expansion before the NBA solves it’s regional sports network problem. Collectively, the operators of dozens of regional sports networks went bankrupt two years ago. That’s impacted both the NBA and MLB. Silver:

“I … hate to make it so negative, but [local game broadcasts] are caught in legacy media, which is rapidly declining,” Silver said. “And our young fans, in particular, we used to talk about cord-cutters; they’re really cord-nevers. It’s not part of their lives to buy cable … And so the local situation by definition will then get even worse.”

Why does this matter? The NBA is trying to sell two new franchises. They’re going to charge an exorbitant sum for each. To maximize that sale, a new owner would need to have confidence that the team can be broadcast with a stable local media partner. In a world where those partners are operating in differing levels of bankruptcy (hella broke), it could be hard to find enough hella rich dudes to engage in a bidding war for the future Las Vegas Ballers.

MLB - for all the things the MLB does wrong, they’re strangely pioneers of streaming. Founded in 2000(!), the MLB developed a streaming media company (MLBAM) that eventually sold to Disney for over a $1b. Disney bought the tech because it was great. If you remember the Paul-Tyson fight, live streaming sports can face technical difficulties. MLB’s legacy tech was/is the best in the business. Now, MLB is offering subscription packages directly to consumers for 26 teams. For example, $24.99/month gets you all Phillies games. Cable or no Cable. Why does this matter? Consumer subscriptions are way less stable than multi-year guaranteed rights agreements. Team performance will have a direct impact year to year on how many subscriptions a team sells. Previously, owners could guarantee revenues no matter how little (A’s, Marlins, etc…) they spent on the team. If customers (fans) cancel their subscription the minute (April) their team (A’s) is eliminated from the playoffs, then owners lose months of revenue.

The next 5 years of media probably determines the next 50. Leagues that capitalize on streaming, produce great content, quadrillion down on gambling, and continue to market their stars will make enough money to keep their Billionaires (and PE) owners happy.