My favorite subject, ESPN, apparently, is close to acquiring the out-of-market rights (MLB.TV) for all baseball teams in addition to the in-market rights of 5 clubs. ESPN will likely also receive national broadcasts as part of a renegotiated MLB package that no longer includes Sunday Night Baseball. Crucially, the arrangement is scheduled to expire in-line with other broadcast packages ahead of the 2029 season.

Two pieces stick out:

- Why is MLB selling MLB.TV? It’s a wildly successful product for them. Did ESPN make an offer they couldn’t refuse? Possible, ESPN is desperate. I thought they were cash poor, but I guess even us boys on the margins can stretch a dollar it if we have to.

- ESPN needs content in bulk. If you’re launching a streaming service that’s significantly more expensive than Netflix, then you better stuff it with attractive entertainment. Losing the NBA, not having football Monday-Friday, and only having baseball on Sunday, left ESPN with far too many programming gaps. No better solution than to fill it with thousands of baseball games 6 months of the year.

For the moment, this what you get with ESPN’s streamer:

- 6 months of every day baseball, but probably not your local team

- NFL RedZone

- Monday Night Football

- NFL Network’s few regular season games (London(?) and a Thursday Night(?))

- Some form of College Football Redzone

- Bulk College Football (hell yeah) plus marquee College Football ($)

- Bulk College Hoops

- Significant NHL coverage

- Significantly reduced NBA broadcasts

It’s all there. They have a man on every base. Is this worth $360 a year? Probably. Is this a 2025 version of a $30b company that formerly had a monopoly on sports fandom? Not sure. Peacock (with the NBA) is an equally impressive product (and has all the non-sports programming the Theatre Nerds want). In sum, without reporting me to the SEC (govt), my FINANCIAL ADVICE, go long Comcast stock and less long Disney. Peacock looks like a similarly valued streaming product, but I don’t think it’s represented as such in Comcast’s $124b market cap. This is a STOCKS newsletter now. Gotta grow my audience yaknow. Just like ESPN.

Tour Championship week for the PGA. Last event of the season! Promised myself I wouldn’t cry. *Sniffles* did you miss Thursday’s action? It’s okay, shhh, it’s okay. Three more days of golf. And then Ryder Cup. Golf never ends.

What happened today in Atlanta? Russell Henley went bonkers. Four opening pars, but finished with a nine under 61. Stellar day! Congrats, but Scottie is two shots back.

This is not a column about the Tour Championship format, the significance of the Fedex Cup, or WAYS TO IMPROVE THE TOUR. Today, we look back. The PGA starts its season in January. Years ago, when KMARK lived in Brooklyn, I remember cold New York Sunday’s watching the boys tackle Hawaii, the West Coast Swing, and Florida all before winter lifted in the northeast. I was so much older then, I’m younger than that now. In that spirit, let’s celebrate (and just remember) how we got here:

- Pebble Beach Pro-Am (February). Football is absolutely raging. It seems destined to be Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen’s year. And yet, Rory captures the headlines with a W. Rory’s 2025 includes wins at Pebble, Sawgrass, and Augusta. All-time pro-shop merch season.

- Waste Management (Super Bowl Weekend). This tournament was TRASH. Thomas Detry ran away with a seven shot win. He never wears a white glove. I believe he won with a WM green glove. That’s Thomas Detry. No one cared.

- The Players (March). Future US Open champ JJ Spaun was Player Chump losing to Rory in a three-hole Monday playoff. Spaun dumped his tee shot in the water on the island green during the playoff. He peaked at Rory’s club choice, flushed an 8, and lost the tournament. The Monday finish made for an awkward climax, but also a nice little treat at the beginning of the work week.

- RBC Heritage (April). A signature event one week after the Masters. Justin Thomas topped Andrew Novak in a playoff for his first win three years. Thomas is so dangerously close to Spieth irrelevance, but this rebound win probably cemented his Ryder Cup spot and resets his Star clock on Tour.

- CJ Cup Byron Nelson (May). Scottie Scheff tied the PGA scoring record at -31. He won in his hometown by 8 shots. Please make this game harder for this man.