🎨 The Art of the News-Breaker

The final “Woj Bomb” has been dropped, and now we know the fuse is out. So what does this mean for the news-breaking industry?

It’s one of those careers you take a step back and think, how the hell did I not get into this?? I mean come, all you had to do was have a phone, a Twitter (RIP) account, and have more contacts in the sports, media, and entertainment industry that would make even the Beckham’s jealous. Easy enough, right? Oh yeah…totally.

Last Wednesday, ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski (aka “Woj”) dropped one of his most shocking “Woj Bombs” in quite some time — he’s officially retiring from the breaking news game and taking over as the General Manager of for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team (who even knew General Manager was even a position in college sports?!). So why did the 55-year old decide to pull the trigger now? What’s so relevant about this story? How does this affect the NBA and media landscape as a whole?

Let’s get after it…

Who is Woj?

• After dominating the breaking news game as an NBA reporter at Yahoo!, Woj decided to jump ship and join ESPN in Bristol, CT where he’s originally from.

• It wasn’t too hard of a choice either, in 2017 he was offered millions of dollars by the World Wide Leader just so they’d have him stop beating them when it came to breaking news.

  • What do we mean by “breaking news”?

    • Every professional and nearly every collegiate sport possesses multiple “insiders” who have created contacts within the league(s) they cover. Maybe it’s contacts with players, player’s agents, league/team/media executives, etc.

    • These “insiders” report on the news they hear from these contacts and create storylines based on what they hear within their circles.

• In 2022, Woj renegotiated his contract and reported to have signed a five-year, $35M deal that kept him at ESPN. He was named the National Sports Media Association’s National Sportswriter of the Year in 2017, 2018 and 2019.

• So why leave millions of dollars on the table for an average Atlantic-10 program? Besides the fact Woj attended St. Bonaventure…he clearly wants to put the phone down a little more in the evening and do something he enjoys. Part of his new job title will be helping recruit high schoolers and transfers as well as manage NIL opportunities for players alongside collective organizations. He will also contribute to fundraising and alumni relationship efforts.

What’s the domino effect of Woj’s retirement?

• You may or may not have heard, but the NBA is a little more than a year away from their $77B media-rights deals kicking in with ESPN/ABC, NBC, and Amazon. But don’t worry everyone, even though Woj is technically the 🐐, there are still other “insiders” out there:

  • Shams Charania (currently with The Athletic)

    • Sources have indicated (ooo now we’re starting to sound like an insider) both NBC and Amazon are interested in scooping up Shams.

  • Chris Haynes (currently with TNT) — his contract is up after this year.

  • Jake Fischer (currently with Yahoo!) — reports are he’s done with the former Google search engine competitor.

  • Chris Mannix (currently with Sports Illustrated) — and that’s not the best company to be attaching your name with these days.

• But ESPN clearly has a hole. And it’s not like they don’t have talent either.

  • They could elevate Brian Windhorst or Ramona Shelburne. Or use its loaded bench of NBA journalists — including Marc J. Spears, Zach Lowe, Tim Bontemps, and front office insider Bobby Marks — to adopt a scoops-by-committee approach…but it’s not like they have the type of contacts like Woj or Shams.

  • Which means…ESPN would essentially go back to pre-2017, when they lost out on all NBA breaking news.

How does this affect the NBA media landscape?

• Why do these networks pay so much f**king money to have these rights??

  • It’s all about attention! And the NBA is a 24/7, 365 business built on keeping your eyeballs on the screen watching live games or having your eyeballs attached to other types of media (pre or postgame shows, YouTube, podcasts, etc.) where NBA insiders sit down and talk through what rumors/news they’re hearing in their circles.

• Attention is key so here’s a nice little formula:

  • If you have the rights to air live games + keep attention on your program for further programming w/ insiders = more ad dollars & increased revenue 🤑.

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Quick Hitters

• 🏈 The Pac-12 is getting a little beefier from our last chat…according to sources from The Athletic, Utah State agreed to become the 5th Mountain West member to join the Pac-12, bringing the reconstructed league that began September with just two schools up to seven members by 2026. All eyes are now on UNLV, which was a top target for the Pac-12 after AAC schools Memphis, Tulane, USF and UTSA turned the league down over concerns over Pac-12 projections, travel and the AAC’s own large exit fees.

  • Air Force, too, could end up back in play for the Pac-12 or the AAC after Utah State unexpectedly blew up the MW agreement

  • The Pac-12 and Gonzaga have been in discussions about the Bulldogs joining the league, but an agreement doesn’t look to be close. Unfortunately, Gonzaga would not count toward the eight football-playing members required by 2026.