Media Monday: ESPN's McAfee Makeover & Netflix Red Flags

**Jon Kelly** (0:01)
A new generation is used to a different kind of creator and wants to have a different kind of experience in the theater. Guys like you and I are blowhards about Stuart Scott or Dan Patrick and Obermann, but that's not a Gen Z or a Gen Alphas idea of a good time anymore.

**Peter Hamby** (0:20)
Welcome to The Powers That Be Daily, Puck's podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, and the players who run it all.
I'm Peter Hamby. It's Monday, July 27th, which means it's Media Monday. Today, Jon Kelly and I discuss the power players in media, politics and private equity who worked to bring LeBron James to Philadelphia. We also discuss the layoffs at ESPN and why the future of sports is more Manningcast and McAfee than studio reporters.
We break down Netflix's most recent engagement report and pick apart what's working for the streamer and what's not. We'll discuss all that and much, much more on today's episode of The Powers That Be.
Happy Monday, everybody, and welcome to The Powers That Be. If it's Monday, it's Media Monday, and Jon Kelly is back. Off a little vacation, legacy defining baseball coaching win. We're going to talk today about ESPN, the layoffs there, Jon's take on this. We're also going to discuss some new engagement numbers that dropped from Netflix and what it says about their content bets, how they're paying off and what they should do in the future. But first, Jon, it's good to see you. In your absence, Jon, we had Brian Tyler Cohen, come on, the progressive content creator, big Democrat. It was the first time we've ever had an outside podcast on the show. But don't worry, your seat is warm. We missed you. Hey, I want to start actually today by talking about some news that broke on Friday. That is the LeBron James News. Before people skip to the next business or politics podcast, this story involves many main characters at Puck. LeBron James is signing a two-year, what is it here, Jon? Two-year $8 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers.

**Jon Kelly** (2:16)
Better than minimum, I think.

**Peter Hamby** (2:17)
Shams broke the story at ESPN. We're going to talk about ESPN in a moment. Josh Harris, the owner of the Sixers, I know you're a Puck reader, Josh. He was involved in recruiting LeBron. This is obviously Rich Paul and Clutch Sports.
They were the ones sort of managing this process, LeBron's agency. And I scooped this for Puck about a week ago.
Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, bumped into LeBron at ZZ's about a week and a half ago, that private club in New York. He was hanging out at the Clintons, saw LeBron, and personally lobbied LeBron to come to Philly. And then on Friday, Josh Shapiro, after this news broke, declared that this day, henceforth, would be known as LeBron James Day in the city of Philadelphia or the state of Pennsylvania or something like that. Anyway, what's your take on this LeBron story, you know, just from a Puck perspective?

**Jon Kelly** (3:08)
Well, let's get a couple of things out of the way. First of all, Peter Charles de Gaulle was right. The graveyard is filled with indispensable men. Media Monday rolls on without me. I was humble to see that.
Josh Harris, owner of the 76ers and the Commanders and the former Apollo co-founder and principal of Harris Blitzer, also the owner of Cooperstown All-Star Village. More proof, as I lived it last week, that youth sports has been vacuumed up by the higher calling of private equity. It's a phenomenal PE target, since these are largely family businesses that will take a check to get out of the way for these big roll ups. And saw you in DC. It was great to see you. We were talking to our buddy Scott Mollhouser, who gets tons of shout outs in the Puck universe, because we love him so much. And I made a bet with Scott that I thought the LeBron to Philly stuff was not real. I thought Philly was a stocking horse for Golden State. I sort of thought all along that the LeBron stuff thing was material, that the reason Kerr was staying was to keep LeBron.
But I assume, I don't know this, but I assume that Harris is actually a fairly charismatic guy for the sort of financial Skylord type. And I bet, you know, LeBron has enjoyed ownership before, right? John Henry's group Fenway Sports, I think gave LeBron a taste in their LP bucket. They have like Liverpool and some other teams. So I think LeBron wants to get in the ownership game. And I wouldn't be surprised if there's a certain caliber of athlete, LeBron, Tom Brady, Michael Jordan, et cetera, that want to be owners, that recognize the extraordinary creative value of pro sports. This is a teaser to our next segment, but I wouldn't be surprised if this relationship matters. I'm not insinuating anything nefarious. There's no Steve Ballmer, Kawhi Leonard uncle thing here. But I think that Paris probably one of the few guys that LeBron really, really respects in this business. And there are very few people above him at this point. Remember, LeBron's already a billionaire, right? So he's wealthier than some of the owners in the league at this point. Anyway, if people want to know what I think about the Eastern Conference next year, I'm happy to tell in person. I know that that's not what our audience cares about, but I still think that the Knicks take it. But the year after that, though, with Edge, Maxey, LeBron and Embiid, I'm worried about that.