I cover the US sports broadcasting beat from the side of the bar where you’d actually want to know which app has tonight’s game. Joined BuffStreams as senior writer in 2023 after five years at a smaller outfit covering NFL labor and rights deals.
Background
Started in the press box at college games out of Northwestern’s J-school. Moved to NFL beat coverage in 2017 — Steelers, then Giants, then league office. The interesting work isn’t on the field, it’s in the rights deals: who pays what, why YouTube TV beat DirecTV for Sunday Ticket, why Amazon’s Thursday Night Football experiment is now a permanent fixture, why Apple paid $2.5 billion for MLS rights when no one asked them to.
What I cover
- NFL streaming and rights — Sunday Ticket on YouTube TV, NFL+ tier pricing, Thursday Night Football on Amazon, the Super Bowl rotation between CBS, FOX, and NBC.
- Apple-MLS and the broader streaming-exclusive trend — what happens when a league hands its entire product to a single platform.
- NBA broadcasting economics — League Pass blackouts, the TNT/ESPN/ABC matchnight split, the regional sports network collapse.
- Champions League US distribution — Paramount+ exclusivity, the linear CBS final question, why no one else can get the package.
- Streaming-stack math for actual fans — what does it cost to watch every game you care about, and where can you cut.
Editorial principles
Don’t recommend a service unless you’d subscribe to it yourself. Don’t run affiliate links. Don’t repeat the broadcaster’s marketing copy.
Contact
Tip line and corrections: [email protected]. I read everything.