Bill Simmons renews his contract with Spotify, Norby Williamson bringing major leadership shakeup to Main Street Sports, and more.
Bill Simmons renews Spotify contract
Sportswriter and podcast personality Bill Simmons has agreed to a new multi-year contract with Spotify, according to Bloomberg. Simmons will continue production of his namesake podcast as well as oversee all of Spotify’s podcast strategy. Spotify remains the parent company of the sports and pop culture blog The Ringer, which Simmons started after departing ESPN in 2016.
The news comes as rumors suggested that Simmons and the streaming giant could part ways, as the company had reduced its investments in original podcast content recently. The Bill Simmons Podcast remains among the most popular sports podcasts on the platform, according to its public listings.
Norby restructuring leadership at Main Street Sports
Main Street Sports executive Norby Williamson, who joined the company earlier this year following a 40-year career with ESPN, has implemented major shakeups to its production leadership, according to Front Office Sports. Production for the FanDuel Sports Network RSNs will now be centrally administered, rather than by regional executives. As part of this restructure, Main Street Sports has let go of about 10 executive producers for the various networks.
Production will now be directed by new national sport-specific executives, namely Brett Opdyke and former Golf Channel exec Larry Holm for the NBA, former Monday Night Football producer Jay Rothman for the NHL, and former ESPN college football producer Ed Placey for MLB. Mark Summer will oversee pregame and postgame studio coverage. Hom, Rothman, Placey, and Summer all previously worked for Williamson at ESPN.
The FanDuel Sports Networks combine to locally televise games from around 30 teams across the NBA, NHL, and MLB.
Plus: Capitals, AVP, Masters
— The Washington Capitals and Monumental Sports Network announced Tuesday an arrangement with the NHL to produce its own broadcasts for archival purposes for the team’s four remaining games this season that are exclusive to national television. The move ensures longtime Capitals play-by-play voice Joe Beninati will have a recorded call of any record-breaking goal by Alex Ovechkin, as he nears the NHL career scoring record held by Wayne Gretzky. Beninati, who joined the Capitals in 1994, has been the primary play-by-play voice for all of Ovechkin’s 20-year career with Washington.
— The AVP professional beach volleyball league has signed media rights deals with CBS Sports and the CW network, according to Variety. The 2025 season will feature consistent Saturday night windows on the CW, with other matches appearing on CBS Sports Network. The CBS broadcast network will carry the league championship match on a Sunday afternoon in August. The 2025 season begins May 10th in Huntington Beach, CA.
— Per the tournament website, coverage of the 2025 Masters Par-3 Contest will be shortened from five hours to four. ESPN will carry live coverage from 2-4 PM on Wednesday, April 9, with ESPN+ carrying the full event beginning at noon. Additionally, the coverage schedule confirms that the new hours of coverage exclusive to Paramount+ (12-2 PM on Saturday and Sunday) will be available for free through the Masters Live app and website, along with all coverage on ESPN and CBS and the alternate featured groups and holes streams.
