Mark Lazarus discusses potential opportunity for Versant’s sports portfolio; Bob Costas talks about the “Sunday Night Baseball” pregame show; and David Ross is headed back to ESPN. Plus news on NFL Madrid, Bundesliga, TNT Sports and ESPN.
Lazarus: NFL renegotiations could provide Versant with new sports opportunities
Versant CEO Mark Lazarus said during the company’s earnings call Tuesday that he sees an “opportunity” for USA Sports to expand its sports portfolio into properties it “might not have otherwise gotten involved with” as other networks prioritize renewing their NFL deals. Lazarus implicitly cited Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch, who stated last month that Fox could “consider balancing or rebalancing” its sports portfolio to offset an increase for NFL rights.
“We’re open to conversations, we’re having ongoing conversations,” Lazarus said. “We’ve built out our own production unit, and we are prepared for the sports landscape to be shifting, and we will be in the middle of that. We’ll be disciplined, but we’ll be in the middle of that.”
Lazarus said that 60% of Versant’s audience comes from news and sports programming. The company recently televised the Winter Olympics and is also scheduled to air WNBA Finals games next season, although the league and WNBPA have yet to reach a new collective bargaining agreement. USA Sports also airs NASCAR, Pac-12 football and basketball, League One Volleyball and Premier League this year, although some of these deals are still centered around NBCUniversal.
Versant has a long-term goal of generating 50% of its revenue from non-pay television sources (19% of revenue in 2025), similar to the company’s golf business model. The company reported Q4 revenue of $1.61 billion (-6.6% YoY) on standalone adjusted EBITDA of $521 million (-19.1% YoY), along with declining revenue in linear distribution and advertising. The fourth quarter of FY 2025 was the final year in which Versant assets were under the ownership of Comcast’s NBCUniversal. Versant is forecasting adjusted EBITDA between $1.85 billion and $2 billion in FY 2026, along with “quarterly volatility caused by sports rights timing, particularly in the second half,” per CFO/COO Anand Kini.
Costas: Average SNB pregame show will include “only maybe 12 minutes of content”
NBC Sports host Bob Costas told Rob Tornoe of The Philadelphia Inquirer that NBC’s new Major League Baseball pregame shows will be “tight” and generally include “only maybe 12 minutes of content.” With most “Sunday Night Baseball” games set to begin at around 7:20 PM ET, it would appear based on Costas’ comments that NBC will come on the air at 7 PM ET.
NBC’s “Basketball Night in America” pregame shows typically air for a full hour, and its “Football Night in America” pregame is a full 90 minutes.
Costas also said that he will host “about two-thirds of the pregame shows” prior to “Sunday Night Baseball” telecasts. He previously said on the “Sports Media Watch Podcast” that he will be working the pregame shows on nights the games air on NBC, rather than exclusively on Peacock. NBC has 15 prime time windows out of 26 total for NBCUniversal (the other 11 are exclusive to Peacock and NBC Sports Network). Costas, who retired from play-by-play after the 2024 MLB Postseason on TBS, is not expected to call any games — though he had his first NBA play-by-play assignment since 2002 Tuesday night as part of a “throwback” broadcast.
Costas is part of an MLB broadcast team at NBC Sports that also features former players Joey Votto, Clayton Kershaw and Anthony Rizzo, along with host Ahmed Fareed. The network has not revealed plans for commentators in the booth during game broadcasts, which are scheduled to begin on Thursday, March 26.
Ross returning to ESPN as game, studio analyst
Former MLB C David Ross has signed a multiyear deal to return to ESPN after seven years away from the network, it was announced Wednesday. Ross will once again serve as a game and studio analyst on ESPN’s MLB coverage, which primarily includes weeknight contests in the summer under the new three-year media rights deal.
Ross worked in a similar role at ESPN over three seasons starting in 2017 while also serving as a special assistant in the Chicago Cubs’ front office. During his time on the network, Ross called “Wednesday Night Baseball” games and appeared on “Baseball Tonight” in addition to other studio programming. Ross was a guest analyst during the 2014 and 2015 postseasons on ESPN, while he was still a player.
Following the 2019 season, Ross was named the manager of the Cubs and held the job for the next four years. Ross has not worked as an MLB coach since he was dismissed as Cubs manager in November 2023. Ross is currently serving as the bullpen coach for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.
Ross discussed his return to ESPN in an appearance on ESPN’s broadcast of Team USA’s exhibition game against the San Francisco Giants Tuesday. Ross: “The ESPN family’s been special to me, and I can’t wait to watch some more baseball, be more involved, especially in an environment like this. This is special.”
Plus: NFL Madrid, Bundesliga, TNT Sports, SEC Basketball
- The Atlanta Falcons will be one of the teams participating in the 2026 NFL Madrid Game that will take place at a date and time to be announced, marking the sixth time the franchise has played internationally. This will be the second NFL regular-season game ever to be played at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which comes as the NFL inked a multiyear deal to continue playing games in Madrid. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said last month that the league would eventually hold 16 international games per year, meaning every team would play one matchup abroad.
- Bundesliga is in “advanced discussions” about its next media rights deal as its existing six-year pact with ESPN is slated to expire after this year, according to a report by Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. Karp cited Bundesliga Americas EVP Robin Austermann, who shared that the “clubs are requesting meaningful revenues from” the United States and that a deal could come in “a matter of weeks, maybe months.”
- TNT Sports has announced multiyear extensions with MLB analysts Jimmy Rollins and Jeff Francoeur, both of whom will continue in their studio and game analyst roles, respectively. Studio coverage for “MLB Tuesday on TBS” will retain the same panel featuring analysts Curtis Granderson, Pedro Martinez and the aforementioned Rollins, with hosts Lauren Shehadi and Adam Lefkoe. Game coverage continues to include Francoeur and Ron Darling as analysts, and the play-by-play tandem of Brian Anderson and Alex Faust.
- ESPN’s lead college basketball broadcast team of Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas will call both the Big 12 and SEC tournament finals later this month, likely marking the first time that they have worked multiple conference championship games in the same weekend. The duo will be joined by reporters Kris Budden and Alyssa Lang, respectively, for the championship matchups airing on ESPN.
