5 days ago
Pablo Torre's hit podcast signed a fascinating new licensing deal
The sports media world received a particularly interesting update about the future of the hit podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out on Tuesday morning.
Torre's unique form of investigative journalism has uncovered remarkable findings about football coach Bill Belichick (which led to a feud with Bill Simmons), a messy gambling ring in the NBA, scandals surrounding the NFLPA, who actually posts on social media for Magic Johnson, and plenty more.
He began the show, which is produced by Meadowlark Media, in 2023. It was recently named by TIME as one of the 100 best podcasts ever.
Meadlowlark Media will continue to produce the show, which departed from DraftKings Network earlier this summer. Pablo Torre Finds Out was briefly independent and sought a licensing partner before recently agreeing to terms with New York Times and The Athletic.
Here are additional details about Torre's agreement with The Athletic (via Bloomberg):
The New York Times Co.'s Athletic sports-media brand has signed two new podcast licensing deals, including one for Pablo Torre Finds Out, in a bid to expand its subscriber base.
The agreement with Torre, a former on-air correspondent for ESPN, is in the seven figures, according to a person familiar with the details, who asked not to be named discussing information that's not public. Additionally, the Athletic signed a deal for the independent podcast Sports Gossip Show.
'This is the single best way for us to go out and reach millions of more sports fans,' said Sebastian Tomich, chief commercial and development officer at the Athletic, in an interview. 'Absent us unlocking many millions in a giant brand campaign, developing new shows and series like that with Pablo is the best way.'
Dan Le Batard, co-founder of the network that produces Torre's podcast, posted on social media about the news.
This is part of what he said in the video:
"We were all able to create the future of sports journalism, the future of sports podcasting ... All parties involved what used to be HBO's Real Sports, what used to be Outside the Lines, real traditional sports journalism."
The Athletic also agreed to a licensing deal with Sports Gossip Show, which is hosted by Madeline Hill and former For The Win staff writer Charlotte Wilder.
