Much has already been said about NFL analyst Ryan Clark’s very public layoff from ESPN just over two weeks ago, awkwardly leaving the company for good in the middle of an NFL Live episode. His ouster has been widely politicized on both sides of the aisle.
Fox News-owned Outkick broke the story, then discussed why it was hard to justify the network keeping him and then said the media was portraying Clark as the victim and ESPN as the villain. Former ESPN anchor turned conservative personality Sage Steele claimed that Clark wouldn’t go on the air with her as part of her lawsuit against the network. CNN’s Jason Lee said a “culture war” led to Clark’s departure, and both former ESPN anchor turned liberal personality Jemele Hill and current ESPN titan Stephen A. Smith criticized the move.
“I knew I couldn’t be too Black,” Clark said on an emotional episode of The Pivot podcast, which he hosts twice a week with former NFL stars Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder, shortly after his exit. “What makes me sad is even in trying to adjust, to be at least more of what certain people wanted, they still fired me. So that is difficult.”
On Tuesday, The Pivot shot a live episode from the Paley Center in Midtown Manhattan, with former New York Giants legend Plaxico Burress on as a guest. Before the show started, I had a brief conversation with Clark, who made it clear he wouldn’t change anything about his 11-year ESPN tenure.
“You make decisions based on what you can live with, based on ways of being able to respect yourself,” Clark told me. “I enjoyed my time there. The relationships I was able to gain through NFL Live, Monday Night Countdown, Get Up, First Take, the amount of people that called me, reached out to me, offered to help me, spoken up on my behalf, shows me that the person I was, was the person I was supposed to be. Jobs come and go, right? But there are relationships that can last a lifetime. And I was able to build those in many ways despite the nasty way it ended.”
Clark didn’t want to speak much about the past, referring me to the episode of his podcast linked above. Now it’s time, he said, to move on and move forward.
“I know and understand what happened. Now who am I in taking the next step?” he said. “I’m now in a place to have to prove myself all over again. Whatever I did the last 12 years doesn’t matter. But the thing that isn’t done is quickly in a place where people are watching, to where people are supporting, where people want to know what the next move is going to be.”
Whatever Clark does next, he’s thankful he still gets to talk about the game he loves with people he enjoys working with in Crowder and Taylor.
“Finding that next thing may not be as easy or just stepping into a new job,” Clark said, “but luckily I have the platform of The Pivot where I’m already doing some of those things. And now it’s about taking that next step and expanding new places.”
On The Radar
Potentially on the verge of shutting down after 2026, LIV Golf said it’s found new life with an unnamed lead investor signing on after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund pulled its support earlier this year. LIV is also speaking to more than a dozen potential minority investors for “LIV 2.0,” which will be majority owned by the players. The news came a day after a players-only meeting led by Bryson DeChambeau was reportedly held to discuss the league’s future. BC Partners— which owns a stake in GSE Worldwide, an agency where LIV players like DeChambeau are clients— is reportedly considering lending LIV money. LIV’s news ironically comes on the same day in which the PIF finalized its $55 billion acquisition of gaming giant Electronic Arts, a deal in which the company will take on more than $20 billion in debt.
As FIFA President Gianni Infantino still waits on Saudi support for his embattled re-election campaign, he and senior leaders went to Morocco for emergency meetings, where FIFA apologized for errors made in its commercialization push, but senior leadership reaffirmed its support for Infantino. Those meetings also led to Infantino reportedly offering Morocco the 2030 World Cup final— which under any normal president would happen in Barcelona or Madrid— in exchange for its support of Infantino. The Moroccan trip comes as the head of Jordan’s football association accused Infantino of blackmail, holding up prize money from last year’s Arab Cup in exchange for endorsing his re-election campaign. In an unrelated note, North American World Cup host cities have reportedly claimed FIFA still owes them money as well.
I attended the introductory press conference for incoming Major League Soccer commissioner Larry Berg (shameless Yahoo recap article plug here) on Tuesday, and search committee co-chair Jimmy Haslem (who owns the Columbus Crew, Cleveland Browns and Milwaukee Bucks) laid out the full hiring process. Korn Ferry and CAA helped compile a list of 125 different names from all over the world in sports, media, tech and business. That list was whittled down to 25, with Korn Ferry narrowing it to 12-13. Interviews halved that candidate list, and Berg, former Fox executive David Nathanson and San Francisco 49ers and Leeds United executive Paraag Marathe were the three finalists. Marathe dropped out, and then it was down to Berg and Nathanson to present their case to league owners.
Incoming MLS commissioner Larry Berg A federal judge ruled Tuesday in a summary judgment that Utah’s anti-gambling laws apply directly to Kalshi, “rejecting Kalshi’s claim that its status as a federally registered exchange shields its sports betting contracts from state law.” It was the first state in which a final verdict went down against the prediction market, and New York has already cited the new ruling in its ongoing litigation against Kalshi. The dominoes against unregulated prediction markets are beginning to fall.
Fox released its 2026 NFL broadcaster pairings, finalizing the permanent move of Drew Brees on to its C team after analyst Mark Sanchez’s bizarre arrest following an October altercation in Indianapolis. Kevin Burkhardt, Tom Brady, Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi return as the lead announce crew for the network.
ESPN’s 2026 college football broadcaster pairings will see Katie George join the B team as sideline reporter, and Kris Budden moving up to C team sideline reporter. Alyssa Lang will replace Matt Barrie as lead ESPN studio host.
Ben Huddleston@sportswithben1Summary of changes to ESPN’s CFB commentators:
4:23 PM · Aug 4, 2026 · 35.8K Views5 Replies · 24 Reposts · 165 LikesCleveland’s expansion WNBA team starting play in 2028 will be known as the Sirens despite the PWHL’s New York team already using that name. While Cleveland’s team is inspired by the Odyssean siren and New York’s team is inspired by the sounds of New York City, Cleveland could’ve just come up with a name that hasn’t been used yet.
On Monday’s episode of The Five on Fox News, host Jesse Watters refreshingly admitted that he doesn’t care about the WNBA and is tired of talking about it on cable news.
Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham, a lightning rod of controversy of late, told reporters Wednesday that “all we ever do is cover everything except basketball.” I look forward to the day where people pay more attention to what actually goes on in the W on the court, where 2.5 million people watched Sunday’s Fever game against the Minnesota Lynx, than fake, irrelevant issues off it.
The NWSL said Wednesday that its 2027 season will kick off on Feb. 11 in Los Angeles, earlier than ever and three days before the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, due to the FIFA Women’s World Cup necessitating a seven-week break in the campaign in June and July. The 30-game regular season will precede the playoffs that conclude with the championship game on Nov. 20. Fans of the NWSL and Ted Lasso will be happy to know that the Kansas City Current was the inspiration for a major plot point for season four, which dropped Wednesday on Apple TV.
Jury selection and the trial for the infamous rigged poker game face in which Chauncey Billups is a defendant has been moved from Nov. 2 to Nov. 30. In the related NBA gambling/insider trading case in which Terry Rozier is a defendant, fellow defendant Deniro Laster has been accused of trying to tamper with witnesses and obstruct justice by federal prosecutors, who have asked a federal judge to revoke his bond.
Honorable Mention
ESPN quarterly revenue is up 4% as the network announced it sold out its Super Bowl advertising inventory…Massive changes at horse racing’s Preakness Stakes…Bijan Robinson is now the highest-paid running back in NFL history…The Paramount/Warner Bros. Discovery antitrust trial has been set for March 2…A new NHL partnership will allow the trading of futures contracts based on teams’ on-ice performance…Ricky Williams’ new memoir comes out on Oct. 7…Miami Dolphins and Miami Grand Prix exec Tom Garfinkel left the company after 13 years…Mike Golic Sr. joins Notre Dame football radio coverage…Matthew Berry’s podcast comes to Audacy…The NBPA’s new Los Angeles training facility…The NBA considers the Battersea power station as an arena location for London’s potential NBA Europe team…You can become Akron’s offensive coordinator for the first series of its home opener.
Watch: The Dink