Last week, Fox Sports stayed busy.
On Monday, the network shocked the sports ecosystem by announcing that it was canceling three shows- “Breakfast Ball,” “The Facility,” and “Speak.”
That meant it was parting ways with Joy Taylor, Emmanuel Acho, Paul Pierce, Michael Irvin, Keyshawn Johnson and others.
Then on Thursday, the network announced a partnership with Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports platform, where Portnoy and other Barstool personalities will join Fox’s college football pregame show Big Noon Kickoff beginning this August. Barstool will also provide the network with a two-hour daily morning sports studio show that will fill the void made by the cancellations last week, bring its Barstool College Football Show on the road, and also contribute to Fox Sports’ college basketball coverage.
“We’re excited to welcome Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports to the Fox Sports family,” said Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks in a statement. “Dave has built a one-of-a-kind brand that connects with a new generation of sports fans—authentic, bold, and original. Their unique voice and loyal fanbase makes them a natural fit for our evolving multiplatform content strategy.”
That content strategy is a very specific one that caters to a specific audience, and that should raise the eyebrows of everyone not in the “Bro”, MAGA, or generally insensitive, arrogant and ignorant crowd.
That’s why Black media, especially independent Black media, is needed now more than ever.
And to be even more specific, credible, professional and knowledgeable Black media.
With the addition of the Barstool Sports platform, Fox is aligning itself with an owner known for misogyny, sexism and other forms of negativity.
And they don’t care because that group loves those views like a fat kid loves cake (thanks 50 Cent).
Fox is running the risk that ESPN faced during its ill-fated, one-episode partnership with Portnoy and the Barstool Van Talk program in 2017.
“While we had approval on the content of the show, I erred in assuming we could distance our efforts from the Barstool site and its content,” said ESPN’s John Skipper at the time after canceling the partnership after that single episode and admitting the risk he took of coming too close to the Portnoy brand.
Yet instead of setting Barstool back, the abrupt cancellation ended up fueling the company’s growth.
After unleashing a tirade at ESPN, Portnoy rallied his audience and grew the brand to where he eventually sold it to Penn Gaming for $500 million before buying it back for $1 after Penn entered a $1.5 billion sports betting partnership with ESPN.
Now he’ll be seen every Saturday on Fox Sports.
This was the goal for those aligned with talking heads like Jason Whitlock and Clay Travis, and Fox’s new partnership signals that sports media has shifted to the right, aligning with the political power in the white house.
But just because the national networks are shifting that way doesn’t mean everyone has to follow, and that’s why Black and Brown voices, especially those on independent platforms like First and Pen, must continue to exist and push forward.
We cannot become pensive or shy simply because McAfee and Portnoy have embedded themselves with ESPN and Fox.
Instead, we must strengthen our efforts to produce quality content that shows our talents and knowledge and counters any ignorance they spew.
And, most importantly, we cannot dumb down the Black and Brown audiences we serve.
McAfee and Portnoy have exploited the unapologetic, “don’t care who we offend” attitude that has flourished in this country over the last few years, and they can get away with it because they know how to and because they have sizable and influential audiences that enable them to do it.
And yes, while much, if not most, of it can be attributed to white privilege, much can also be attributed to their understanding of how the media game has evolved.
Just look at Stephen A. Smith’s rise.
After being chin-checked and sent to the bench by ESPN early in his TV career, Smith learned the game and re-established himself on the network. Now, he’s successfully crossed over into politics and social commentary with takes that are oftentimes hypocritical, ridiculous and frustrating.
Yet they serve his purpose of fueling his growth beyond sports media.
These are the personalities that the highly coveted Male 1834 demo flock to, so media networks need to make sure they’re continuing to feed this beast wherever they are.
And what better way to do it than to provide them with two outspoken, opinionated, unabashed and unfiltered white personalities who can get away with basically everything.
For those who will say, “Don’t put race into it,” we all know that they get away with things that Black sports personalities can’t.
Even Stephen A. Smith.
Sports are a reflection of society, so the rise of McAfee and Portnoy should come as no surprise.
But they don’t represent all of society, and that’s why Black media can still thrive even as fascism spreads. The benchmarks are there- just look at Urban View on SiriusXM and Roland Martin’s network for proof.
They have carved out large, loyal audiences who not only follow them but are motivated to fight for and drive change.
Despite not having media rights to college sports events, Black and Brown media platforms can and do offer different perspectives and thoughtful analysis by being sports-adjacent and independent.
With today’s fragmented sports media landscape, there is room for multiple voices, so let McAfee and Portnoy do what they will.
We, as Black and Brown media outlets, must continue to build and cater to audiences that aren’t attracted to the aforementioned personalities and their fans.
We have important work to do, so let’s focus on that so that we’re too good, too influential and too big to ignore.
