Ariel Helwani

Everything Ariel Helwani said on any show that made the record, most notable first. Each card names its show and opens the statement there.

MY FIRST MILLION Assertion Not checkable as stated

Helwani: Dana White tried to block my ESPN hiring before day one

“From the moment the news came out that I was signing, he was trying to get me to not even have day one at ESPN.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 13:19 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Assertion Supported

Helwani: ESPN offered me a contract extension and I turned it down

“They even offered me a new contract, unlike what other people are trying to say about me being fired. I was never fired. They offered me a contract and I turned it down.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 16:09 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Opinion

Helwani: Pat McAfee does sports media better than anyone else right now

“I think, I don't know if you guys are fans of Pat McAfee, but I think that he is doing media in sports, at least better than anyone right now.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 53:55 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Assertion Supported

Helwani: UFC ban lasted only 48 hours in 2016, not for life

“I am not banned for life. I was banned for 48 hours, but that was back in 2016. Over time, there's been some revisionist history where people think I'm still banned. I'm not banned. I've been to a bunch of events since then.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 57:22 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Insight

Helwani: Media personalities succeed by dominating niches rather than being generalists

“The days of sitting in your car and hoping that they talk about something or listening to people just talk about God knows what, those days are over. And so it is actually a lot better in my opinion to go into a niche to be the niche guy as opposed to being th…”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 28:16 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Disclosure

Helwani: All Substack subscription proceeds are donated to charity

“All the proceeds that I was getting from the subs, I'm donating to charity. So I want people to know I'm not profiting off of any of this.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 38:26 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Insight

Helwani: Keep initial guest interviews short to secure repeat appearances

“I didn't keep them for very long. I would keep them for like 20 minutes in hopes of getting them to come back the next time, right? Cause it's not just about this time. It's about the next time and the next time and it's the next time. And so I don't want them…”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 46:55 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Disclosure

Helwani breaks down his multi-platform media partnerships after leaving ESPN

“Now I'm working with Vox, my old friends at Vox Media, with the Ringer Spotify, with Substack, with BT Sport. I did a thing for Showtime recently, BetMGM, and, ah, it's great.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 8:49 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Disclosure

Helwani: Vox Media is my biggest revenue driver

“Right now my biggest revenue driver, if you want to put in those terms, is is Vox Media. They're paying me the most.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 17:06 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Disclosure

Helwani: I book every show guest myself without any booking agent

“In, in the what is it now? 12 years of me doing this, like hosting this type of weekly show and all this stuff, shows, I've never had a person book the guest for me. I book every single guest. Every single name that you see on my show on, on Wednesday, Rose, a…”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 30:09 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

MY FIRST MILLION Disclosure

Helwani: Core media operation runs with just three staff members

“Right now I have, I would say three people who work with me one person, social media, one person's video, one person's audio.”

Ariel Helwani Oct 29, 2021 ▶ 54:28 Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How.

The other half of the tape: Ariel Helwani's own voice is left out of every number here. Other people bring the name up 13 times in 4 episodes across the shows. 1 statement on the record names them. every mention, with the transcript →

Who brings them up most Sam Parr 13

Statements about Ariel Helwani, by other people (1)

MY FIRST MILLION Assertion Partly supported

Parr: Ariel Helwani left a ~$1M ESPN salary to build independent media

“He just quit ESPN where he was probably making close to a million dollars a year as a host. And he created a sub stack, his own podcast, and he's kind of building like a little media media empire.”

Sam Parr Sep 23, 2021 ▶ 0:57 How to Make Millions With a Modern Day Infomercial | My First Million #221

Every mention by year

One line per show, most statements first. The link opens Ariel's full record on that show: the calibration, argument clarity, speaking style and every statement made there.

Show	Role there	Eps	Statements	Record
MY FIRST MILLIONLEDGER	Host, The Ariel Helwani Show	1	11	100% 2/2	full record on My First Million →