Helwani: Pat McAfee does sports media better than anyone else right now
Ariel Helwani · Ariel Helwani Is Building His Own ESPN. He Already Has 1m+ Followers. He Tells Us How. · Oct 29, 2021 · at 53:55
Sports journalist Ariel Helwani discusses the media figures he admires while explaining his independent production workflow to Sam Parr and Shaan Puri.
0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.9s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“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.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Ariel Helwani
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.”
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.”
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.”
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…”
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.”
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…”