A model of this text first appeared within the CNBC Sport publication with Alex Sherman, which brings you the largest information and unique interviews from the worlds of sports activities enterprise and media. Sign up to obtain future editions, straight to your inbox. All offers, large or small, want a keen purchaser and a keen vendor. Paramount is making ready a bid to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery, CNBC reported a number of weeks in the past . The query for Warner Bros. Discovery Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav and his board will probably be whether or not to settle for Paramount’s bid or to wait and transfer ahead with a deliberate splitting of the corporate into two – a linear cable networks-driven entity referred to as Discovery Global and a studio and streaming service agency to be referred to as Warner Bros. If Paramount and WBD agree to a transaction, it will create a media and sports activities behemoth, bringing collectively TNT Sports and CBS Sports. March Madness could be united beneath one company roof. While a mixed firm nonetheless would not have NBA rights, after Warner Bros. Discovery failed to safe them within the league’s most up-to-date TV deal starting this upcoming season, it will have the NFL, MLB, NHL, some faculty soccer, UFC, NASCAR and way more. In different phrases, it will be a sports activities large not fairly the scale of ESPN, however fairly shut to NBCUniversal. A tie-up could be monumental in scale and in {dollars}. Warner Bros. Discovery is at the moment buying and selling at round $19 a share, giving the corporate a market capitalization of $47 billion. Add one other $30 billion in web debt and an extra takeover premium, and we’re speaking about a transaction that might attain $90 billion. My colleague David Faber reported final month a bid may are available between $22 and $24 a share. I’m certain Zaslav will push for much more. Zaslav’s leverage is that he and the board consider there could possibly be a bidding battle for the Warner Bros. property that may elevate the worth so excessive as to make Paramount’s bid for the whole firm appear undervalued. Zaslav has informed others that firms like Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Comcast could possibly be within the studios and streaming enterprise, in accordance to folks conversant in the matter, and he could be proper. HBO and Warner Bros. studio would match properly with any of these firms. Paramount most likely desires to keep away from a bidding battle, which may power the world’s second-wealthiest particular person and would-be-backer Larry Ellison’s hand into making an aggressive bid for the corporate earlier than it splits into two. Companies such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon aren’t curious about proudly owning legacy media property like cable networks. Paramount, however, would have synergies by clumping its cable networks along with Warner’s for added distribution heft with pay TV suppliers. A mixed firm may hold the networks for the money circulate and the sports activities rights, or it may ultimately break up them off like Warner Bros. Discovery had deliberate. There’s another excuse Paramount might want to transfer early, I’m informed. The Skydance-Paramount merger ended up taking longer than anticipated after the FCC dragged its toes on approving a deal till after a “60 Minutes” settlement yielded $16 million to President Donald Trump . During that point, I’m informed Paramount’s property have degraded in worth. This is not a shock. The firm’s linear TV property have lengthy been in a state of decline. Executives have not been ready to transfer ahead with strategic enterprise selections given the state of the corporate was in limbo. Some of these executives, together with former co-CEOs Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins , aren’t even with the corporate anymore. We’ll discover out the extent of the depreciation of worth when Paramount reviews its third-quarter earnings in November. But that will not actually matter if Paramount strikes a cope with WBD. The complete narrative of the corporate’s future will probably be totally different. I requested NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell what he considered Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison ‘s ambition to develop the corporate so rapidly after closing the merger. “It’s exciting for us because it’s showing one of our big partners who is attempting to transform itself right before our eyes,” mentioned Goodell in an unique interview final week. “I think they’re recognizing the value of content.” Goodell has cause to be thrilled. Last 12 months, Paramount, which owns CBS Sports, appeared like a weakling in contrast to its rivals. Just as the NBA pulled out from its media rights cope with WBD given its diminished scale relative to rivals, one may have imagined Goodell making the identical selection with Paramount. But if Paramount bulks up with a WBD combo, that firm can have a big steadiness sheet and a very rich part-owner in Larry Ellison. The greatest wild card is Comcast’s NBCUniversal, the mum or dad firm of CNBC (at the least, till January, when CNBC will probably be spun off as a part of Versant). An organization like Netflix would not need Paramount to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery on a budget. An organization like NBCUniversal would not need Paramount to purchase WBD in any respect as a result of it straight impacts its very existence. Pushing Paramount and Warner collectively would make NBCUniversal and Peacock much more subscale than it already is. That may make NBCUniversal a much less fascinating house, sooner or later, for main sports activities and leisure expertise that need to maximize viewership. Would a sports activities league need to put programming on Peacock, or a mixed Paramount+ and HBO Max? The latter would have much more viewers. Would Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and soon-to-be co-CEO Mike Cavanagh make a competing bid for all of WBD? Does that even make sense whereas NBCUniversal is spinning off nearly all of its cable networks? Is there one other accomplice on the market that NBCUniversal may purchase or merge with? Zaslav has begged for large media consolidation for years. We could lastly be on the verge of seeing some dramatic motion. *** Speaking of Versant, I’m informed the corporate is actively out there to promote SportsEngine. That’s the corporate’s youth sports activities crew administration platform. Youth sports activities is a scorching scorching market. Versant could find a way to higher use the cash from a sale for its core strategic objectives, such as increase stay sports activities rights and buying companies that bolster finance and information. On the document With Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten … To nobody’s shock, the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers are again within the MLB playoffs. I spoke with Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten from his house perch at Dodger stadium about his evaluation of the season, his ideas on the Savannah Bananas, how the Dodgers plan to work with MLB on a nationalized native media package deal after 2028, and if he’d like to be the league’s commissioner when Rob Manfred ‘s contract ends. “Hell no,” Kasten informed me. “I can absolutely tell you that won’t happen. I should be retired already.” I additionally requested him to assess the job Manfred’s achieved as head of the league. The MLB and the MLB Players Association could also be on a collision course to a work stoppage after subsequent season, when the collective bargaining settlement expires. “Rob has had a lot of challenges. I told him when he took the job, it’s a lousy job, right? Because you have 30 knuckleheads like me barking at you every day with some new complaint,” Kasten mentioned. “He also had some difficult cards to play … a Covid thing that could easily have erased our entire season. And yet we came through that. We have had labor things. We’ve had the dislocation of the TV thing. So these are challenges that are not on the ordinary – challenges that I think he didn’t expect or anticipate when he came in. He did lead us through all of those. But it wouldn’t surprise me if that has led to his early decision to leave [when his contract is up], because this has been an awful lot for anyone to try to take in the last couple of years.” You can watch our complete dialog right here . And in the event you pay attention right here (and comply with the CNBC Sport podcast in the event you desire the audio model), you’ll be able to hear a bonus dialog I had this week with Mike Foss , ESPN’s senior vp of sport studio and leisure. Foss and I chatted in regards to the evolution of ESPN’s studio exhibits, together with SportsMiddle, and in the event that they’re roughly vital to the corporate than they have been 25 years in the past. Foss grew up within the TV manufacturing business. His dad labored for ESPN. Foss informed me would generally accompany him on productions as a result of he was house schooled (and one in every of 9 children). Now he has to handle a number of the business’s greatest personalities, together with Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee . We additionally mentioned what he is fascinated with by way of a substitute for “Around the Horn,” the longtime ESPN present that was canceled earlier this 12 months, and why ESPN will not simply convey again the previous theme music from the previous SportsMiddle (you recognize: this music ). CNBC Sport spotlight reel The better of CNBC Sport from the previous week: Another Versant nugget – it has expanded its multiyear media rights cope with the WNBA. The new deal begins in 2026 and contains at the least 50 WNBA video games yearly and parts of playoff and finals video games throughout choose years, the corporate mentioned. The newest settlement expands upon a earlier package deal between the WNBA and Versant’s USA Network signed in 2024. Amazon Prime Video has struck a cope with FanDuel that may permit customers to investigate cross-check bets (and the way odds are altering) whereas watching NBA video games. Amazon Prime Video is among the NBA’s new media companions. Those video games start later this month. Swimming legend Michael Phelps spoke with CNBC’s Dom Chu on the Ryder Cup this weekend about how to faucet into peak efficiency, regardless of the exercise. Nike shares surged after the corporate reported earnings that topped estimates, however the firm warned gross sales will possible fall off through the vacation season, reviews CNBC’s Gabrielle Fonrouge . Contessa’s Corner Hi everybody! It’s been a tough week for DraftKings and FanDuel mum or dad Flutter. Shares of every firm plummeted greater than 10% on Tuesday after Kalshi launched a knockoff parlay product permitting its clients to “build your combo.” Parlays have been supposed to be the product that protected the sportsbooks as a result of gamblers love them, although they actually favor the home. Kalshi is now copying what works for the sportsbooks and placing it to work by itself platform. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour informed a joint SEC-CFTC panel Tuesday, “We’re doing around 40 billion of annualized volume and becoming a meaningful player in the retail derivatives markets.” In playing, that is referred to as “handle” – the amount of cash wagered. But do not name it playing. Mansour insists it is not, as a result of the CFTC regulates occasions contracts. Piper Sandler estimates about a quarter of Kalshi’s enterprise is coming by its partnership with Robinhood, and HOOD shares are hovering, up greater than 270% 12 months to date. Robinhood Predictions Markets surpassed 4 billion occasion contracts since launching earlier this 12 months, CEO Vlad Tenev boasted this week on X. More than 2 billion of these got here within the third quarter, he mentioned, when the platform launched professional and faculty soccer markets, as well as to crypto economics, financials, tradition and different sports activities. DraftKings CEO Jason Robins has informed me he is curious about moving into predictions markets — and shrugged off the aggressive menace. Shareholders are most likely paying nearer consideration today. On Tuesday the CFTC issued a letter , primarily warning Kashi that the sports activities occasions contracts will not be but an accepted asset class. Lawsuits by tribes, states and different regulators pose a threat, and the buying and selling platforms ought to put together contingencies and replace their clients, traders and others of these plans, wrote the CFTC. Not to be overlooked, Sleeper, an app that claims it has 10 million customers, sued the CFTC this week for not approving its utility to participate. It says it is lacking out on the essential NFL season. One extra word: I’ve bought one thing particular in retailer for you all about a little journey I’m taking. Stay tuned for that in subsequent week’s publication! The large quantity: 71,409,421 That’s the overall attendance for MLB’s common season this 12 months. That marks in-person progress for three straight seasons. Shorter video games are serving to with each TV rankings and attendance. TV rankings soared this 12 months, with nationwide TV video games up greater than 10% from final 12 months. Quote of the week “We have the worst leadership in the world.” — That’s fairly a assertion from Minnesota Lynx ahead Napheesa Collier , who lambasted WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert this week in a four-minute ready assertion. The WNBA is gearing up for a potential labor dispute as its CBA expires on the finish of the 12 months. The gamers have been vocal for a number of years about how underpaid they’re (the very best annual WNBA wage is at the moment $252,450.) Collier co-founded upstart ladies’s 3-on-3 league Unrivaled final 12 months. Her husband, Alex Bazzell , is Unrivaled’s president. More from Collier: “Year after year, the only thing that remains consistent is the lack of accountability from our leaders. The league has a buzzword that they rolled out as a talking point for the CBA as to why they can’t pay the players what we’re worth – that word is sustainability. But what’s truly unsustainable is keeping a good product on the floor while allowing officials to lose control of games. Fans see it every night. Coaches, both winning and losing, point it out every night in pre- and post-game media. And leadership just issues fines and looks the other way. They ignore the issues that everyone inside the game is begging them to fix. That is negligence.” Engelbert responded to Collier in a assertion . “I am disheartened by how Napheesa characterized our conversations and league leadership, but even when our perspectives differ, my commitment to the players and to this work will not waver,” Engelbert mentioned. “I have the utmost respect for Napheesa Collier and for all the players in the WNBA. Together we have all worked tirelessly to transform this league. My focus remains on ensuring a bright future for the players and the WNBA, including collaborating on how we continue to elevate the game.” Around the league Many WNBA gamers instantly jumped in to assist Collier’s feedback towards Englebert, ESPN reviews . Tickets to the 2026 FIFA World Cup are formally on sale . I informed you final week YouTube TV and NBCUniversal have been headed towards a potential blackout. Well, the 2 sides reached a tentative extension that may hold NBCUniversal programming on the digital distribution TV service for the time being.