Dan Le Batard and John Skipper Launching Media Company

Dan Le Batard and John Skipper are teaming up to launch a media company, according to multiple reports. Le Batard recently left ESPN. Skipper was the former president of ESPN, where the two had a close relationship, and in the past couple years has run the streaming platform DAZN. The news was first reported by Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, who says that Skipper will "take the lead" in finding a new platform for Le Batard's radio show.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that Skipper will remain as executive chair at DAZN, but that former Disney executive Kevin Mayer might pick up some of his workload. Ourand mentioned SiriusXM and iHeartRadio as potential landing spots for the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. The Miami Herald mentioned SiriusXM and Spotify. Since leaving ESPN this past week, the show has been running as a pirate podcast on Apple and Spotify without a traditional host platform.

"Then the duo will look to hire reporters and editors that initially will focus on sports," Sports Business Journal reports. "Their belief is that Skipper’s editorial background is well-suited to grow this type of company."

To address an elephant in the room: Earlier this week, Le Batard called OutKick founder Clay Travis a "shit stain". Clay responded to the insult with a video on Periscope, and Le Batard responded to the response by making a t-shirt about it. Given that they are both entrepreneurs who are unrestrained from continued escalation, who knows how many rounds this fight could go.





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Ryan Glasspiegel grew up in Connecticut, graduated from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and lives in Chicago. Before OutKick, he wrote for Sports Illustrated and The Big Lead. He enjoys expensive bourbon and cheap beer.