The 2030s: A Sporting Landscape Odyssey - a podcast by Andrew, Ed, and Zak

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts offer a look to the future with a nod to the present: a conversation about the state of American sports’ so-called “big four” and the chances of an upstart brand or property moving into that esteemed tier. Here’s what we know. The NFL is king. The NBA continues to broaden the gap between themselves and everyone else. Major League Baseball is flush with regional network dollars and some early season buzz following an offseason lockout. The NHL is enjoying nice early returns in the first year of their content partnership with ESPN and Turner (TNT/TBS). The purpose of this exercise is to evaluate the prospects of those outside this exclusive group in entering that level of recognition a decade from now. Can the PGA Tour overcome it’s clear demographic shortfalls? Will NASCAR ever ascend back to the status it enjoyed in the early 2000’s, or will it be the more globally branded Formula 1 that more successfully expands into the American marketplace? MLS appears a long shot, but will the EPL or another domestic European league punch soccer’s ticket into the American top four? The WNBA? Combat sports and the rise of female athletes in the UFC and boxing? The Collective surveys the field and assesses what the American sporting hierarchy will look like a decade from now. But first, yet another epic trilogy of rants: as Zak revels in the early season success of his New York Mets with a look at their recent multi-pitcher no-hitter and how such a feat compares to the more conventional solo no-no; Ed decries right-wing sob stories over the peaceful protest demonstrations outside the homes of Supreme Court justices behind leaked efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade; and finally Andrew lights a candle in memory of the 2021-22 Philadelphia 76ers, with condolences to Joel Embiid and all sorts of smoke for an alleged superstar guard and professed coaching legend. A full-on, full-length smorgasbord of sports, politics, prognostication, vitriol and some laughs, this week on the Bill Bradley Collective.

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