On Monday, Boardroom broke the story that the popular podcast, The Pivot, had signed an exclusive, multi-year deal with Netflix, and starting on September 8th, Ryan Clark, Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder will be making the move to the world’s largest streaming platform.
Congrats to the entire team at @thepivot on their new, exclusive multi-year deal with Netflix.
— First and Pen (@firstandpen) August 31, 2026
Since launching in 2022, the podcast hosted by Ryan Clark, Channing Crowder and Fred Taylor has produced over 500 episodes. Now, starting on September 8th, they head to Netflix.✊🏾✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/oZZaEVZ9oc
“I’ve gained a new perspective: passion over platform and people over perception,” said Clark to Boardroom. “I’m grateful and excited to take The Pivot to Netflix. This is the beginning of a new chapter….the story is far from finished.”
Clark’s big news comes one month after he was disrespectfully fired by ESPN while he was on air for the network.
The show’s decision to sign with the global streaming leader is great news for the trio and their team, as it gives them an audience of 300 million+ subscribers to potentially reach, which should help the show’s continued growth.
But the move also demonstrates that sports programming isn’t required to live on ESPN to thrive, which is the feeling many have had for decades.
As a former ESPNer, I know first-hand that advertisers flocked to the network as it was considered a “must have” on their media plans and leagues, sports and show creators craved to have airtime on the World Wide Leader.
But as streamers and other distribution platforms have emerged, ESPN’s reach and lock on sports programming has weakened, and the news by The Pivot only further proves this.
Now, this isn’t to say that ESPN is dying, for it’s still the overall leader in sports programming as a whole.
