Your idea is that Fox One is not going to cannibalize the traditional bundle subscriber? We are very focused with Fox One being additive to the system. We are going to market Fox One in a very targeted way to people who are not in a traditional bundle, or who have never been in a traditional bundle. You spent last week in New York for the upfront selling season. How did that go? What was the tenor? We have a very specific offering, which is essentially live news and sports, entertainment on the Fox network, and Tubi. And those conversations go well, especially on the sports side. The NFL schedule came out, and it’s a great schedule for us that I’m super excited about. We have the World Cup. We’ve added new big events, like the Indianapolis 500. And then the special events that we’ve been able to acquire, like the new doubleheader in the NFL. We have a really good story to tell. So I would say our conversations have gone very well, mainly because we have well-defined and growing assets for our partners on the advertising side.

My favorite storyline from this year’s Indianapolis 500 is that you grew up in a small Indiana town and used to attend the race every year. You’ve done Super Bowls, World Series, and World Cups, but this is Fox’s first Indy 500. Does this feel different? It only feels different because I don’t want to let anybody down. I grew up 45 minutes from here. It’s a time every year when the spotlight is on this little part of the country, and everybody here takes great pride in it. So I don’t want to screw it up. I don’t think there’s any other sport that we do here at Fox where I have memories from 40 years ago. Our seats were in front of where Danny Sullivan did the spin-and-win 40 years ago. I was there. Those memories are great, and add to being able to help the production team get really excited about producing this race. You’re five races into your IndyCar deal. How have you Fox-ified those telecasts? It always starts with the simple things, like the people that you’re choosing to watch the race with. We brought over Will Buxton to pair with James Hinchcliffe and Townsend Bell. The chemistry that they’ve created in the booth—they were on the air for six hours Thursday during practice from the track, just having fun and vamping. They can tell stories and go places around the track and talk to drivers and owners. We’ve also invested in some technology that helps us tell the story better. We’ve got new graphics around the in-car. We have more in-car cameras than they’ve probably ever had—four or five cameras on each. We have cameras that literally sit next to the driver’s eye in the visor. We have more aerial coverage with drones. Then it comes down to storytellers, and we’re bringing in Tom Rinaldi for the 500 to play that Jack Whitaker role from the 1980s. For this race, we’re going to bring out a ton of Fox and Fox Sports stars, on top of all the other celebrities that are going to be here. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez will wave the green flag. How successful have you been in establishing a connection between IndyCar and NASCAR? I don’t think we’ve got it figured out yet. There’s plenty of crossovers, obviously. Penske races in both series. Fox broadcasts both series. You’ve got Hendrick and Kyle Larson doing the double this week. We really need to continue to connect those dots with lead-ins and lead-outs to each other, feeding audiences and driving them back and forth. We’re trying to avoid having to make people choose between one or the other.

On the evolution of college A.D.s: “I view the moment when Syracuse hired ESPN’s John Wildhack in 2016 as the start of the trend when non-athletic department personnel were being hired as A.D.s.” —A former ESPNer On streaming productions: “Perhaps Marchand served up one too many crisp sancerres before you waxed poetic on the streamers’ reliance on broadcast networks to produce their coverage. Prime Video will be entering its third Thursday Night Football season with Mark Teitelman as lead producer of game coverage. Further, when NBA coverage tips off in October, all production will be handled in-house by Prime Video.” —A Varsity Inner Circle subscriber On Jessica Berman’s Down to the J.V. nod: “I hope Jessica gets promoted back to the Varsity, given that the NWSL ruled that future games will be abandoned if an injured player needs life-saving measures.” —A sports business executive On Fox’s Indy 500 telecast: “F1’s Will Buxton will be on Fox’s Indy telecast? That’s interesting. I wonder if he knows more about IndyCar than Danica knows about F1.” —A D.C. lawyer On Shanks’ podcast appearance: “Who gives an eff about sports rights and streaming strategy? The last fivw minutes of your pod, when Shanks talks about his ownership of the Ojai Valley News and Trackside Lodge, were the best!” —A Varsity subscriber

See you tomorrow, John