One of the many viral episodes of the breakout sports podcast Pablo Torre Finds Out this summer saw the host, former ESPN reporter Pablo Torre, uncover new details surrounding the sports betting scandal that appears to have overtaken the life of NBA sharpshooter Malik Beasley.
But under the sponsorship deal that helped Torre launch PTFO back in 2023, that episode may not have been so easy to pull off. Back then, Torre joined his ESPN colleagues, John Skipper and Dan Le Batard, at Meadowlark Media to develop the inventive sports show.
Like all of Meadowlark, Torre’s work was financed in large part by a 10-figure deal with DraftKings, a sports betting operator. Earlier this year, Torre left DraftKings behind. PTFO went independent for a few months before announcing a new licensing deal with the New York Times this week.
In the meantime, Torre broke multiple stories within the Beasley scandal in an episode that was viewed 160,000 times — and counting — on YouTube. It was a clear symbol of what Torre would now be able to do, without the proximity to a sports betting company like DraftKings.
“In the back of my head … we [did] have this full free reign to do whatever we want, [but] it would have gotten increasingly uncomfortable for us to investigate sports gambling with a partner that basically needed to, like, take its logo off the episode,” Torre said this week in an appearance on Semafor’s Mixed Signals podcast. “It would be a strange dance.”
When he stepped into the DraftKings deal in 2023, Torre expressed an openness to working with anyone willing to fund journalism in the modern media ecosystem. Torre likened sports betting to other “vice” industries like alcohol and cannabis, which often advertise on corporate media properties.
However, it clearly became limiting for Torre once he ventured into spaces that would have seen him poking around directly into the business of his partners at DraftKings. As the show evolved, Torre also realized that PTFO‘s audience didn’t align well with DraftKings customers.
Under Meadowlark’s partnership with the sports betting operator, PTFO aired on the DraftKings Network.
“I would say that the economics of us leaving, though, as much as I want to say that I was bold and courageous and all of that, it was as much a cynical observation around, I think our audience ideally is not sports betting, really,” he explained. “We’re not doing that stuff for them. We’re not covering the news day to day.”
With that in mind, Torre met with many partners this summer before striking a 7-figure deal with the Times and its sports outlet, The Athletic. The company will license PTFO in a manner similar to (though of course less lucrative than) ESPN’s arrangement with The Pat McAfee Show.
“For us, it was also just a bet on … we’re going to have to go to market, to find a new partner, we’re going to have to make zero dollars, with the blessing of Dan Le Batard and John Skipper,” Torre said. “But if we can find a new partner, we think that the long-term view is actually just the better economic decision and strategic decision. But yes, it was scary.”
Now, Torre is set up to continue expanding Pablo Torre Finds Out into a bona fide modern media property and a real investigative newsroom.