The CUSP Show

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Jamie Watson, soccer broadcaster and play-by-play announcer, to discuss her unconventional path into sports media, the evolving world of remote broadcasting, and her groundbreaking work in audio descriptive commentary for FIFA and Netflix. Watson shares her journey from Division I soccer player at UMass and college coach at UMBC to becoming a golf teaching pro before pivoting to broadcasting in her 40s, calling nearly 100 games in just the last two years. She breaks down what audio descriptive commentary actually is, how she trained with FIFA’s accessibility partner in Washington DC to call six matches at the Club World Cup for blind and low vision fans, and how she later applied those skills to Netflix’s Field of Dreams game as an overlay commentator. The conversation also covers the state of women’s soccer from the NWSL’s explosive growth to the challenge of elite American players leaving for overseas, the debate over whether star announcers actually move ratings, and what remote broadcasting technology now makes possible for play-by-play talent calling live international events from their home studios.
Learn more about Jamie: https://jamiewatsonsports.com/
Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack
The CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz and Sydney Cristall.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com

Joe Favorito welcomes Chris Plonsky, Senior Associate Athletic Director and Chief of Staff at the University of Texas, to discuss her remarkable career in college athletics and what it takes to build and sustain one of the country’s most successful athletic programs. Plonsky traces her path from Kent State and Iowa State through seven years at the Big East Conference, where she helped launch one of the first federated football conferences in the country, to her arrival at Texas in 1993, where she has spent nearly four decades helping transform the athletic department into a commercial powerhouse. She shares how Texas grew its licensing revenue from $600,000 to $13 million, how the department navigated the merger of its men’s and women’s programs without conflict, and why the careful, collaborative approach to institutional change made Texas ready for the SEC. The conversation also covers the human side of college athletics today - the transfer portal, NIL, and what Plonsky worries about when she sees young athletes jumping from program to program without building the networks, mentors, and identity that will carry them past their playing days.
Connect with Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisplonsky9700165/
Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack
The CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz and Sydney Cristall.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Chris Childers, host of Full Ride on Sirius XM College Sports Radio and founder of Show Pony Media, to discuss the state of college athletics as football season kicks off, the growing momentum behind women’s sports, and what the future of independent sports media looks like. Childers breaks down why he believes the Protect College Sports Act will not pass, arguing that the Congressional Black Caucus opposition and the structural difficulty of getting 60 Senate votes make it a long shot regardless of the SEC’s lobbying push. He explains the power dynamics driving college football’s current chaos, with ESPN and Fox effectively controlling the agenda through their media deals with the SEC and Big Ten, and why without a true commissioner or revenue sharing model, the sport will continue operating in anarchy. The conversation shifts to the rise of women’s sports, with Childers sharing his passion for women’s soccer, volleyball, and flag football, and why he believes women’s flag football will become one of the next great international sports.
Connect with Chris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-childers-b12981a/
Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack
The CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz and Sydney Cristall.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Andrew Cooper, co-founder of the United College Athletes Association, to discuss his mission to unionize college athletes and why he believes collective bargaining, not federal legislation, is the only sustainable path forward for college sports. Cooper shares his origin story, from running track at Washington State and being elected president of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, to the moment a PAC-12 meeting on mental health protections convinced him that real change would never come from within the existing system. He explains how the UCAA was founded, recently formalized as a labor union, and why women’s basketball at Oregon State became the starting point for the first-ever union petition filed on behalf of women’s college athletes. The conversation breaks down the NCAA’s lobbying campaign for an antitrust exemption, why the Protect College Sports Act faces bipartisan opposition from major sports unions, and what collective bargaining would actually look like in practice across different sports and divisions. Cooper also reflects on testifying before the House Judiciary Committee and what it was like to make the case for athlete rights in one of Washington’s most charged rooms.
Connect with Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewcooperucaa/
Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack
The CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz and Sydney Cristall.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com

Joe Favorito and Tom Richardson welcome Kurt Badenhausen, Sports Business Reporter at Sportico and one of the pioneers of sports franchise valuation journalism, to break down how teams are valued, why those numbers keep climbing, and what a record-breaking week in sports business really tells us about the industry. Badenhausen walks through the methodology behind franchise valuations, explaining why revenue multiples, not profits, are the standard measure, and how factors like market size, venue situation, and media rights shape the final number. The conversation covers the NFL’s latest valuations, including the mind-bending reality that the least valuable team in the league is worth more than almost every other sports franchise on the planet, as well as the Lakers’ $12.5 billion sale, the Apollo-Yankees deal, and what private equity’s growing appetite for sports ownership actually means for the market. The discussion also tackles the WNBA’s surging valuations, why MLB’s numbers lag behind despite its massive content library, and what categories (from real estate to fan data) could drive the next wave of franchise value growth.
Connect with Kurt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kurt-badenhausen-90bb185/
Subscribe to the CUSP Show: Substack
The CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR) and produced by Sam Henry (@s_henry11), LJ Holmgren (@LJ_Holmgren), and Danny Hagenlocher (@DhColumbiaSPS), with social media efforts led by Lissa Ruiz and Sydney Cristall.


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecuspshow.substack.com