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ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro Confirms Interest In Bidding For World Cup Rights In 2030

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ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro confirmed the Disney division will bid on World Cup rights for the 2030 tournament.

“We had the World Cup for two decades and it was a big part of ESPN’s identity and DNA,” the exec said during a CNBC-hosted conference Thursday at Fanatics Fest in New York. “Of course we’re interested” in re-acquiring the rights, he continued, adding that ESPN is “hyper-competitive” with rivals in rights negotiations.

“This has been a juggernaut,” Pitaro said. “We’re not at all surprised by it. If you look at the time zones, the fact that these games are, you know, where they’re taking place around this country. The U.S. did a fantastic job and I’ve been watching it religiously.”

While many soccer fans and media observers have given Fox a mixed report card compared with ESPN, Pitaro lavished praise on his competitor. “I’ve been very impressed with the way Fox has covered all this,” he said. “From a live game production perspective, from a studio perspective, they’ve done an outstanding job. I don’t know, honestly, how they could have done better with the product.”

Landing the World Cup will be costly, of course, given the explosion of ratings and interest. FIFA, which organizes the tournament, has yet to hold formal talks with bidders. The organization has said it plans to expand the field from 48 teams to 64 in 2030, which will only increase the appeal of the tournament.

Fox wound up benefiting financially from a series of complications with the 2022 edition in Qatar, which had to be shifted from summer to fall, meaning it had to jockey with lucrative NFL and college football broadcasts. The company won rights to the 2026 Cup for a song, reportedly just $485 million, which is about what it could take in from hyrdration break ad revenue alone.

Published reports in recent days have indicated that the next rights deal could range from $1.5 billion to $2 billion, with Netflix and YouTube said to be in pursuit. Netflix has already secured rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women’s World Cups in the U.S. and Canada.

Pitaro hit on a few other topics during the conversation, including working for Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, who succeeded Bob Iger earlier this year. Asked whether he has changed ESPN’s mandate, Pitaro replied, “Look, Bob hired me. I worked for Bob. I’ve been at Disney for 16 years, and I’ve been at Bob’s table that entire time. There’s a lot of similarities between Bob and Josh. They’re both very curious. They’re both huge sports fans, which is very good for me, very good for ESPN. What I’ll tell you about Josh is he’s very thoughtful. He’s very calm. He’s curious. He’s asking all the right questions. He’s a fast learner. Like I said, he’s passionate about what we’re doing, and he does see ESPN as a critical component of the Disney strategy.”

Compared with many rivals with direct-to-consumer streaming, he added, “one of the differentiators at Disney is ESPN.”

As to the NFL, which now has a 10% stake in ESPN thanks to a recent deal swapping the league’s media assets for an equity position, Pitaro didn’t get explicit about extending the current rights deal but said the relationship is “in a great place.” Like other media partners, ESPN and Disney are being asked to pay additional rights fees to the NFL under a clause in the 11-year rights agreements that took effect in 2023.

Pitaro noted that ESPN will carry its first Super Bowl next February, with ABC airing it in a simulcast.

Asked whether re-upping with the NFL might mean a slimdown of overall rights as the company manages escalating rights fees, the ESPN chairman said the company has “never had better rights” in its 47-year history. That said, he added, “We look at it holistically. So yes, to answer your question, there is some give and take there.”

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Manosphere Influencers Andrew Tate & Brother Tristan Arrested In Miami In Connection To Sexual Offense Charges In The UK, Report

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Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in Miami, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

Charges for the manosphere influencers were not immediately available, with the Associated Press reporting the warrant was sealed.

A Department of Justice spokesperson released a statement to CBS News saying, “Today, U.S. Marshals in the Southern District of Florida arrested Andrew and Tristan Tate pursuant to extradition proceedings. These arrests were made in accordance with the treaties and law enforcement agreements governing Justice Department extraditions.”

The Crown Prosecution Service in England released a statement informing the public that they were bringing charges against the Tate brothers for sexual offenses after four further victims came forward with claims.

Andrew Tate was facing “seven further counts of rape, three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation, three counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and 19 additional charges for offences relating to indecent images of a child and extreme pornography.”

Tristan Tate’s was facing “one count of sexual assault, two counts of rape and three counts of arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation.”

Malcolm McHaffie, Head of the Special Crime Division at the Crown Prosecution Service, said in a statement, “We have decided to prosecute Andrew and Tristan Tate for further offences including rape, arranging or facilitating trafficking for sexual exploitation and offences relating to indecent images of a child. These charging decisions followed receipt of a further file of evidence from Bedfordshire Police and bring the total number of alleged victims in this case to seven.”

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‘The Odyssey’s Tom Holland On Why He “Could Relax” After Robert Pattinson Casting: “You’re So Good At Being A Dickhead”

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Tom Holland stars in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and recently revealed how he felt when Robert Pattinson was cast in the film.

In a recent appearance on EW’s Around the Table, Holland said he felt he “could relax” after he learned the Batman actor was set to play Antinous in the epic film.

“Rob and I have made three movies together now, all very different,” Holland said in a roundtable with Entertainment Weekly. “I’ve loved every minute of working with Rob, and I’ve always felt like I’ve left the set a better actor because he raises the stakes of every scene. What was really exciting for me, and also really daunting, was that we get to establish the stakes of the movie for Matt’s [Damon] journey right at the beginning. I felt the weight of that pressure.”

In the film, Holland plays Telemachus, the son of Damon’s Odysseus, while Pattinson plays one of the suitors hoping to marry Penelope (Anne Hathaway).

“The friction between our characters is so important for my entire journey,” Holland explained. “I was really nervous about trying to make sure that that felt authentic and scary enough for my character to make this desperate decision to go on this journey.”

Holland continued, “I knew when I found out that you were playing Antinous that I could relax because you’re so good at being a dickhead.”

Other films in which Holland and Pattinson shared credits were The Lost City of Z (2016) and The Devil All the Time (2020).

The Odyssey also stars John Leguizamo, Zendaya, Benny Safdie, Charlize Theron, and many more.

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Lena Headey Calls Out Hollywood For “Weird Protection” Of “Predatory Men” & The Backlash Over Not Going Nude For ‘Game Of Thrones’ Scene

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Lena Headey is getting real about the “weird protection” of “predatory men” in Hollywood and reveals what “shocked” her about the reaction to the Game of Thrones nudity scandal.

In a new interview, the GoT star who played Cersei Lannister in the HBO fantasy series opened up about the backlash she got for using a body double for the naked walk of shame in Season 5.

“I was really shocked by the anger, by this idea that I’d duped the audience,” Headey told The Telegraph. “But by that point everyone knew [the cast], it was insane simply going anywhere, and I was with 3000 extras. Acting is a joy but it requires a lot of you. I wouldn’t have been able to do the emotional part of the job; I’d have been in full on defensive mode.”

In 2017, Headey accused Harvey Weinstein, who is now in prison for multiple sexual assault charges, of making suggestive comments at the Venice Film Festival while promoting The Brothers Grimm. Years later, Headey said Weinstein invited her to his hotel to show her a script.

“The weird protection that we offer predatory men in the business because of the disproportionate power they wield, set against the need among vulnerable actresses to work to put food on the table to get the job — it makes me very angry,” she told the publication. “A job can be completely soured by one person who, for some reason, is allowed to get away with it. It was only when the #MeToo movement erupted [in 2017] that we realized — oh, this is everywhere.”

She continued, “I think most young women I speak to now in this business are so savvy. The attitude today is, ‘I’m not f—ing doing that.’”

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