Dan Le Batard Credit: The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
Meadowlark MediaNHLBy Brendon Kleen on

As usual, Dan Le Batard is taking behind-the-scenes noise on his long-running show public, this time over a feud with Edmonton Oilers fans and the broader NHL world.

While Le Batard continues to push his staff to agree on renting billboards in Edmonton calling Hart Trophy finalist Connor McDavid “McOverrated” and hosting combative watch parties for Stanley Cup Final games, the longtime executive producer is threatening to quit over it all. Amid their continued on-air disagreement on Thursday, Le Batard revealed that after leaving ESPN in 2021, cohost Jon “Stugotz” Weiner initially wanted to move the show to SiriusXM over DraftKings, where it ended up.

Apparently, Ryan was ultimately the deciding vote toward DraftKings. Only Le Batard believes Ryan has lost belief in the show’s spirit, which led him to choose DraftKings in the first place because he is blinded by his fandom toward the Florida Panthers.

“I wanted to go with DraftKings, and (Stugotz) wanted to go with SiriusXM,” Le Batard said. “SiriusXM had a bunch of structure and marketing; they put our names on billboards and stuff, and they’ve done content before. DraftKings (hadn’t), and we were stuck. Stugotz and I didn’t agree, and Mike Ryan’s in there and he’s the one with a baby. He’s the one who’s got to worry about what the future is, and Mike Ryan bet on DraftKings because Mike Ryan bet on us. This is the bet you’re afraid of doubling down on? Putting up a billboard in Edmonton?”

During this postseason run, Ryan challenged Le Batard’s connection to the South Florida market amid the former Miami Herald columnist and AM 790 radio host’s seeming clash with Panthers fans. In return, Le Batard became somewhat agitated and said Ryan kept him from running his company, Meadowlark Media, which produces The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, as he wished.

“Nobody wants your team to win. They’re the lovable underdog, and everybody wants the favorite. Everybody wants that monster to get the trophy that he deserves because he’s so obviously great,” Le Batard said. “What do I want? My favorite thing, an inside joke only our audience understands.”

The Le Batard Show has mocked overly intense sports culture for years, including the media around it that they take part in.

Le Batard believes the “McOverrated” and enraging NHL fans is a continuation, while Ryan thinks it’s embarrassing.

“It’s about celebrating your own ignorance and bringing shame to this market. You’re the biggest show in the market, and you want to make this whole thing a circus,” Ryan said.

Le Batard ratcheted up the conversation, airing a split with Ryan over the tone of the show during the Panthers’ run.

“I understand that one of the many places that you and I have misaligned over the course of this week is that you want to do a vastly different show than the one I want to do,” Le Batard said. “I understand you don’t like the silliness of this that happens to give access to people who don’t want to hear about hockey on our show the way they’ve been hearing about it. I understand you don’t want to celebrate Greg Cote rattling the cage of the best player in the world, a historically great player. But you’re denying me my favorite joke, and I didn’t do everything I’ve done the last three years to have from inside of my company the inability to tell my favorite joke.”

Ryan then reiterated his intention to quit if Le Batard moved forward with “McOverrated” billboards in Edmonton. The host and producer previously were at odds over Meadowlark selling t-shirts featuring the phrase.

“You’re celebrating ignorance at a time where it’s a moment of arrival, where it’s a moment of legitimacy for a lot of Panthers fans,” Ryan said. “And I never thought in my entire career after all this show has done, after it’s carried a market and brought it national prominence, that I’d be through an arena … and get screamed at, ‘Eff Dan Le Batard.’ That’s what happened here, and that’s an embarrassment.”

Ryan said Panthers fans at Amerant Bank Arena pestered him throughout Game 5 over the show, making the series and the team into a laughingstock.

When the conversation swirled back to a potential live watch party, Ryan declined, saying he did not want to be around Le Batard and the staff for a win or loss.

“Dan, don’t be hurt by this, but I want to be around people that care and don’t want to make a joke out of this,” Ryan said. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here as my team has a chance to win the Stanley Cup; I want to be with the people that have been in the trenches with me.”

As always, knowing how deep these grievances run is impossible. Le Batard and Ryan are masters of souping up drama for entertainment on air.

However, if we look at how they are speaking to one another rather than simply what they are saying, it’s clear this is pretty legitimate. Ryan is a fan who takes pride in what the Le Batard Show means to South Florida, whereas Le Batard wants to be an instigator amid what could be the franchise’s first Stanley Cup win ever.

[The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on YouTube]

About Brendon Kleen

Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.
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