Pablo Torre DraftKings Edit by Liam McGuire

No sports podcast has been hotter than Pablo Torre Finds Out in recent weeks. The show has rocketed up the podcast charts, largely on account of Torre’s original reporting about Bill Belichick and his much younger girlfriend Jordon Hudson.

Torre’s success has catapulted him into the limelight of mainstream non-sports publications. Most recently, Intelligencer writer Matt Stieb gave Torre the treatment, recounting the show’s meteoric rise, and also the criticism some have levied on the program for leaning into the tabloid-nature of the Belichick-Hudson saga.

But anyone who has listened to Torre discuss his craft or read one of the many feature-length magazine pieces he has participated in will know that the media multi-hyphenate is a true, ink-stained journalist.

So that’s why it’s notable that Torre recently decided to no longer accept gambling sponsorships for his show. The decision came while Meadowlark Media, the Dan Le Batard-run podcast network, negotiated a renewal with DraftKings Network, which had served as a licensing partner and sponsor for Pablo Torre Finds Out since its inception in 2023.

Torre, for the first time, briefly discussed the decision with Intelligencer.

“I need people who aren’t sports gamblers to realize that we’re doing stuff that’s nothing like what our licensing partner might reputationally indicate,” he told Stieb, who mentioned Torre called the decision a “conscious uncoupling.”

The tone is decidedly different from how Torre justified the partnership just last year. In an interview with The Athletic’s Richard Deitsch, Torre said, “I don’t see (gambling) to be so special that it cannot fund journalism. Insofar as these companies with money realize that content can be more than just … the Barstool-ization of everything, then I think we’re better off if the stuff that gets funded is trying to be thoughtful, is trying to have reporting, is trying to employ people who will speak honestly about, ‘here are the tradeoffs and here’s why I’m comfortable with it.'”

In that interview, Torre did reiterate that Meadowlark Media ensured his show had complete editorial independence. “DraftKings has said zero words to me about any of the decisions that we’ve made,” he explained. “Inside the Meadowlark deal, part of what Meadowlark has really negotiated, which I am incredibly, endlessly thankful for, is the fact that we have editorial independence but run on their network.”

That’s a completely justifiable answer, especially if what he said about the show’s editorial independence is true. Clearly, however, Torre now thinks it’s preferable to not be associated with a gambling company at all.

At this point, it’s likely that Torre’s show is so popular it doesn’t need the ad dollars DraftKings will pay. And knowing Torre, it’s also likely he has an episode that is critical towards the gaming industry simmering on the back burner. Obviously, something like that isn’t possible when your show is funded by a sportsbook.

So while Torre went from defending his DraftKings partnership one year to ditching it the next, the circumstances are understandable. For one, he probably didn’t have much say in the matter when launching a brand new Meadowlark show in 2023. And two, the show was still able to fulfill its mission of producing engaging journalism.

But now that the option was there, it’s clear that Pablo Torre is happy with his decision to leave the gambling sponsorship behind.

About Drew Lerner

Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.