Versant is a unique company in the sense that it has the ethos of a scrappy upstart, but it derives most of its revenue from legacy cable networks with almost no growth prospects. It’s why the company has been so focused on making acquisitions outside of linear television, and growing the non-TV assets it already owns.
But at the end of the day, Versant is still very much in the business of extracting value out of the ever-declining cable television ecosystem. And the company expressed optimism about one aspect of that business during an earnings call on Thursday morning: sports.
Versant’s USA Sports brand already has a number of key media rights deals under its belt, most of which are holdovers from when its portfolio of cable channels remained under the NBC umbrella. USA Sports holds extensive golf rights through Golf Channel, in addition to early coverage of two major championships on USA Network, an extensive WNBA package, 10 NASCAR Cup Series events, various college sports, Premier League, and more.
Versant CEO Mark Lazarus sees an opportunity to expand that offering in the near future, particularly if/when current NFL broadcast partners are forced to shell out more money to retain pro football rights. On Thursday’s earnings call, Lazarus said he believes NFL renewals “will put pressure” on media companies that could result in decisions to cut other sports in order to afford the NFL. Brian Steinberg of Variety reported the remarks.
Versant CEO: NFL negotiations ‘will put pressure’ on media cos ‘to make decisions on content,’ and could make baseball, soccer, premiere league, hockey rights available
— Brian Steinberg (@bristei) May 14, 2026
Specifically, Lazarus called out baseball, soccer, Premier League, and hockey rights that could become available as a result of the NFL’s projected spoils. He’s not the first media CEO to forecast this reality, either. Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch recently said his company will look to “rebalance” its sports portfolio to afford the NFL.
Fox itself would seem likely to give up the World Cup following this summer, considering a deal for the 2030 tournament hasn’t been done, and FIFA has already sold rights for the 2027 and 2031 women’s editions to Netflix. Fox also pays for the most-expensive package of MLB rights, which includes the World Series each year. That package expires in 2028.
But Lazarus also makes mention of Premier League and hockey rights. NBC holds rights to England’s top-flight soccer league through 2028, and USA Sports already holds a fair amount of matches itself. Could NBC sacrifice some or all of its Premier League inventory to afford the NFL? Perhaps. ESPN will need to make the same decision with NHL rights come 2028. Maybe there’s an avenue for USA Sports to secure some hockey inventory when that process plays out.
“I do believe there will be opportunities for us to grow our sports portfolio,” Lazarus said.
The key for Versant is securing enough sports rights to where its networks are indispensable for distributors, and the company can even command incrementally higher carriage fees. Adding sports can help that equation, so long as it is the right sports content at the right price.
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.