What is Dan Le Batard's net worth and salary?
Dan Le Batard is an American sportswriter, radio host, and television personality who has a net worth of $25 million. Dan is probably best-known for formerly an ESPN talk show. He parted ways from ESPN in December 2020. Six months later it was revealed that Dan had signed a 3-year, $50 million deal to host a podcast for Draftkings. He also wrote for the Miami Herald for more than 25 years.
Meadowlark Media
After leaving ESPN in early 2021, Le Batard founded the production company Meadowlark Media with some friends, including former ESPN President John Skipper. The company went on to sign a first-look deal with Apple TV+ to produce unscripted series and documentaries, as well as a deal with Skydance Sports to produce unscripted sports media. Among Meadowlark's projects are the soccer docuseries "Good Rivals" and the documentary film "Mighty Penguins," about a London-based amateur football team consisting of players with Down syndrome. The company raised $12.6 million in 2021 to produce content aside from Dan's podcast.
DraftKings Podcast
In April 2021, DraftKings announced that it had agreed to pay Dan/Meadowlark $50 million over three years to distribute a revived version of his show as a podcast. At the time the deal was announced his podcast attracted 10-12 million monthly downloads.
Early Life
Dan Le Batard was born on December 16, 1968 in Jersey City, New Jersey to Cuban exile parents Lourdes and Gonzalo. The family moved to Central Islip, New York before settling in Miramar, Florida. Le Batard had a younger brother who passed away in 2023. For his higher education, Le Batard attended the University of Miami.
Miami Herald
Le Batard began his career in 1990 writing columns for the sports section of the Miami Herald. Among his notable columns were investigations of the Hurricanes football team at his alma mater, the University of Miami. Le Batard wrote for the Herald until 2016.
The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz
In 2004, Le Batard began co-hosting the syndicated radio sports talk show "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz" on the Miami station WAXY. After nine years of airing on local radio, the show debuted on ESPN Radio in 2013. On the program, Le Batard and Stugotz discuss the day's sports news as well as other news stories, and conduct interviews with sports analysts and athletes. They also interact with the show's various producers, including Roy Bellamy, Chris Cote, and Lucy Rohden. After leaving ESPN in early 2021, "The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz" was broadcast independently for five months before being acquired by DraftKings.
(Photo by Jason Koerner/Getty Images)
Highly Questionable
In 2011, Le Batard was given his own sports talk television show, "Highly Questionable," on ESPN2. Each episode was divided into four segments, with each segment using a question-and-answer format. Until 2019, Le Batard was joined on "Highly Questionable" by his father, known on the show as 'Papi,' who served as his daily co-host. A number of other people served as guest co-hosts over the years, including Bomani Jones, Pablo S. Torre, and Katie Nolan. In 2021, "Highly Questionable" was canceled and replaced by "This Just in with Max Kellerman."
Other ESPN Shows
Beyond his two main talk shows on ESPN, Le Batard frequently contributed to other ESPN programs. He was a recurring guest on "Outside the Lines," "The Sports Reporters," and "College GameDay," and served as a regular guest host on "Pardon the Interruption," where he was notorious for his often controversial opinions. Le Batard has also hosted a number of original podcasts for ESPN's "The Le Batard and Friends Podcast Network," which launched in 2019. Among them is the long-form interview podcast "South Beach Sessions."
Baseball Hall of Fame Vote Controversy
In early 2014, Le Batard was banned for a year from the Baseball Writers' Association of America after it was found that he had given his Baseball Hall of Fame vote away to the sports website Deadspin to be used in a public opinion poll. Moreover, he was stripped of his Hall of Fame voting privileges for life.
Personal Life
In 2018, Miami Herald reporter and Le Batard's longtime friend Greg Cote published an article announcing Le Batard's engagement to his girlfriend Valerie Scheide. He published the piece without the couple's consent, causing some consternation. Le Batard and Scheide married in late 2019 in Miami.
