Sports
Netflix’s Jake Paul-Mike Tyson streaming issues raise Christmas concerns for NFL
When Amazon Prime Video became an exclusive partner with the NFL in 2022 — the first time a streaming service received a full, exclusive package of NFL games — the buzzword in the sports media industry was “proof of concept.” Though Amazon had worked with NFL Network and Fox on “Thursday Night Football” starting in 2017, one of the biggest questions the streamer faced when it started its 11-year run as the exclusive broadcaster of TNF was whether it could handle the audience load. Would the streaming hold up? Would the product look and feel like an NFL broadcast? You can disagree on the choice of broadcasters, graphics, music — these are all subjective things. But what is not subjective is accessibility.
Amazon Prime Video’s NFL debut in September 2022 — an exciting 27-24 win for the Kansas City Chiefs over the Los Angeles Chargers — was a mix of beautiful images and mild anger over tech issues that dissipated very quickly through the opening weeks of the season. Sure, the broadcasters might have pushed hard to sell the audience the 20-year-old Mazda regarding the schedule, but the company passed the proof-of-concept test. My former colleague Bill Shea captured that opening broadcast, and today we don’t see discussions about buffering or tech issues about Amazon’s NFL presentation. Latency can be problematic for live sports if the stream is more than a few seconds behind the real-time action, but Amazon has been very good here.
This was all front of mind Friday as Netflix aired multiple hours of pro boxing from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Jake Paul and Mike Tyson were the headline act, and it was not a great moment for sporting excellence. The Paul-Tyson bout was horrible, and so was the streaming experience for many viewers. As my colleague Tess DeMeyer chronicled, viewers were plagued by frequent bouts of buffering and freezing. There were technical issues in the broadcast, with Evander Holyfield’s earpiece and Jerry Jones’ microphone malfunctioning during separate interviews. (As wryly noted on X by Fox Sports president of insights and analytics Mike Mulvihill, there was great irony in Jones’ praising Netflix’s future with the NFL as viewers experienced tech issues.)
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Streaming issues of course vary depending on multiple factors, including internet connectivity. But there were loads of viewers who experienced problems Friday night, including The Athletic’s own media writer, Andrew Marchand, who updated his followers on Bluesky on the error message he was receiving.
Netflix has over 280 million subscribers in more than 190 countries including Canada, where I watched from Friday night. I struggled to get access to the streamer for a couple of minutes before the sensational Amanda Serrano-Katie Taylor bout (Serrano was robbed, it says here) and had moments of buffering throughout; I was clean for the whole Tyson-Paul event. Social media was lit with complaints. (The website Down Detector noted nearly 85,000 viewers logged problems with outages or streaming leading up to the fight, per the CBC.) It’s the worst kind of publicity for Netflix, which declined to comment. An NFL spokesperson had not responded as of publication.
This isn’t the first live sports rodeo for Netflix. It aired an F1-golf crossover event last November and a tennis match between Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal in March. Those were successful. What was a disaster was the live reunion in April 2023 to the conclusion of the fourth season of the reality dating show “Love Is Blind,” when users were unable to access the stream. Netflix issued an apology to viewers and an apology during an earnings call.
But the big one for Netflix is coming Christmas Day, given it landed exclusive rights to stream two NFL games — the Chiefs against the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens versus the Houston Texans. The three-season deal also includes a game on Christmas Day in 2025 and 2026. The game production will not be an issue as CBS is handling that, and the NFL Network is charged with pregame, halftime and postgame coverage. Neither of those entities has a role in transmission and streaming; that’s on Netflix, and it’s under six weeks until kickoff.
The Tyson-Paul fight was ultimately sports entertainment. Even Netflix’s recent deal with WWE — paying more than $5 billion for exclusive rights to the long-running “Raw” franchise, along with other rights outside the U.S. — could be tagged as sports-adjacent given WWE falls under sports entertainment. But the NFL matters to those that fuel weekly sports consumption in North America, and these matchups would easily draw more than 25-plus million on a traditional outlet in the United States. The NFL desperately wants Netflix to work as a partner because Netflix represents a multiple-decade ATM for it. Netflix needs it to work because it sees advertising as part of its long-term ambition for sustainable earning sources, and live sports can be a driver there. The NFL has an international slate of games it can easily turn into a future media rights package, and you know it wants Netflix at the table for that. Netflix executives announced this week they had sold out of advertising inventory for the games. It’s a big deal in the sports business world.
The NFL wants to put on a show far more entertaining than Tyson-Paul, and you can be sure Friday night spooked league officials a bit. Given the trajectory of the four teams playing Christmas Day, the games are shaping up to be of serious consequence for playoff seeding. There is money and reputation at stake, and you don’t get a second chance at a first impression. Both entities will be crushed by NFL fans if Christmas brings buffering and dropped streams.
(Photo: Al Bello / Getty Images)
Sports
ESPN’s Stephen A Smith hears boos from WrestleMania 42 crowd
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LAS VEGAS – Danhausen’s curse may be real after all – just ask Stephen A. Smith and the New York Mets.
While the latter dropped their 10th game in a row, Smith got his share of the curse on Saturday night during Night 1 of WrestleMania 42. Smith was in attendance for WWE’s premier event of the year and heard massive boos from the crowd.
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith was sitting ringside to watch the action. The ESPN star appeared on the videoboard above the ring at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. He appeared to embrace the reaction and smiled through it.
The boos came after Danhausen appeared on “First Take” on Friday – much to the chagrin of the sports pundit. Smith appeared perplexed by Danhausen’s appearance. Smith said he heard about Danhausen and called him a “bad luck charm.”
Danhausen said Smith had been “rude” to him and put the dreaded “curse” on the commentator.
WWE STAR DANHAUSEN SAYS METS ‘CURSE’ ISN’T EXACTLY LIFTED AS TEAM DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT GAME
Stephen A. Smith attends WrestleMania 42: Night 1 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)
Smith is far from the only one dealing with the effects of the “curse.”
Danhausen agreed to “un-curse” the Mets during their losing streak. However, he told Fox News Digital earlier this week that there was a reason why the curse’s removal didn’t take full effect.
“I did un-curse the Mets. But it didn’t work because, I believe it was Brian Gewirtz who did not pay Danhausen. He did not send me my money so it did not take full effect,” Danhausen said. “Once I have the money, perhaps it will actually work because right now it’s probably about a half of an un-cursing. It’s like a layaway situation.”
Danhausen enters the arena before his match against Kit Wilson during SmackDown at SAP Center in San Jose, Calif., on April 10, 2026. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
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On “Friday Night SmackDown,” WWE stars like The Miz and Kit Wilson were also targets of Danhausen’s curse.
Sports
After 55 years as a broadcaster in L.A., Randy Rosenbloom is leaving town
It’s time to reveal memories, laughs and crazy times from Randy Rosenbloom’s 55 years as a TV/radio broadcaster in Los Angeles. He’s hopping in a car next Sunday with his wife, saying goodbye to a North Hollywood house that’s been in his family since 1952 and driving 3,300 miles to his new home in Greenville, S.C.
“When I walk out, I’ll probably break down,” he said.
He graduated from North Hollywood High in 1969. He got his first paid job in 1971 calling Hart basketball games for NBC Cable Newhall for $10 a game. It began an adventure of a lifetime.
“I never knew if I overachieved or underachieved. I just did what I loved,” he said.
Randy Rosenbloom (left) used to work with former UCLA coach John Wooden for TV games.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
John Wooden, Jerry Tarkanian and Jim Harrick were among his expert commentators when he did play by play for college basketball games. He called volleyball at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games for NBC and rowing in 2004. He’s worked more than 100 championship high school events. He did play by play for the first and only Reebok Bowl at Angel Stadium in 1994 won by Bishop Amat over Sylmar, 35-14.
“There were about 5,000, 6,000 people there and I remember thinking nobody watched the game. We ended up with a 5.7 TV rating on Channel 13 in Los Angeles, which is higher than most Lakers games.”
He conducted interviews with NFL Hall of Famers Gale Sayers and Johnny Unitas and boxing greats Robert Duran, Thomas Hearn and Sugar Ray Leonard. He’s worked with baseball greats Steve Garvey and Doug DeCinces. He called games with former USC coach Rod Dedeaux. He was in the radio booth for Bret Saberhagen’s 1982 no-hitter in the City Section championship game at Dodger Stadium. He was a nightly sportscaster for KADY in Ventura.
Randy Rosenbloom, left, with his volleyball broadcast partners, Kirk Kilgour and Bill Walton.
(Randy Rosenbloom)
He was the voice of Fresno State football and basketball. He also did Nevada Las Vegas football and basketball games. He called bowl games and Little League games. He was a public address announcer for basketball at the 1984 Olympic Games with Michael Jordan the star and did the P.A. for Toluca Little League.
Nothing was too small or too big for him.
“I loved everything,” he said.
He called at least 10 East L.A. Classic football games between Garfield and Roosevelt. He was there when Narbonne and San Pedro tied 21-21 in the 2008 City championship game at the Coliseum on a San Pedro touchdown with one second left.
Probably his most notable tale came when he was doing radio play-by-play at a 1998 college bowl game in Montgomery, Ala.
“I look down and a giant tarantula is crawling up my pants,” he said. “My color man took all the press notes, wadded them up and hit the tarantula like swinging a bat.”
Did Rosenbloom tell the audience what was happening?
“I stayed calm,” he said.
Then there was the time he was in the press box at Sam Boyd Stadium and a bat flew in and attached itself to the wooden press box right next to him before flying away after he said, “UNLV wins.”
Recently, he’s been putting together high school TV packages for LA36 and calling travel ball basketball games. He’ll still keep doing a radio gambling show from his new home, but he’s cutting ties to Los Angeles to move closer to grandchildren.
“I’m retiring from Los Angeles. I’m leaving the market,” he said.
Hopefully he’ll continue via Zoom to do a weekly podcast with me for The Times.
He’s a true professional who’s versatility and work ethic made him a reliable hire from the age of 18 through his current age of 74.
He’s a member of the City Section Hall of Fame and the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He once threw the shot put 51 feet, 7 1/2 inches, which is his claim to fame at North Hollywood High.
One time an ESPN graphic before a show spelled his name “Rosenbloom” then changed it to “Rosenblum” for postgame. It was worth a good laugh.
He always adjusts, improvises and ad-libs. He expects to enjoy his time in South Carolina, but he better watch out for tarantulas. They seem to like him.
Sports
Becky Lynch enters exclusive WWE club with Women’s Intercontinental Championship win at WrestleMania 42
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LAS VEGAS – Becky Lynch entered an atmosphere no other WWE women’s superstar has ever reached as she won the Women’s Intercontinental Championship over AJ Lee on Saturday night at WrestleMania 42.
Lynch became the first person to hold the Women’s Intercontinental Championship three times after she pinned Lee. She first won the title against Lyra Valkyria in June 2025 and then again against Maxxine Dupri in November.
Becky Lynch celebrates with the belt after defeating AJ Lee during their women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
She dropped the belt to Lee at the Elimination Chamber, sparking a monthslong feud with her.
Lee gave Lynch the chance at the title in the weeks prior to WrestleMania 42. But it appeared Lee played right into Lynch’s plans. Despite arguing with referee Jessica Carr for most of the match, Lynch was able to tactfully tear down a rope buckle and use it to her advantage.
Lynch hit Lee with a Manhandle Slam and pinned her for the win.
WWE STARS REVEAL WHAT MAKES WRESTLEMANIA SO SPECIAL: ‘IT’S THE SUPER BOWL OF PRO WRESTLING’
AJ Lee reacts after losing to Becky Lynch in their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
It’s the second straight year Lynch will leave Las Vegas as champion. She returned to WWE at WrestleMania 41, teaming with Valkyria, to win the women’s tag titles. She will now leave Allegiant Stadium as the women’s intercontinental champion.
Lynch is now a seven-time women’s champion, three-time women’s intercontinental champion and two-time tag team champion.
Becky Lynch withstands AJ Lee during their Women’s Intercontinental Championship match on night one of WrestleMania 42 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 18, 2026. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
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Lee’s reign as champion ended really before it could really begin. WrestleMania 42 was her first appearance at the event in 11 years. It’s unclear where Lee will go from here.
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