Months after John Skipper left the company, Meadowlark Media has a new CEO.
As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, Meadowlark has promoted Bimal Kapadia to the role. A former executive at ESPN and The Players’ Tribune, Kapadia had served as Meadowlark Media’s chief operating officer since the company was first founded by Dan Le Batard and Skipper in 2021.
“Bimal has the experience, care and, most importantly, the vision to make our weird spaceship a new kind of media machine as turbulence rattles the rest of the industry and country,” Le Batard told The Hollywood Reporter. “He and we want to set a fiercely independent journalistic standard that is at once from another time and ahead of its time. The modern age demands different thinkers. Meadowlark will be a progressive leader because Bimal ensures we’re guided and governed by one.”
Kapadia’s promotion marks the latest development in what’s been a busy year for Meadowlark, with the company reaching a new distribution deal with DraftKings for The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz and a separate agreement to pair Pablo Torre Finds Out with The Athletic. According to Kapadia, those deals have helped built a foundation for his vision as he steps into his new role.
“How can ideas that we’re presenting in Pablo’s show incubate a scripted or unscripted series idea? How can a concept that’s in Dan’s network of ideas that he’s having there springboard another series?” Kapadia told THR.
Kapadia’s promotion fills the void left behind by Skipper, who departed from Meadowlark in May. The ex-ESPN president, however, remains a board member for the company and has made frequent appearances on its “Sporting Class” podcast episodes alongside Torre and David Samson in the months since.
Throughout Meadowlark Media’s first four years of existence, Le Batard has spoken candidly about the struggles he’s faced in balancing his hosting and business duties. Kapadia, however, is hopeful that his promotion will help the ex-ESPN host focus more on the former as he takes care of the latter.
“Dan is one of the best storytellers, thinkers, creatives that’s out there,” he told THR. “My job in this role is to get him out of the thinking about what needs to happen from this company’s standpoint, and get him focusing on creating the best creative, delivering the best vision for what this place could be, and letting me do the quote, unquote business of it.”
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.