Shams Charania has been a fairly constant free agent for the last few years, signing a series of one-year deals with Sinclair’s Stadium/Bally Sports and The Athletic (now, of course, owned by the New York Times.)
This year saw plenty of speculation as to Charania’s future home, often putting him alongside ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Adrian Wojnarowski as possible top-line newsbreakers hitting the open market. ESPN ended two-thirds of that speculation one day earlier this year when they announced extensions for both Schefter and Woj.
Charania, though, continued to be bantered about as a possible candidate to switch homes, with sportsbooks and gambling companies featured heavily in various articles and speculation. Wednesday night, though, news broke that Shams isn’t going anywhere, as he’s re-upped with Stadium/Bally Sports in addition to staying at The Athletic.
Ryan Glasspiegel had the report at the New York Post:
The 28-year-old NBA newsbreaker was a free agent this year. He has signed new deals to remain at Stadium/Bally Sports — both owned by Sinclair — and The Athletic, The Post has confirmed.
Stadium and Bally execs went on the record in a statement:
“Shams has been an integral piece in the growth and evolution of Stadium, elevating our content across both digital media and television experiences,” Stadium CEO Jason Coyle said in a statement. “He is one of the finest professionals and people in our industry, and we are truly excited to continue building upon our longstanding and trusted relationship.”
Added Steve Rosenberg, president of Bally Sports: “As one of the leading insiders in the NBA today, we are incredibly excited keep Shams within the Stadium and Bally Sports family and build upon our partnership.”
So, once again, Shams has leveraged another deal with his current family of outlets. It’s hard to blame him for using the one-year strategy; he’s always a hot name, and being rumored as a gambling company target is a great way to get either more money from your current employers or, potentially, jump ship for the DraftKings (or whoever) bag.
That said, at this point, there’s a pretty strong trend of newsbreakers being floated as gambling targets only for nothing to come of it. Glasspiegel hints that these deals don’t necessarily close the door there:
When The Post profiled Charania this past May, covering his trajectory in the business and wild screen time stats, it was noted that he could receive interest in providing content for sportsbooks. It is a possibility, down the road, that he could add a sportsbook to the list of his employers.
At this point, though, we might have to see it to believe it. Still, congrats to both Shams and all of the outlets involved here; it’s undeniable that Charania is as plugged in as they come in the NBA world and he brings along 1.8 million Twitter followers.
