Sports media members can be nearly as polarizing as politicians, as we’ve learned with the recent release of our 2026 Sports Media Power Ranking.
Complex has received plenty of feedback so far from our list, and that feedback contained some strong disagreement.
Thanks to our re-rank tool, we’re starting to get a sense of where we may have gone wrong, as well as what we got right.
Below, we’ll highlight some of the feedback we’ve already received. And if you haven’t joined in on the re-rank fun yet, it’s not too late.
Sports Media Power Ranking 2026
Here is our sports media power ranking for 2026.
- 1. Stephen A. Smith
- 2. Pat McAfee
- 3. Inside the NBA crew
- 4. Bill Simmons
- 5. Colin Cowherd
- 6. Shannon Sharpe
- 7. Adam Schefter
- 8. Shams Charania
- 9. Pablo Torre
- 10. Stephen Jackson & Matt Barnes
- 11. Malika Andrews
- 12. Dave Portnoy
- 13. Brian Windhorst
- 14. Nick Wright
- 15. Mase & Cam’ron
- 16. Taylor Rooks
- 17. Ariel Helwani
- 18. Jeff Teague
- 19. Chris Van Vliet
- 20. Jomboy Media
- 21. Nina Drama
- 22. Kenny Beecham
- 23. Elle Duncan
- 24. Josh Pate
- 25. Travis & Jason Kelce
And here is your re-rank as of today. Included are how many spots each person has moved up or down compared to our original list.
- 1. Kenny Beecham: +21
- 2. Jeff Teague: +16
- 3. Inside the NBA crew: No change
- 4. Pablo Torre: +5
- 5. Bill Simmons: -1
- 6. Shannon Sharpe: No change
- 7. Adam Schefter: No change
- 8. Shams Charania: No change
- 9. Pat McAfee: -7
- 10. Stephen Jackson & Matt Barnes: No change
- 11. Stephen A. Smith: -10
- 12. Malika Andrews: -1
- 13. Colin Cowherd: -8
- 14. Brian Windhorst -1
- 15. Taylor Rooks: +1
- 16. Nick Wright -2
- 17. Jomboy Media +3
- 18. Mase and Cam’ron: -3
- 19. Dave Portnoy: -7
- 20. Ariel Helwani: -3
- 21. Chris Van Vliet: -2
- 22. Travis & Jason Kelce: +3
- 23. Josh Pate: +1
- 24. Elle Duncan: -1
- 25. Nina Drama: -4
Most underrated: Kenny Beecham
We had Beecham ranked 22 on our list.
In the re-rank, the hoops pundit sits on the mountaintop.
Beecham told Complex that he believes the problem with sports discourse today is that “everybody needs to be right. Sometimes, halfway through an argument, I recognize that the person I’m arguing with is actually making a better point [than I am]. It’s okay to say, ‘I lost that debate.’”
Admit defeat?!
Stephen A. would never!
Most overrated: Dave Portnoy
A whopping 84% of those who participated in our re-rank believe that we ranked “El Presidente” too high. We had him ranked 12 while the re-rankers have him at 19.
No doubt, the people who don’t like Portnoy REALLY don’t like him.
The user SceneOfShadows in the BillSimmons subreddit wrote regarding our list, “Portnoy is a POS, but he is arguably No. 1 on this list. At worst, No. 3.”
Most disputed: Taylor Rooks
No one could quite agree on where Rooks, who hosts the NBA on Prime studio show, should fall on this list.
Thirty-six percent of re-rankers thought we underrated her, and 30 percent of re-rankers thought we overrated her. Thirty-four percent of folks thought we got it right.
Most agreed: Adam Schefter
Now, what fun is this?
Fifty-eight percent of re-rankers thought we nailed it with our placement of Schefter at No. 7.
Key takeaways
Here are some of the big takeaways when it comes to our list versus the re-rank.
- Bad news for blowhards: The Complex re-rankers seem to be rejecting the First Take mentality of analysts having loud, “my-way-or-the-highway” opinions on every topic under the sun. They mostly prefer the analysis of Beecham and Teague over monologue kings like Stephen A and Colin Cowherd. Beecham and Teague were the biggest risers in the re-rank, while Stephen A and Cowherd fell the farthest.
- Just the facts, ma’aam … err … sir: Information guys like Schefter and Charania did not receive much backlash at all. Everyone seems to be happy, or at least neutral, on what they do.
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