Joon Lee
Independent Sports Journalist • Formerly: ESPN, B/R, WaPo • Born in Seoul 🇰🇷 Bred in Boston • workwith@joon.me
📍New York City
- Bill Belichick is the greatest coach ever … and didn’t go first ballot Hall of Fame. It's not just Jordon Hudson drama, but what happened when he stopped controlling the story. With the Patriots in the Super Bowl, time to revisit what his legacy means www.youtube.com/watch?v=21nX...
- NEW VIDEO: Youth sports doesn't look like Little League anymore. It looks like Wall Street and private equity. Youth sports has quietly turned into a $40 billion pay-to-play arms race, and nobody is in charge www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjwv...
- Victor Wembanyama on Minneapolis: "Every day I wake up and see the news and I'm horrified. I think it is crazy that some people make it sound like it's acceptable, like the murder of civilians is acceptable."
- Victor Wembanyama says that being a foreigner in the United States makes him hesitant to speak up about Minneapolis. “I know I’m a foreigner. I live in this country. I am concerned.” Q: “Is part of your hesitance being a foreigner?” “For sure.”
- Because the Dodgers went bankrupt, MLB agreed to tax their TV money as if they were still a broke. That lets the Dodgers keep about $66 million more every year than they otherwise would. This exception runs through 2039, according to a league source. youtu.be/7xPt9AuxEAM
- One reason the Dodgers can spend like this: MLB agreed in court to cap their TV revenue sharing payments after the team went bankrupt. According to league sources, that exception doesn't expire until 2039. It's unprecedented in sports history www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xPt...
- Fifteen years ago, the Dodgers were bankrupt and getting roasted at award shows. Today, people are asking if they're breaking baseball. New video on how the Dodgers went from broke to dynasty, and why it's about more than just spending money. www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xPt...
- Massachusetts becomes the first state to ban prediction markets from taking bets on sports bookies.com/news/massach...
- Sports gambling isn’t killing sports in one dramatic moment. It’s all of these small moments adding up, slowly changing how fans trust what they’re watching. On @newsnation.bsky.social:
- Shohei Ohtani: 10 years, $700,000,000 Mookie Betts: 12 years, $365,000,000 Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 12 years, $325,000,000 Kyle Tucker: 4 years, $240,000,000 Blake Snell: 5 years, $182,000,000 Freddie Freeman: 6 years, $162,000,000 Will Smith: 10 years, $140,000,000 Tyler Glasnow: 5 years, $136,562,500
- The rise of Curt Cignetti and Indiana football really embodies what makes sports special. It’s the type of story that would feel way too corny for a movie. But the fact it’s actually unfolding in front of us somehow makes it even harder to believe.
- Leicester City winning the Premier League still feels like the modern ceiling for sports improbability. Curt Cignetti leading Indiana football from one of worst programs in CFB to absolute juggernaut might give them a run for their money.
- Sports odds are entertainment. But when media treats political odds like news, guesses start to feel like facts. Those numbers don’t measure truth. They measure money and attention.
- Sports media is failing fans. Two months ago, the NBA and MLB had players and coaches indicted by the federal government for placing bets on games. In previous eras, this would be a crisis. Now? Crickets.
- This is what happens when you normalize gambling on everything — from sports to elections to war. It’s a symptom of a culture where insider access = profit, and the rest of us lose faith & trust in everything. Sports betting was just the gateway.
- Thank you to everyone who supported and followed my work this year. I took a big leap going independent after a two-year hiatus and my layoff from ESPN, not knowing how it would go. It was a scary jump, and you made it easier. Excited for what 2026 brings. Happy New Year!
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- The number of fans who believe sports are rigged will only keep rising because individual teams are now partnering with prediction markets that are less regulated than sports gambling companies.
- Thank you to Nieman Labs for allowing me to make a prediction about journalism in 2026. My take: journalism will become the center of gravity for YouTube’s next era www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...
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- Partnering with fake journalists to promote sports gambling is as big a red flag as it gets for the prediction market industry
- Everything is sports gambling now www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
- The best part of Drake Maye being good is seeing again that spiteful look people used to give me when I mentioned my Patriots fandom. Feels like home.
- I’m trying to understand what the hardest thing in sports actually is. So I explored NASCAR, where the legendary @jimmiejohnson.bsky.social showed me how this world really works. And then I tried driving a race car myself: youtu.be/yce922orRJs?...
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- I’m trying to understand what the hardest thing in sports actually is. So I went to explore NASCAR, where the legendary @jimmiejohnson.bsky.social showed me how this world really works. And then I drove a race car myself. youtu.be/lMzjIPIq9aA?...
- I've never been this terrified while reporting a story. New video on my YouTube tomorrow:
- Sports gambling is not just corrupting our trust in sports, but America. Thank you to @amanpourcopbs.bsky.social, @michelmartinnpr.bsky.social and @camanpour.bsky.social for the platform. Our full conversation: youtu.be/uiomTi50pS8?...
- A new national poll on sports gambling from Sacred Heart: - 79% say the recent scandals have shaken their trust in the NBA, 38% say its shaken trust a lot. - 90% are worried about corruption across sports. - 75% of gambler believe corruption is more widespread than the NBA
- In the last month, the FBI has charged players from two different leagues for roles in sports-betting scandals. Either legalized gambling is exposing corruption that’s always been there. Or it’s creating it. Either answer is terrible for sports.
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- Sports weren’t corrupted by gamblers. It got sold out by the people who made gambling central to the business model. New @nytopinion.nytimes.com column: how gambling became the engine driving American life — starting with sports www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
- NEW VIDEO: More teams are slashing payroll—even championship contenders. I asked Mark Cuban why. His answer? “Teams do many more money when they have a low payroll and lose.” We live in an era where losing is more profitable than winning. youtu.be/sAJH7Bx-BV4?...
- The NFL will own 10% of ESPN, which licenses its name to a sportsbook. The NFL will directly profit from sports gambling. Goodell said in 2017, “We still strongly oppose legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that.”
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- For @bostonglobe.com: When Marty Walsh was Boston’s mayor, he turned to sports radio, not social media, to get a temperature check on the city. For two decades, Mike Felger has set the agenda on sports radio. Is Felger the most influential person in Boston? www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/30/o...
- NEW VIDEO: Jordan and Kobe were stoic icons. Now stars like SGA, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum are called corny. How did this happen? www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtHt...
