Versant has only recently become an independent media company, but its early sports moves are already showing the direction it wants to take.
It’s USA Network and Golf Channel sit inside an independent company with roughly 4,400 employees and a collection of media and digital brands developed over more than 45 years. Versant has also created USA Sports to bring much of its sports activity under one identity, with nearly 1,000 hours of women’s sports programming planned across its platforms in 2026.
Its early decisions are beginning to show what kind of sports company Versant wants to build. Instead of competing for the NFL and NBA’s multibillion-dollar rights packages, it is looking at sports where it believes the economics are more attractive, including women’s and emerging properties alongside established rights.
At the same time, Versant is looking beyond media rights. Its $530 million acquisition of Full Swing adds golf simulators, launch monitors, software and player data to a business that reaches golfers through media and digital products. It is an early sign that Versant wants to own businesses around how people participate in sport, not only how they watch it.
Independence now gives Versant control over these choices: which rights to buy, which sports businesses to own and where to put its capital. This makes 2026 the first real look at what its sports business could become.
365247 Sports breaks down Versant’s complete sports strategy and portfolio, the thinking behind its rights acquisitions and M&A, how its different sports businesses fit together….