After a Brand New Deal With Howard Schultz, Ryan Clark is Building a Media Empire

Just two months after being let go from ESPN, Ryan Clark is on an undeniable win streak. Fresh off his landmark Netflix distribution deal for The Pivot and a partnership with NFL Films, Clark has secured another major business win, bringing former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on board as a strategic partner and investor in his Pivot25 Productions.

​Clark’s partnership with Schultz is the fuel behind a high-powered push to build a full-scale live events and media empire.

Speaking on the latest episode of Craig Melvin’s Glass Half Full podcast, Clark said that Schultz reached out to him shortly after his abrupt dismissal from ESPN in July, ending his 11-year run as an Emmy-winning NFL analyst on the network.

​“The first thing he did was send me this long text message, and he talks about what happened to me,” Clark recalled. “He talks about this deep dive he’s done on me since he saw it happen, and how he wants to not only be a part of my comeback, but he believes that I’m a brand. He believes in things that I stand for, which I hadn’t heard from somebody of his stature who didn’t look like me. I’m just being honest.”

​RELATED: Beyond the ESPN Firing: Why Ryan Clark’s Sudden Exit Is the Best Thing to Happen to His Career

​In their conversation, Clark said he pitched one show idea, but Schultz challenged him to take his enterprise to the next level.

“I told him that I wanted to do a show, and from there he was like, ‘Wait, why would we just talk about doing one show? Like, yes, we’re going to do this show, but I believe in who you are,” said Clark. “I believe in your capabilities. I believe that in you being a brand, we can build an entire network, and I don’t want you to have to go add.”

In a statement, Schultz lauded Clark as visionary and the Pivot25 as a cutting-edge media company that will reshape the future of digital culture and independent storytelling.

“I have always believed that the most enduring businesses are built at the intersection of great ideas, authentic leadership and human connection,” Schultz said. “That is what I see in Ryan Clark, Alicia Zubikowski and the entire Pivot25 team.”

Clark’s milestone deals with Netflix and Howard Schultz represent a major win for Black-owned media, proving that authentic, culturally rooted storytelling doesn’t need to be diluted to command top-tier mainstream capital. By securing global distribution with the largest streaming platform in the world and a major co-sign from Schultz, it seems that everyone is seeing what ESPN couldn’t- that Clark is an influential figure in sports media.

In a previous interview with The Root, Clark shared his winning mentality and how it was instilled in him early on to treat every media venture with the same relentless intensity he brought to the gridiron.

“I went to two Super Bowls, won one with an organization that’s won six,” he said. “I got the opportunity to understand winning, to understand that culture, and to now be able to utilize that in the way that I speak about the game as a whole.”

Clark is doing more than scaling his popular podcast; he is winning by setting a blueprint for Black creators to retain equity, build multi-platform empires on their own terms, and redefine what modern media ownership looks like.