There is an art to the debate shows on ESPN. Domonique Foxworth is a frequent presence on many of them. On Friday, he said that he had to learn that in that format, opponents are actually teammates.

“I think the First Take thing is always an interesting one, and I’ve mentioned this before. People forget when you’re on First Take, we on the same team,” he told Bomani Jones on the latest edition of The Right Time. “When you do first take with Stephen A, you learn that he understands that we are on the same team.”

Both Foxworth and Jones admitted that they are fierce debaters and like to win. Stephen A. Smith made sure that Foxworth understood that even if things between them seem adversarial to the audience, two people debating on a show like First Take have to come in with the same goal.

“It’s us against the audience. Like, we try to keep you from changing the channel.”

First Take is not your standard debate. Foxworth said that Smith made sure he understood that there is no score. Wanting to win the argument is good, but it is important to understand what “winning” means in that setting.

“My inclination was, I’m here for blood, I want to win. And while wanting to win is important, to make the show entertaining, cutting people off and yelling and preemptively defeating their points? That shit ain’t entertaining,” he said. “You know what’s entertaining? Having a conversation where I make a point, you make a point, we build on it, and we grow to a point that we get better information. That’s not how First Take is built. So what’s entertaining there is I shoot a jab, you shoot a jab.”

This isn’t the first time that Domonique Foxworth has talked about the learning experience he has had on the First Take set. On an episode of The Right Time last year, he told Jones that he has come into debates with Chris Russo with the goal of triggering one of Mad Dog’s infamous rants, because that is what the audience wants to see.

The announcement of Pat McAfee joining forces with ESPN raised a lot of questions as to whether McAfee’s daily brand of sports talk can sustain itself for the long-term on cable.

But ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro has no doubts that Pat can be wildly successful for years to come. He spoke with The Big Lead recently and said bringing McAfee’s show to the daily lineup allows the network to tap into a different audience.

“When we talk about our priorities at ESPN, one of the things we always mention is audience expansion,” Pitaro said. “That means a lot of things, but it especially means attracting a younger audience. We feel like Pat really helps us in that regard.”

“I have a son and a daughter, both of whom not just know who Pat is but they like him, and I have a father who also happens to really like Pat,” he added. “That’ll tell you a lot about his appeal.”

Also expanding the relationship between The Worldwide Leader and McAfee made sense in Pitaro’s eyes. The two sides already have a history.

“We’ve been in business with Pat for some time by now,” he said. “He’s done a fantastic job for us on College GameDay, he’s done some alternate broadcasts that have really resonated with our audience, so we feel like his show is a natural extension of what we’re already doing.”

While NFL Sunday Ticket will be moving to YouTubeTV for football fans at home this fall, DirecTV will continue to distribute the service for bars and restaurants. An announcement of a multi-year agreement between the league and DirecTV was made on Thursday. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.

“DirecTV for Business delivers a market-leading, consistent and reliable sports viewing experience to fans in more than 300,000 bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments across the United States,” said Mike Wittrock, DirecTV’s chief sales and service officer. “We’re thrilled to partner with EverPass and continue carriage of NFL Sunday Ticket.”

EverPass Media was established earlier this year by the NFL. Working with RedBird Capital, the goal was to manage the distribution of Sunday Ticket to commercial consumers.

Last season, the league worked out a deal with DirecTV to carry Thursday Night Football games to those same customers. Thursday games are broadcast to residential customers on Amazon Prime Video.