Rushmore, the debate-driven podcast hosted by Ari Emanuel and music manager Ben Persky, will return for a second season on Oct. 20. The new run opens with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and sports analyst Pat McAfee discussing the Mount Rushmore of NFL comebacks, then pivots to an NBA all-time lineup debate featuring Shaquille O’Neal and Kevin Durant on Oct. 27.
The show will be available to watch on YouTube and listen to across major podcast platforms. That is a wider distribution plan than the first season’s initial exclusive launch on X, and it gives viewers a straightforward choice between a video version and conventional audio podcast listening.
Later in the season, Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld will join Emanuel and Persky for an episode centered on comedy’s greatest-ever figures. That conversation was taped during the Netflix Is a Joke festival in May 2026. The first two episodes arrive a week apart; following them, the schedule shifts to a biweekly cadence.
What the first Rushmore Season 2 debates will cover
Rushmore uses the familiar “GOAT” format as its entry point. GOAT is shorthand for “greatest of all time,” while a “Mount Rushmore” argument generally asks people to select a very small, defining group rather than just one winner. The format encourages disagreement, but it can also force participants to explain their criteria: dominance, longevity, historical impact, peak performance, influence, or simply the memories that define an era.
For the season opener, Goodell and McAfee will tackle NFL comebacks. That topic can mean different things depending on how a guest defines it: a comeback within a game, a return from a difficult season, or a broader recovery in a player’s career. The announced premise does not specify which standard will prevail, making the conversation itself the likely place where those boundaries are sorted out.
The second episode brings O’Neal and Durant together to debate the greatest starting five in NBA history. Unlike a standard ranking, an all-time starting five involves roster construction. It is not only a question of selecting five acclaimed players; the debate can include positions, fit, and what each guest believes makes a complete lineup. Releasing that episode alongside the start of the NBA season gives the topic an obvious current-season hook without turning it into a prediction show.
David and Seinfeld’s comedy episode should take the series into a different kind of canon-building. Sports debates can lean on records and championships, though those numbers never settle everything. Comedy is less easily reduced to a stat line. The announced episode instead has room for questions of writing, performance, cultural reach, and the personal stories behind careers—elements Emanuel and Persky have identified as central to the program.
A guest list built around firsthand perspective
The stated goal of Rushmore is to move past quick-fire greatest-of-all-time arguments and draw out the experience and history behind them. Emanuel has described the appeal in simple terms: audiences arrive with their own strongly held selections and are eager to hear them challenged. Persky has similarly framed the debate as the beginning rather than the whole point, with the stories around those choices supplying the texture.
Related coverage includes Rushmore Season 2 Sets NFL, NBA and Comedy GOAT Debates.
That approach matters because each announced guest is positioned as more than an outside commentator. Goodell leads the NFL. McAfee is a sports analyst. O’Neal and Durant bring NBA experience to a basketball conversation. David and Seinfeld are joining a discussion within their own creative field. The concept is therefore less about declaring a definitive, official answer and more about putting prominent voices with direct knowledge in a setting built for comparison and argument.
There is also a useful distinction between expertise and agreement. A show can feature people deeply connected to an industry without expecting them to land on the same list. Indeed, Emanuel’s own description of the new season emphasizes larger personalities and people willing to tell the hosts when they disagree. In a format based on subjective rankings, that friction is a feature, not a flaw.
Gaming remains part of the show’s stated range
Although the first announced Season 2 subjects are NFL, NBA and comedy, the series has said it aims to work across sports, entertainment, media, fashion, music and gaming. No gaming-specific Season 2 guest or episode topic has been announced in the available details, so viewers should not read the current lineup as confirmation of a gaming installment.
Still, gaming was part of the first season’s wider guest mix: Bobby Kotick appeared among the 15-episode run’s guests. That earlier season also included names spanning professional sports, music, fashion, art, media and technology, including Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Anna Wintour, Rick Rubin, Dana White, Jimmy Iovine, Bob Costas, Al Michaels, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Meacham, Jeff Koons, Jeffrey Deitch, Inez van Lamsweerde, Edward Enninful and Reggie Miller.
For a gaming audience, the relevant point is the format’s potential rather than an unannounced promise. “Greatest” debates are already a natural language of game communities, whether the subject is an all-time console library, a genre’s defining title, a competitive player’s legacy, or the people who shaped a studio and its franchises. A conversation becomes more useful when participants explain why their standards differ—whether they value innovation, craft, audience impact, competition, or endurance over time.
Emanuel’s association with WME Group also places the podcast near the broader entertainment-representation business. For related industry context, Jesse Jo Stark’s worldwide representation deal with WME illustrates the company’s continuing role across entertainment talent.
Where and how the season is being made
Season 2 is presented with media and podcast company nativ.ly and produced by Pantheon Media Group. It is filmed primarily at WME Group’s renovated Beverly Hills headquarters. The video component is worth noting because shows structured around disputes and personal anecdotes can play differently on camera than in audio alone: gestures, reactions and the rhythm of a group conversation can add context that a listener may not hear.
At the same time, availability on major podcast platforms means the show is not restricted to viewers who want the studio presentation. Audio listeners will be able to follow the discussions without relying on a single social platform, while YouTube viewers can choose the filmed edition.
The launch arrives shortly after Emanuel released his memoir, Roll the Calls, on Sept. 22. The 432-page book covers his path from the CAA mailroom to becoming a major figure in entertainment and sports. That timing supplies additional context for a show hosted by someone whose professional career has crossed several of the industries Rushmore intends to discuss, though the podcast’s Season 2 premise remains focused on guests and their choices rather than being presented as a memoir companion.
What is confirmed—and what is not
- Confirmed: Season 2 begins Oct. 20 with Goodell and McAfee discussing NFL comebacks.
- Confirmed: O’Neal and Durant appear in the Oct. 27 episode about the greatest NBA starting five.
- Confirmed: David and Seinfeld will appear later for a comedy GOAT discussion taped in May 2026.
- Confirmed: The show will be on YouTube and major podcast platforms, with a biweekly rhythm after the first two episodes.
- Not announced: A complete Season 2 guest list, a total episode count, or a gaming-focused episode.
That distinction is especially important for viewers treating the early guest announcements as a complete season roadmap. The available information establishes three major conversations and the release pattern after the opening pair, but it does not reveal every topic that will follow. For now, the season’s clearest identity is an expansion of the show’s cross-industry argument format: a football comeback debate, an all-time NBA roster exercise, and a comedy discussion featuring two of the best-known names in the field.
