The Sports Media Thread

[stevew]

Cross off MNF.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Joe Buck, Troy Aikman sign multiyear deals with ESPN to be voices of Monday Night Football

Does it matter?

Either the broadcast companies just want to spend money or sports fans are lying about not caring who the announcers are.

Tom Brady will join Fox Sports once he retires

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Either the broadcast companies just want to spend money or sports fans are lying about not caring who the announcers are.

Tom Brady will join Fox Sports once he retires

Put me in the "This was way too much money, even if Brady turns out to be good at this" camp.

But I'm assuming that the money is for more than just calling the games. I guess if Brady becomes The Face of Fox Sports across TV, radio, print, internet, podcasting, etc. then maybe we are getting kind of close to $375,000,000 in value?

If Jon or someone else who actually understands media wants to chime in, I'm all ears on how Fox decided this was worth it.

[bk1020]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Put me in the "This was way too much money, even if Brady turns out to be good at this" camp.

But I'm assuming that the money is for more than just calling the games. I guess if Brady becomes The Face of Fox Sports across TV, radio, print, internet, podcasting, etc. then maybe we are getting kind of close to $375,000,000 in value?

If Jon or someone else who actually understands media wants to chime in, I'm all ears on how Fox decided this was worth it.

Fox is spending $375 million to try to optimize a $22 billion dollar investment.

What if Fox never even tried to resign Aikman and Buck because this was the plan all along? And on that thought, they'll most likely end up with someone much cheaper than Buck as Brady's partner.

[Ksyrup]

I wonder if Brady decided to play at least 1 more year so he could get good enough at calling games for this to not be a potential disaster if he had only 6 months to learn. I mean, $375M is a good reason to ditch retirement for another year and more than Fox might have wanted to pay for him to learn on the job and potentially have it go so bad they had to make him a studio-only guy.

[miami_fan]

Drew Brees done at NBC after one season as NFL analyst

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Drew Brees done at NBC after one season as NFL analyst

He was the guy everyone was lining up to get when he retired too. Has to make fox feel great about the Tom Brady deal.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Longtime Fantasy Football Analyst Matthew Berry Announces He's Leaving ESPN - The Spun: What's Trending In The Sports World Today

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Longtime Fantasy Football Analyst Matthew Berry Announces He's Leaving ESPN - The Spun: What's Trending In The Sports World Today

Hmm. Wonder what he's got going on next. Hard to think that he'd do better than he's already got as the head fantasy guy at ESPN.

Do you think that maybe this wasn't entirely voluntary on his part?

[miami_fan]

Vegas for that gambling network that Brent Musburger went to?

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Vegas for that gambling network that Brent Musburger went to?

That's a good option. Some new enterprise (the one you mention or another one) flush with VC money looking to buy instant credibility. Make him an offer he can't refuse.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Do you think that maybe this wasn't entirely voluntary on his part?

Certainly possible, especially with ESPN's personnell decision history, though I did see at least one story on this somewhere that suggested the network was caught off guard

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Hmm. Wonder what he's got going on next. Hard to think that he'd do better than he's already got as the head fantasy guy at ESPN.

Do you think that maybe this wasn't entirely voluntary on his part?

he had it coming

[RainMaker]

My thought was one of the big sportsbooks snatched him up or he's going independent. They're paying absurd money to sponsor shows these days, so maybe it makes sense to just offer him a ton of money to do his show outside of the ESPN ecosystem. He has enough of a following to pull it off. You can see the massive money guys like Simmons, Mcafee, Lebetard, and others are getting in the podcast space. And while I'm sure ESPN pays him well, owning your show is where the money is.

The suddenness of the departure makes me think he has something lined up already.

[stevew]

Hopefully it’s blowback for Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by miami_fan

Vegas for that gambling network that Brent Musburger went to?

Doubtful. They don't focus on fantasy too often and in the sports betting world he doesn't have credibility.

[miami_fan]

I have usually have an issue with news organizations just running with fake news without verifying its accuracy. However in the case, I will allow it. It's sports, it's ESPN, It's Ballsack Sports and it's a silly discussion.

ESPN (again) ran a fake quote from Ballsack Sports on the air

[sterlingice]

Agent Casey Close sues Fox Sports radio host Doug Gottlieb for libel over tweet about contract offer to Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman

Does this have any hope of succeeding? Like I doubt Gottlieb had a bone to pick with Close - I'm guessing he just stupidly said something he had heard but not verified.

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Agent Casey Close sues Fox Sports radio host Doug Gottlieb for libel over tweet about contract offer to Los Angeles Dodgers' Freddie Freeman

Does this have any hope of succeeding? Like I doubt Gottlieb had a bone to pick with Close - I'm guessing he just stupidly said something he had heard but not verified.

SI

Success of the suit may come down to whether Close is ruled a "public figure" (with malice being required for libel) or a "private figure" as the suit requests.

Then it just has to be false, malice isn't an issue.

[GrantDawg]

I saw the sports media thread bump, and thought it was Jon talking about Steak Shapiro coming back to radio.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I saw the sports media thread bump, and thought it was Jon talking about Steak Shapiro coming back to radio.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

Srsly?

Good Lord.

[GrantDawg]

Yup. With Sandy Golden. 92.9. I was a little surprised.

Sent from my SM-G996U using Tapatalk

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Success of the suit may come down to whether Close is ruled a "public figure" (with malice being required for libel) or a "private figure" as the suit requests.

Then it just has to be false, malice isn't an issue.

I saw a few lawyers say the odds of this being a success is slim. Something about Close being a limited-purpose public figure.

Regardless, I think the lawsuit is more about protecting his reputation than getting any kind of financial settlement from Gottlieb. It's something you sort of have to do to protect your image as an agent.

[Ksyrup]

I'm not exactly sure where this goes - do we have an "F U STREAMING/CABLE COMPANIES!" thread?

Honestly, I get more out of ESPN+ per dollar than I do my DirecTV package, so I'm only mildly irritated by this. It's more of a longer-term thing about trying to go a la carte and death by a thousand paper cuts versus sticking with DirecTV and death by axe, along with a couple of paper cuts from add-ons.

BREAKING: ESPN+ is raising its subscription price from $6.99 per month to $9.99 per month.

The 43% price hike will take effect August 23, 2022. pic.twitter.com/YwLYloeY5r

— Front Office Sports (@FOS) July 15, 2022

[Ksyrup]

With the Disney bundle price staying at $13.99 (for now, according to reports), is this an attempt to push people to the bundle? $4 for disney and hulu is cheap, even if you rarely use them.

[miami_fan]

I don't think I would get any pushback if I said Vin Scully as close to a 100% likeability rating as anyone has ever had in national sports media. With his passing, I was thinking about how many of those guys (no I don't think there are any women who fit that category.) are left. It may be recency bias but the only person that popped in my head was Tim Kurkjian.

[bhlloy]

Vin and his era are the last to have not been on social media (for the most part). I don’t think an equivalent is possible now. Pretty sure Kurk gets his share of hate on Twitter just like everyone else does.

[JPhillips]

Lee Corso is a legend, but he just doesn't have it anymore.

[Ksyrup]

Not sure what this will mean, other than I'm sure we'll all end up paying more...

Sinclair could reportedly sell Bally Sports RSNs to MLB/NBA/NHL alliance

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Not sure what this will mean, other than I'm sure we'll all end up paying more...

Sinclair could reportedly sell Bally Sports RSNs to MLB/NBA/NHL alliance

Bought for $10B, might sell for as little as $3B. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch (and considering Sinclair's politics, for ME to say that, you gotta know they're insufferable to deal with)

[miami_fan]

Didn't Sinclair step in at the last minute to stop ESPN from buying all of those stations from Fox?

[albionmoonlight]

Is it me, or is this Favre thing getting way less play than one would expect?

Favre was so good for clicks that the incessant stories about him became a running joke.

Now he's actually done something newsworthy, and no one's talking about it.

[albionmoonlight]

dola: And it just occurred to me that because it involves welfare money, you can easily spin it into a Red State Blue State thing.

Seems like clickbait heaven. A story about Favre that you can also make a story about Red vs. Blue.

So why aren't places pressing the easy button here and cranking out these stories?

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Bought for $10B, might sell for as little as $3B. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch (and considering Sinclair's politics, for ME to say that, you gotta know they're insufferable to deal with)

Aw, and here I was thinking the same exact thing: couldn't happen to a better bunch

SI

[bhlloy]

Fuck Sinclair/Bally Sports with a rusty hammer

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

Fuck Sinclair/Bally Sports with a rusty hammer

Their on-air product made the Fox Sports regional networks look like top of the line stuff.

SI

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

dola: And it just occurred to me that because it involves welfare money, you can easily spin it into a Red State Blue State thing.

Seems like clickbait heaven. A story about Favre that you can also make a story about Red vs. Blue.

So why aren't places pressing the easy button here and cranking out these stories?

My guess is that this is similar to the situation with Jon Gruden's emails. No one wants to actually dig too far in to see who else was using the welfare funds for something other than welfare. I also don't think there is much more to say with the Farve piece of the story. They are never sending him to jail. He has paid back most of the money they gave him for speeches he did not give. No one is tearing down the arena that has been built. Finally, I think people are more likely to blame the government for giving him the money as opposed to him scamming the government. You know, it is not his fault that the government did not have enough red tape to catch on to what Favre was just doing. Plus as I said before, we know he is not the only one doing it.

[miami_fan]

One last thing. I would be really curious to see polling as to who is more worthy of that money: Southern Miss for the volleyball arena or the people that was supposed to receive/benefit from the welfare funds.

[Ksyrup]

Glad to hear this, actually. And not surprised. I had some interactions with Apple in a previous life and they can be obstinate assholes who believe the world revolves around them. I'd read an article a couple months back about NFL and Apple running into obstacles mainly around Apple expecting exclusivity for games - which cannot happen - and balking at packages for bars and such. Completely tone deaf-type stuff.

YouTube TV is closing in on a Sunday Ticket deal - ProFootballTalk

[sterlingice]

Now compare that to MLB, where they're trying to wring every last current dollar out of any TV deal, accessibility to the product (and building future business) be damned

SI

[miami_fan]

It's On: Bally Sports RSNs Headed for Bankruptcy | Next TV

The article mentions the Cardinals specifically but I am guessing it is going to hit a large number of MLB teams' local broadcast revenue stream.

[Ksyrup]

Yes. And as some have suggested, one option is for the leagues to step in and take back their broadcasting rights instead of trying to prop up the current model, but that likely screws MLB because its viewers are older and likely aren't interested in 100% streaming content whereas NBA could have have a far easier transition.

[bhlloy]

Karma is a bitch. Not sure there are many other companies I’d be happier to see go under.

[sterlingice]

Not only that, but who would have thought that MLB's chasing of the last current dollar would totally screw them? /s

SI

[Ksyrup]

Already looking ahead to what the landscape is going to look like next NFL season.

NFL Sunday Ticket probably won't offer single-team packages on YouTube, though cheaper packages may be available

[Ksyrup]

This saga is starting to develop into one of those long-play running gag series of Onion articles that ends with the PAC-12 paying a Modesto, CA high school visual arts class to stream their games on the high school's website.

Apple still has not made formal offer for Pac-12’s media rights, but ION television has emerged as a potential Pac-12 partner, sources told @ActionNetworkHQ. ION TV is owned by E.W. Scripps Company, which has 61 local TV stations nationwide & launched Scripps Sports this year

— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) February 24, 2023

[JonInMiddleGA]

I don't even care about the NBA much but Kevin Harlan was on fire tonight during Nets-Sixers.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I don't even care about the NBA much but Kevin Harlan was on fire tonight during Nets-Sixers.

He is so underrated as a play by play guy.

[sovereignstar v2]

Kevin Harlan was the only thing that made the T-wolves worth following in the early 90's.

[miami_fan]

Josh Neighbors fired for airing Bob Huggins' homophobic slur

I can't say I have ever heard of the Locked On Network or any of their podcasts. I did expect someone to lose their job when discussing this story though. I would love to hear this guy's segment and what different spin he was bringing to the discussion that required an uncensored airing of the interview.