The Sports Media Thread

[miami_fan]

ESPN, NFL in advanced talks on agreement that could give league equity in TV giant

[albionmoonlight]

I like my current combination of NFL+ and Redzone without subscribing to YouTube TV. I’m sure whatever happens with this merger/equity stake/whatever it is, it will end up making it worse.

[GrantDawg]

Sports Illustrated officially died today. The group that owns the license for the name just pulled the license and everyone that worked for SI was let go. End of an era.

[Edward64]

Ah, the SI Swimsuit editions from the 80s and 90s.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Ah, the SI Swimsuit editions from the 80s and 90s.

Let's give them a salute.....not with that Ed!

[Ksyrup]

I didn't even know SI still existed.

[SirFozzie]

Seeing a lot of people chanting the "Go woke, go broke" mantra about Sports Illustrated, namely, their decisions to put a plus size woman and a woman (who is trans) on the cover of the swimsuit issue. Of course, the real lesson is that 'Be old-school and fail to change with the times means you'll die off like the dinosaurs" will go RIGHT over the CHUDlets heads at about Mach 2.1.

[molson]

It's a magazine. Is there a single magazine which has persevered or successfully evolved?

Maybe National Geographic. They have a whole thing going on.

[Edward64]

AARP, People, Cosmo, Vogue, Golf Digest etc.

All have migrated to online, digital to adapt, but still doing okay.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by molson

It's a magazine. Is there a single magazine which has persevered or successfully evolved?

I haven't considered SI a "magazine" - in the traditional physical sense - in years. Hell, I don't know that I've seen one in years.

It existed in recent memory to me simply as a brand applied to often questionable content generation online.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

AARP, People, Cosmo, Vogue, Golf Digest etc.

All have migrated to online, digital to adapt, but still doing okay.

Consumer Reports.

[Ksyrup]

Got an email yesterday from ESPN+ with new subscriber agreement terms, and just got another one from Disney+. Waiting for the trifecta from Hulu.

Anyway, this is one of the terms in both:

• We're adding limitations on sharing your account outside of your household, and explaining how we may assess your compliance with these limitations.

Interestingly, when clicking on the Agreement link, I was unable to highlight any section to easily copy it. Instead, I had to pretend like I was printing it to highlight it. This is what it says:

n. Account Sharing. Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household. “Household” means the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein. Additional usage rules may apply for certain Service Tiers. For more details on our account sharing policy, please visit our Help Center.

We may, in our sole discretion, analyze the use of your account to determine compliance with this Agreement. If we determine, in our sole discretion, that you have violated this Agreement, we may limit or terminate access to the Service and/or take any other steps as permitted by this Agreement (including those set forth in Section 6 of this Agreement).

You will be responsible for any use of your account by your household, including compliance with this section.

Curious if they are going to start policing this in some way, or just added it for possible future use. Also curious if they are going to go the Netflix route of deeming a college student as outside a household.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Sports Illustrated officially died today. The group that owns the license for the name just pulled the license and everyone that worked for SI was let go. End of an era.

Looks like its back:


Sports Illustrated lands new publisher as Minute Media obtains rights with plans to continue printing - The Athletic

[Ksyrup]

I don't see an Olympics thread yet so I'll put this here. I'm not a fan of the Olympics at all (just in general), but I end up having to watch it (a) because of other family members or (b) because there's usually nothing else on. Apparently this year we won't get stuck with only having tape-delay airings - as long as you subscribe to Peacock! But at least an option exists.

However it's the regular NBC coverage that I just read about that sounds absolutely horrid:

Making events available live, as they happen in France, means that NBC will need to have different Olympics programming during primetime — a curated show that will combine event highlights with entertainment and stars commenting on the Games in the hopes of luring sports fans and channel surfers. In short, NBC’s primetime Olympics coverage may at times feel more like a variety show filmed in Paris.

To pull that off, NBCU has turned to a deep bench of talent — from [Jimmy] Fallon to [Kelly] Clarkson to a variety of social media influencers. Snoop Dogg will deliver man*-on*-the-*street observations as he brings his blunt humor (and maybe even some blunts) to help enliven the primetime coverage . . . In something that might seem more at home on “America’s Got Talent” or “The Voice,” the network even plans to deploy five heart-rate monitors among the parents of athletes. The results will be shown on-screen as moms and dads watch their kids compete — something that test audiences have loved. Will the medical devices have an on-screen sponsor? “We are talking about it.” says Dan Lovinger, the NBC ad-sales executive who is responsible for snaring hundreds of millions in ad support.

Just shoot me - seriously, I'd rather watch reruns of a 20-year old David Spade comedy show. I also can't wait until NBC is flooded with social media doctors warning that a parental heart attack is imminent, or questioning the character/love of a parent because their heart rate is so low they must not care about their kid - or worse, perhaps it's not even their kid and mom must have had an affair or they're adopted and don't know it. The possibilities are endless!

Also, please keep trying to force-feed late night TV on us because it's not dying and irrelevant, and we need more celebrities and promo-tie-ins because we don't get enough of that already.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but... take me back to the good ol' days of a 20 minute feature on Peekaboo Street while live events are going on rather than this shlock.

[Lathum]

Who doesn't want to see Snoop Dog comment on the form of a javelin thrower?

[Ksyrup]

Glad to see CFB is finally adding the 2 minute commercial break to games. They move too fast as it is.

[sovereignstar v2]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Glad to see CFB is finally adding the 2 minute commercial break to games. They move too fast as it is.

Article I just read said the addition of a two-minute warning in both halves will not result in a commercial break. Did you misspeak or maybe the article I read is wrong?

[Ksyrup]

It will be a commercial break, just a fixed/planned break. Similar to the under 4 basketball TV timeout. The claim is that it will hopefully stop broadcasters from overloading "commercial/kick-off/commercial"-type situations earlier in the quarters. Color me skeptical.

Also, having the 2 minute warning AND stopping the clock on first downs during the last 2 minutes seems like overkill. But they want crazy endings to games, similar to the stupid advance the ball to half court in basketball which is just designed to try to create chaos at the end of games and not really tied to anything from the actual game of basketball.

[Ksyrup]

I saw a couple notes of interest yesterday - one, Jason Kelce is joining ESPN MNF Countdown. I assume someone has or will be let go. Two, CBS finally dumped Simms and Boomer and hired Matt Ryan. This is going to revolutionize the way I don't watch pregame shows!

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

similar to the stupid advance the ball to half court in basketball which is just designed to try to create chaos at the end of games and not really tied to anything from the actual game of basketball.

Someone (Klosterman I think) wrote an article on how we all grew up with this rule and take it for granted, but when you stop to think about it, it is really weird.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I saw a couple notes of interest yesterday - one, Jason Kelce is joining ESPN MNF Countdown. I assume someone has or will be let go. Two, CBS finally dumped Simms and Boomer and hired Matt Ryan. This is going to revolutionize the way I don't watch pregame shows!

I saw that about Simms and Boomer. Over the last few years I feel like I'd assume it was one of them on TV, then find out it was the other. They seem like basically the same guy to me, so I guess it's only fitting that they leave at the same time?

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I saw a couple notes of interest yesterday - one, Jason Kelce is joining ESPN MNF Countdown. I assume someone has or will be let go. Two, CBS finally dumped Simms and Boomer and hired Matt Ryan. This is going to revolutionize the way I don't watch pregame shows!

The sad part for the networks is if they came to me personally, asked me what they could do to get me to watch their show, I have no clue what that thing or things would be.

[Ksyrup]

For me, there isn't anything. I feel like it's an age thing. I just want to watch games. I no longer need analysis and over-analysis because I just don't care like I used to. I still enjoy watching the games, I just don't need the deep-dive or extraneous BS.

And, in terms of breaking news, it's all on social media so I don't need to be tuned in to hear Mort or Schefter tell me something I can't get anywhere else.

[cuervo72]

Yep, that's mostly me too. I used to eat up the pregame shows, oh, 20, 30, 40 years ago. Of course we had less information available then, and I cared more.

I don't know if the "cared more" is a youth thing or not. But if it is, it makes sense to keep the studio assembly line moving. Like I've said before, if you're below a certain age, you don't give a rat's ass who Simms or Esiason are. One hasn't played since '93, the other '97. So bring in Matt Ryan, who never struck me as someone with much studio charisma, but at least everyone has seen play.

[albionmoonlight]

Sunday Ticket trial, with up to $21 billion at issue, gets started - NBC Sports

A potential $21 billion lawsuit that might drastically change the way Sunday Ticket works.

How had I not heard of this until today?

[Ksyrup]

Agreed. I had no idea this was a thing.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Agreed. I had no idea this was a thing.

It feels like the NFL told its media partners to basically not report about this.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Sunday Ticket trial, with up to $21 billion at issue, gets started - NBC Sports

A potential $21 billion lawsuit that might drastically change the way Sunday Ticket works.

How had I not heard of this until today?

I opted in woot woot!

[JonInMiddleGA]

This seems like as apt a thread as any

Looks like the popular hockey site CapFriendly will go dark on July 5th, as it has been sold ... to the Washington Capitals

Attention Required! | Cloudflare

That's both tacky and kind of a sad look for the Caps IMO.

[SirFozzie]

CapFriendly? No, Capitals, UNFRIENDLY...

[Fidatelo]

Losing CapFriendly will definitely suck. It took a bit for CapGeek to be adequately replaced and now I imagine the same will be true here.

[Ksyrup]

Read some stuff prior to Saturday's NHL game 1 that people around the league and in the media were not happy with a FL/EDM final and that viewership was going to be terrible. Well, ratings for game 1 were up 43% over last season. It specified "across North America" so maybe a Canadian team being in the final is driving the ratings increase. I do know that outside of college baseball, there wasn't crap on Saturday night and we watched it (will tonight, too).

Stanley Cup ratings jump 43% across North America, NHL says - ESPN

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Read some stuff prior to Saturday's NHL game 1 that people around the league and in the media were not happy with a FL/EDM final and that viewership was going to be terrible. Well, ratings for game 1 were up 43% over last season. It specified "across North America" so maybe a Canadian team being in the final is driving the ratings increase. I do know that outside of college baseball, there wasn't crap on Saturday night and we watched it (will tonight, too).

Stanley Cup ratings jump 43% across North America, NHL says - ESPN

I mean if they're going to be like that all the time, just contract all of the leagues to be NY/NY2/LA/LA2/BOS/CHI and be the fuck done with it. (I dunno, add DAL/PHI if you need an even 8, maybe.)

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Read some stuff prior to Saturday's NHL game 1 that people around the league and in the media were not happy with a FL/EDM final and that viewership was going to be terrible. Well, ratings for game 1 were up 43% over last season. It specified "across North America" so maybe a Canadian team being in the final is driving the ratings increase. I do know that outside of college baseball, there wasn't crap on Saturday night and we watched it (will tonight, too).

Stanley Cup ratings jump 43% across North America, NHL says - ESPN

Found another U.S. only version, listing 3.1m in the U.S. (peaking at 3.65m), which is up 12% over last year. So that leaves 4.0m viewers in Canada, seems like the Canadian team-effect kicked in for sure.

The increase isn't entirely shocking though, first three rounds listed in this article as the most watched in the U.S. since 1996, most-watched North America total since 2018.

[RainMaker]

This is a minor complaint but I sort of hate how the NBA Finals is presented as just another game. Always felt like NBC went over the top for their Finals presentation in the 90's. Outside of a little thing on the scorebug, you'd never know it was the Finals.

And the NBA is at fault too. The in-season tournament has their own special court but they can't bother to put the trophy decal or anything on the court for the Finals? That was a staple back in the day. How about putting the trophy in a visible spot (midcourt)? Anything to make me feel like these games matter and they're playing for something.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Read some stuff prior to Saturday's NHL game 1 that people around the league and in the media were not happy with a FL/EDM final and that viewership was going to be terrible. Well, ratings for game 1 were up 43% over last season. It specified "across North America" so maybe a Canadian team being in the final is driving the ratings increase. I do know that outside of college baseball, there wasn't crap on Saturday night and we watched it (will tonight, too).

Stanley Cup ratings jump 43% across North America, NHL says - ESPN

I get the Panthers not being a draw though going to the finals in back to back years should count for something on the familiarity chart. Why wouldn't Edmonton be a huge draw? I am the most casual of the casual fan and I know who Connor McDavid is. Add in some sprinkles of Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and other Oiler legends to tap into people's childhood memories to that. I would think that would bring in people that say Vancouver might.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

And the NBA is at fault too. The in-season tournament has their own special court but they can't bother to put the trophy decal or anything on the court for the Finals?

Wait, they don't have the trophy logo on the courts this year? WTF?

That's ... well that's just damned dumb of them.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Wait, they don't have the trophy logo on the courts this year? WTF?

That's ... well that's just damned dumb of them.

They got rid of it like 10 years ago actually. It started in the 80's and they used to have a different logo for almost every year which was cool. Then I believe in 96 they standardized it. At some point in the 2000's they went to the giant trophy logo at midcourt that kind of sat behind the team's logo.


It's a minor thing but every sport seems to dial up the presentation for their championship outside of the NBA.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Wait, they don't have the trophy logo on the courts this year? WTF?

That's ... well that's just damned dumb of them.

Well where do you want them to put it? The YouTube TV and Michelob Ultra advertising have taken the spots on the sidelines and the baselines. TD has its sponsorship on the court as part of the naming rights deal. The only other space available would mean getting rid of Lucky the Leprechaun and that would be disrespectful. I mean they would do that before they get rid of the YouTube TV, Michelob Ultra and TD ads but you get my point as to what the priorities are.

[GrantDawg]

Charles Barkley announced he is retiring from television after next season. That is disappointing. He is definitely one of the most consistently entertaining studio guys ever to do it.

[Lathum]

This is as good a place as any. My towns team. This is the 12U All Star team. My daughter is on the 10U all star team but plays with a lot of these kids in rec. Coach Gill and I coached together this last season. Really great story about a kid who is always smiling

Little League softball: North Wall, Cory Amadio defeat Manasquan

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Charles Barkley announced he is retiring from television after next season. That is disappointing. He is definitely one of the most consistently entertaining studio guys ever to do it.

He's a savvy businessman so I wouldn't be surprised if he stays. He flirted with LIV and got a monster contract.out of it (Turner reportedly paid $100 million). Has also threatened retirement in the past. Still feel like if the money is right, he will be around

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Sunday Ticket trial, with up to $21 billion at issue, gets started - NBC Sports

A potential $21 billion lawsuit that might drastically change the way Sunday Ticket works.

How had I not heard of this until today?

Here's hoping the jury renders a verdict that would have the net result of making Sunday Ticket mildly affordable for a few years, or results in team plans or other creative packages for people to purchase.

[GrantDawg]

That's a lot of guacamole.

Jury in the Sunday Ticket antitrust trial orders NFL to pay $96 million in damages to commercial class and $4 BILLION in damages to the residential class.

— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) June 27, 2024

[Ksyrup]

Sad to read that Skip Bayless will be leaving Undisputed. /s

I did laugh when I read that at one point in February, an episode of Undisputed was outdrawn by a Tennis Channel match between Medvedev and Shevchenko.

[GrantDawg]

Put Skip Bayless and Stephen A Smith on a raft and push them out to sea......then set it on fire.

[miami_fan]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Sad to read that Skip Bayless will be leaving Undisputed. /s

I did laugh when I read that at one point in February, an episode of Undisputed was outdrawn by a Tennis Channel match between Medvedev and Shevchenko.

I noticed that he is leaving Undisputed and not retiring.

Is it possible that he goes back to ESPN to team back up with Shannon Sharpe while Stephen A makes his inevitable jump to Fox News?

[Ksyrup]

Possible. This will all revolutionize the way I don't watch sports/political confrontional BS TV, though. That much I am certain about.

[Lathum]

This Portney story is equal parts hysterical and stupid. I go to Nantucket every summer and know the harbor well. He wasn’t ever in any real danger other than hitting another vessel or shoal, but unmooring without any safety gear is incredibly stupid.

Nantucket Current | Adrift In The Harbor, Barstool Sports' Dave…

[miami_fan]

CBS beats ESPN to claim U.S. TV rights to EFL – and has bold plan to tap into ‘the drama’ - The Athletic

If your EPL team has been relegated or you are just interested in the rest of the English pyramid.