dfwabel

1 hour ago, DG_Now said:

What did Jamie Horowitz do?

Outside of the move to video?  Who knows, but according to the Hollywood Repoter, Horowitz has lawyer-ed up already.

Last month's layoffs sparked a long form from Awful Announcing which was published a week ago today.  I found it pretty interesting.

http://awfulannouncing.com/fox/jamie-horowitz-fox-sports-digital.html

EDIT: Apparently, like some other FOX/News Corp. staff, it deals with sexual harassment.

More upheaval at FOX Sports and FS1.  Jamie Horowitz is out.

57 minutes ago, stumpygremlin said:

Even so, how much transition is actually necessary? Conference schedules are done by the conference, OOC shouldn't be affected.

 

Maybe signage and such, but what else?

Budget wise, the application/exit fees and canceled contracts were be set to be paid by Friday. Put every possible expense  with the move on the current year's budget.

2 hours ago, BlackBolt3 said:

IUPUI has 3 days to make this transition?!?!?

New fiscal Year starts July 1.

The Horizon HQ is in Indianapolis; they were talking for a while. The IU trustees met two weeks ago, so this move was likely made then during Executive Session.

23 hours ago, Cosmic said:

Do you guys normally gravitate towards video news stories, sports or otherwise? If it's a sports highlight or a news story that has a compelling video component, sure. Other than that? I normally run the other way. I find it normally takes a video three minutes to tell me what I can read in 30 seconds. If Fox is headed towards mostly video, I won't be going there much.

With no written work, CFB reporter Bruce Feldman will just be a sideline reporter with also time on the daily shows, but Stuart Mandel got laid off and their podcast, "The Audible" is likely to end. It was by far, the best CFB podcast around.

http://thespun.com/college-football/fox-sports-stewart-mandel-bruce-feldman-layoffs

NBC splits Premier League coverage, taking 130 games for a $50, streaming only version.

http://soccer.nbcsports.com/2017/06/27/premier-league-pass-to-launch-on-nbc-sports-gold/

Analysis: http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/soccer/nbc-sports-english-premier-league-soccer-online-streaming-free-paid-subscription-cable-tv-20170627.html?mobi=true

12 hours ago, the admiral said:

Can I add that the AT&T/Time Warner merger, which would presumably, among so many other things, turn Turner Sports into AT&T Sports, is a terrible idea and must be stopped?

Hours later, Comcast and Charter are in talks with SoftBank over a deal with Sprint.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN19I1JW

1 hour ago, McCarthy said:

I've never clicked on a link to a sports article and hoped a video would automatically play and I've never actually watched one of those autoplay videos. Furthermore, in the rare cases that I actually want to watch the video on espn.com it takes forever to load. 

 

I think Fox fired their writers because they have to honor Skip Bayless' albatross of a contract. That will end up being the Bobby Bonilla contract of sports television. 

FS1 gets about $1.31/subscriber now, which is up $0.35 from what they got in 2015, but still six times less than just ESPN. Their multiple layoffs since Horowitz was hired really illustrates how little traction they've made since starting nearly four years ago.

The albatross is the ESPN Monday Night Football contract.

17 minutes ago, the admiral said:

The Root Sports RSNs are rebranding to AT&T Sportsnet with the exception of the Northwest affiliate, which will remain Root Sports Northwest. Any idea why? Non-AT&T minority ownership?

 

EDIT: apparently CSN Bay Area has become NBC Sports Bay Area, too. This hasn't happened in Chicago yet but I'm guessing it will.

The Mariners bought controlling interest in 2013. AT&T only has 29%.

http://depts.washington.edu/sthp/exhibits/show/seattletelevisionsports/mariners/marinersprofits

So much for Fox Sports web presence.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-26/fox-sports-cuts-web-writing-staff-to-invest-more-in-online-video

13 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

 

The post-draft pod, plus some of the draft previews with Titus. Way too much talk about Duke/UNC/Kansas/Kentucky like any of that stuff matters. Plus it crystallizes that Simmons has surrounded himself with a bunch of young white dudes who have the same opinions and it's kind of a bummer.

 

I listened to the simulcast and got as far as Windhorst installing a phone update. It was pretty good! I wish I had caught the Periscope last night.

THIS!

Tate is "ACC or nothing" on all subjects and Kevin O'Connor completes the east coast bias of folks living in L.A. Their college content is awful even with Mallory Rubin who co-hosted a great SI pod with Stuart Mandel (now with FS1). It seems he hired the 75% percentile of the best college newspaper writers, mostly east coast white kids now living in L.A.

Simmons hired Titus off of his blog a decade ago and just wants Gordon Hayward high school stories from him.

Bill talked about going to finals games, but SeatGeek had to pay for it as I doubt he's getting credentials.

I'll hold off on The Ringer one until Saturday, if I listen at all.

2 hours ago, DG_Now said:

The Ringer's NBA podcast coverage features way too many frat douches complaining about UNC and Duke.

Ringer NBA podcast as opposed to Bill's Emergency post-draft pod?  Unless I immediately hear Chris Vernon, I don't listen to the NBA shows and delete quickly.

I'm currently listening to the TBA draft simulcast with Amin, Windhorst, Jade, and Rachel featuring the Windhorst IPhone system upgrade during the draft.

http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/brian-windhorst.html

Pretty good since there are better stories than anything Simmons mumble brags about.

26 minutes ago, Geoff said:

I've seen others say cell phone company

I see a natural gas provider or foreign energy company.

I guess this goes here, but Mods please move to where you feel necessary.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-40155829?

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40156029

7 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

 

 I don't know about that. The Awful Announcing guy comes off way, way more bitter. That was an awful lot of "well acutallys" for relatively brief remarks.

He wanted to be in Skipper's "bullpen", but wasn't.

Simmons is still so bitter.

http://awfulannouncing.com/espn/bill-simmons-criticizes-espn-john-skipper-says-tech-will-own-sports-rights.html

Video:  https://www.recode.net/2017/5/31/15720190/bill-simmons-espn-video-watch-code-conference-interview

The Ringer is moving from Medium to Vox servers.

http://thebiglead.com/2017/05/30/bill-simmons-and-the-ringer-are-moving-to-vox/

6 hours ago, MadmanLA said:

Greenberg was a guest on the His & Hers podcast a couple years ago, and when he was asked by Jemele Hill how he and Golic get along, he said that their relationship is strictly professional, nothing more, and they're just two totally different personalities, on and off the air.  Hell, just based on Greeny's earlier comments on His & Hers, I can't say I'm surprised that there's friction between he and Golic.  It's not uncommon that there's friction between "stars" on TV and radio shows, because how much no matter they get along (on a professional level) with all of the years they've worked together, something will eventually come to a head.

But Greenberg really never wanted to be there and replace Tony Bruno.

From 2015 this interview with USA Today, followed by the public moves from his agent(s), mark the kindling in the fire.

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/03/mike-and-mike-espn

Quote

“I accepted the job with the agreement that I would continue to anchor SportsCenter and I was anchoring 100 SportsCenters a year for the first 11 years we were doing Mike and Mike. The primary reason I accepted it because I thought maybe the executives at ESPN would hear my work on the radio and like it and it would serve me well in my goal to get a higher-profile position on TV at ESPN.” 

For the past 15 years, the two have often joked about their differences — one is a former NFL player (Golic) while the other draws from his experience in journalism and as a reporter (Greenberg). And even outside the office, they say, their lives aren’t that similar. The two live about 90 minutes away from each other and have kids that are different ages. So as close as they seem on the air, they said, their lives are completely separate once they leave the office.

They were never the same. Greenberg likely thought that Golic would you eventually be fired, ESPN would name new morning show hosts and he could move on to what he thought his (then) goals were.

2 hours ago, GFB said:

Let's see what's going on over at FS1:

 

You know, if Fox's strategy was to pick up blowhards like Whitlock, Cowherd, and Bayless only to publicly roast them on a daily basis... I have to admit, I'd watch that. 

 

(not that putting microphones in front of Lavar Ball on a regular basis is a great idea either)

http://awfulannouncing.com/fox/lavar-ball-jason-whitlock-dont-think-can-comment-anything-snacks.html

Quote

The trouble started when Leahy questioned Ball, the father of NBA Draft prospect Lonzo Ball, on how many sneakers his Big Baller Brand had sold. Ball told Leahy to “stay in your lane,” called her a hater, mimicked her voice and refused to make eye contact with her.

2 hours ago, DustDevil61 said:

So have they laid off Mike Golic too? I'm really looking forward to Mike & Mike.

 

Either way, with the Golic/ESPN split, his son Jake tweeted this:

 

 

Couldn't have said it better myself.

 

EDIT: Apparently Golic will remain with ESPN, but he and Greenberg will split. Still, not a good look to spread your assets thin like that.

 

ESPN executives did not end the show, Mike Greenberg (and his agency, CAA) did.

Quote

The Mike & Mike brand has been in the news for the last two years, mostly for potential changes to the show. In May 2015, during its annual upfronts for ad buyers, ESPN boldly announced the show would move from its long-time Bristol, Connecticut, location to ABC’s Times Square studio in New York City, beginning in February 2016. The move was designed to turn Mike & Mike into a Good Morning America-style program, including interacting with the ABC show, which is also under the Disney aegis. The move never happened. ESPN pulled the plug on the idea a couple of months later. But as Jim Miller reported in The Hollywood Reporter last month, CAA recently closed a deal for Greenberg “that makes him one of the highest-paid sports personalities at ESPN and beyond (reportedly north of $6.5 million a year).” ESPN would not offer such a deal for Greenberg merely to continue his radio program.

Greenberg and CAA forced the decision, especially since he and his wife want to live in Manhattan.

Quote

SN: We hear your show will be produced in New York, not Bristol. Dream come true for a native New Yorker? 

MG: It would be great. I grew up on the campus of NYU (New York University). When I was growing up, I told my parents, "I want to go to NYU." My parents said, "Listen Michael, you’re going to live your whole life in New York, go experience something else." P.S. I’ve never lived in New York again. I left in 1985 to go to Evanston, I went to Northwestern (University). I loved it there. I got a job in Chicago. Loved it there. Ended up meeting and marrying my wife (Stacy Greenberg) there. So Chicago has become very much like a second home to me. But New York is great. It’s a wonderful place. I think it would be very exciting. So if that does work out, I would be thrilled. We talked about doing it a couple of years ago. We were going to move "Mike & Mike" here. Some things happened and it didn’t work out. That was disappointing. So I really do hope that it works out this time. I think it would be great for the show.

3 hours ago, OnWis97 said:

I apologize if this came up...this is the first I've actually seen of it written.  And it's on a little Big Ten football site...

 

http://saturdaytradition.com/wisconsin-football/popular-espn-show-mike-mike-ending/

 

Mike & Mike has been OK, though I certainly could throw some criticism.  Greenberg essentially being replaced by Trey Wingo?  Whatever.

 

But Greenberg having a three hour live show on ESPN (i.e., not ESPN 2)?  So am I to understand that SportsCenter's no longer going to be played over and over in the AM (well maybe on ESPN News)?

 

This almost seems like big step in the direction away from highlight shows and toward being a sports version of cable news.  Whether it's the internet, short attention spans, or whatever.  

SportsCenter will air on ESPN2 weekdays while the Greenberg show is on ESPN.  In addition, it was announced on Monday that SportsCenter will essentially go digital on the app and .com. 

Here is their own release concerning today's upfronts.

http://espnmediazone.com/us/press-releases/2017/05/media-tip-sheet-espn-upfront-2017/

On 05/11/2017 at 4:47 PM, MadmanLA said:

 

I heard Mr. Lear on another podcast last year (a hip-hop podcast no less), and all I can say is that I wish could be as fluid and sharp as he is by the time I'm in my mid-90s (God willing).  The man created/produced some of my favorite all-time TV shows, and there's no one that could come close to change television the way he did.  While Aaron Spelling and Garry Marshall were putting out "escapism" TV in the '70s and 80s, Lear and his company put out TV as about as real as it gets.

But keep in mind Lear adapted two BBC shows to the American audience in "All In The Family" and "Sanford & Son" as his his first hits then spinoff series took him to legendary status.

MVC gives out only one invitation....

Valparaiso.

http://www.mvc-sports.com/news/archives/2016-17/9552/the-valley-invites-valparaiso-university/#.WRKNaTplBTc

3 hours ago, HedleyLamarr said:

A show that's been on Sunday mornings on ESPN for nearly 30 years has come to a close today.  Thanks for a very informative and cordial sports discussion, "The Sports Reporters"

 

Any day w/o Mike Lupica on TV is instantly a good day.

2 hours ago, DG_Now said:

I'm listening to Hang Up and Listen for the first time.

 

Some people really have a voice for print, you know?

I listen to Slate when it drops. One of the few I don't wait until Thursday or Friday night to start listening for the week.

Just be glad that you heard Wos for an hour in which he didn't bring up the damn Knicks.

Baby steps, DG. Baby steps.

5 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

I know only dfwabel and I care, but TrueHoop pod was killed reborn as the Basketball Analogy. Amin, Wos, Jade, Tom Haberstroh and Ethan Strauss soundalike Pablo Torre remain.

 

Amin had some nice words about Ethan in the introductory pod. Rumor has it Woj wanted Strauss gone because Ethan killed him online years ago.

 

And of course they still managed to make space for Kayleigh and Jade's stupid mom on a Friday mailbag. ?

Ethan's "Warriors World" piece in question has made the rounds in the last week.

Wos was on Slate's "Hang Up and Listen" for the whole show this week and layoffs were discussed first.

Andrew Brandt spent 15 minutes detailing how it went down with him and how he handled it as an attorney.

Jim Miller spent another hour with Deitsch this week too.

Even with these layoffs, except for NHL, NASCAR, golf, they still have 3-7x the staff per sport than FOX/FS1, NBCSN, CBS, Turner*.

*-Sport specific networks notwithstanding.