dfwabel

1 hour ago, Gothamite said:

Good. 
 

 

1 hour ago, SFGiants58 said:

 

No, awful.

Remember, a City Manager is hired and can only recommend items.  S/he can ask for the world, but if s/he fail, they will be gone quickly. 

They don't make policy, they recommend policy.

Tampa mayor Jane Castor open on split season concept.

Quote

“This right now is just in pencil and notepad stage,” Castor said. "So it’s just going to take so much more negotiating and data crunching and, you know, looking at the possibilities.

 

Quote

 

In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times Wednesday, Rays President Matt Silverman said: “We do and have always had a positive relationship with Mayor Castor, and we look forward to continuing discussions regarding ways we can collaborate to keep the Rays in Tampa Bay for generations to come.”

In the previous effort to woo the Rays, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan was the point person. But when he reached out to the Rays Tuesday, Brian Auld told him the team was meeting with Castor.

 

43 minutes ago, MBurmy said:

As UConn's Big East move looms, meaning FBS Independent status in 2020 and beyond, an idea popped into my mind...what if the Big East ever returned to sponsoring football, only as an FCS conference this time around?

Villanova, Georgetown and Butler already play FCS football (though the latter two don't offer scholarships, which I assume is the major roadblock)

Georgetown plays on campus at Cooper Field, which is nowhere near standard and is the lowest capacity in Division 1. There's likely little to no interest in seeing those games on TV. The media rights would be close to nothing.

9 minutes ago, infrared41 said:

 

That’s the second best argument I’ve heard for keeping the Marlins in Miami. 

The family of José Fernandez may differ with you.  

17 hours ago, Bucfan56 said:

 

Hmm, that’s weird. I didn’t know Sacramento had a Coliseum Complex. 

 

 

Also, they can’t get rid of the Marlins. What would Billy Gil do then? 

Back to pole vaulting on the Masters circuit.

Bumping this as opposed to placing it in the Offseason or Angels thread since I'm not sure if crossposting in threads is prohibited.

Hillsborough County officials are again willing to talk Rays stadium

Quote

A day after St. Petersburg's mayor said the Rays' idea to split the season with Montreal before 2028 was dead, Hillsborough negotiators pledged to pitch another deal.

As the team's general manager prepared to pitch to new players at baseball's winter meetings, Hillsborough's top negotiator, Commissioner Ken Hagan was getting into his own kind of batter's box.

 

"After the winter meetings that are coming up here shortly, we will sit down with the team and start to have serious discussions about a ballpark in Tampa," said Hagan.

Though he said he wasn't overly thrilled about a split-season idea, Hagan said it might be a way to start a dialogue, especially because the ballpark would likely be small.

 

He considers the proposed Ybor City site - explored last year - the team's first choice.

 

"I am still hopeful that we will be able to work out a deal for the team to be here for the entire season," said Hagan. "If not, a shared-cities concept should be something we should at least consider."

Now, regardless of site, in the last year Hillsborough County and the City of Tampa have been alerted to something troubling...there are at least two black cemeteries which were built over in the mid-1900's and the bodies were not exhumed and relocated. 

The first one was confirmed in July as a public housing complex was built on top of it in the 1950's.

The second site was confirmed in November where a high school has sat since opening in 1960.

And there is a former county worker trying to name ALL the sites.

Ybor site and the current Jefferson HS property, which was often thought of as a parcel for stadium need to be scanned ASAP.  Both parcels are fairly close to the Robles Park.

43 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

Why are they like this.

 

 

That's two guys parodying them, however this tweet from their betting twitter account today was real and quickly deleted.

26 minutes ago, Volt said:

Dallas, DC and New York are good.  
 

Houston’s is a complete DISASTER.  Aside from the helmet, these are outrageously bad.  Yikes!

 

Also, these custom number fonts are killing me.  

They sound hideous and look worse.

1 hour ago, Ice_Cap said:

That would be hilarious.

 

My guess is these leagues pay Adidas and UA for the uniforms, rather than Adidas and UA bidding for the supplier rights. The XFL could easily get Adidas, UA, or Nike if they paid them, but my guess is Vince wanted to be wooed, and there were no takers.

As I said a few weeks ago. I think they are still going to concentrate selling Direct To Consumer and at the stadium, as opposed to brick and mortar stores.

1 hour ago, Sodboy13 said:

 

Champion outfitted XFL 1.0. I don't know who owns the brand now - is it still Sara Lee? - but it's possible that was not the best of partnerships. Champion basically disappeared from pro sports after that.

Sara Lee only exists as a brand name. The company split in two in 2011 with the processed meat part bought by Tyson a year later and the  Champion, Hanes, Playtex were spun off into HanesBrands before the initial XFL season.

Barstool wanted to sponsor the Mobile (AL) bowl game, but ESPN, who owns the game, rejected the offer specifically due to no other media companies can be title sponsor.

https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2019/11/26/espn-prevents-barstool-sports-from-bowl-game-sponsorship

Lending Tree is the new sponsor

28 minutes ago, the admiral said:

 

But if you're going to commit to doing live radio as we know it, then you need to have regular callers and make them a big part of the presentation. That interaction has to be part of the draw. If you try to do the Get On A Microphone And Tell The Masses The Way Things Are approach like you're still Chet Coppock in 1989, then you're not offering anything that a whole ton of podcasts aren't doing a hundred times better and with more depth.

Callers are market sensitive. Markets like Dallas and SF rarely take calls and when done, it is one one or two specific shows or even weekly segments. Both The Ticket and KNBR are low on callers, especially the former and for now are still leading the key ad demo.  The Ticket has little listener interaction but for their live appearances. The flip side is Finebaum who just acts like a party line for folks to bash other schools but for an occasional interview.

7 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

I saw Jim Rome on one of the NFL studio shows and couldn't believe it.

 

Rome was a pioneer in hot take culture and seems to have mostly disappeared. He certainly isn't relevant anymore.

Rome leaving iHeart/Premier for CBS Radio (now Entercom) for the money, upwards of $20M/year, took him away from the masses to a large degree.

2 hours ago, CrimsonBull9584 said:

I have a friend who is the Head Equipment Manager for the DC Defenders. I spoke to him yesterday, asking him if he could give me any "hints" about their uniforms. His response; "no idea". 

 

Rather odd that the equipment manager, in November, doesn't know what the uniforms will look like.

Does he actually have equipment to store in a room in DC or has he been told that it will be waiting for him in Houston? 

Hell, is he even in the Beltway now?

On 11/2/2019 at 4:43 PM, monkeypower said:

Per the Barstool blogging discussion, I think their real cash cow now is podcasting and the more visual/audio content, along with merchandise, instead of the blogging.

 

From what I understand, it's also kind of the nature of the beast with making money through internet content. It's more about the sponsors and merch than actual clicks or views.

 

This is probably for another thread, but I wonder if there's going to be a podcasting/Youtube/internet sponsorship bubble burst soon. Someone like Barstool has the history with major companies that sponsor content or put ads on their podcasts, but it seems like every Youtuber or podcaster is sponsored by Audible or whatever VPN is hot in the streets. How much money is there in these ads and how much money do these smaller sponsors have to spend?

It is.  On pace for $22M in ad revenue, according to CEO Nardini,

Quote

Barstool Sports Inc., whose podcasts include “Pardon My Take” and “Spittin’ Chiclets,” refuses any podcast ad formats except live reads. It is on track to generate more than $22 million in podcast ad revenue this year, all from ads read by the hosts, according to a person familiar with the matter. The company has 31 different podcast series with clients that include PepsiCo Inc.’s Mountain Dew brand, Nascar Holdings Inc. and New Amsterdam Spirits Co.

“Podcasting is a great medium because there’s essentially a relationship between a host and a listener—they are in your ears, they are telling you stories and it creates an ongoing relationship,” said Barstool Sports Chief Executive Erika Nardini. “That’s also what makes advertising so effective.”

The programmatic advertising now seeping into podcasting could erode that intimacy, Ms. Nardini said. And pooling ad inventory for auction could sap prices, she added.

Others worry ad tech will encourage publishers to pack podcasts with more commercials, because it’s easier with automation than doing more live reads.

WSJ: Podcast Industry Grapples With the Prospect of Automated Ads

Sports Illustrated to just have 17 issues in 2020: 12 Monthly Issues + 4 specials + The Swimsuit Issue

On 11/8/2019 at 10:00 PM, DG_Now said:

 

Steve Nash doesn't offer all that much either, and no one is really looking to him for soccer opinions anyway.

 

TNT shouldn't have bothered. It was better on Fox. And if CBS can leverage TruTV and TBS the way it does for the NCAA Tournament, it should be better off there. And maybe just find a way to use studio feeds from SkyTV or BBC or whatever; I'm sure they do it a lot better than any collection of third tier American jerks could.

CBSSN will replay featured games in primetime.

The semis and final will likely be on CBS. 

2 hours ago, Digby said:

I never trust World Soccer Talk on MLS but this is the only source I can find thus far. 1.27 million viewers for MLS Cup Final on American TV, big drop from last year. I'm tempted to blame having a Canadian market in the final but the same matchup managed 2 million viewers the first time they did it, so maybe it's fatigue.

 

https://worldsoccertalk.com/2019/11/11/seattle-toronto-mls-cup-final-disappoints-1-27-million-viewers/

It is the real Nielsen fast national.  More details will likely be out on Thursday.

Going into Sunday, ESPN's playoff ratings were up over 35% from last season.

34 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

Good. TNT sucks at it. Though, if this is just a move from B/R app to CBS app, forget it.

Learn Spanish and know your Univision channels on cable or digital.  They rock.

That TNT show is SO awful. Kate Abdo, Stu Holden and Tim Howard are meh.  Howard and Holden is afraid to say something sharp.  Kate just wears her FOX wardrobe since TNT shoots that studio show in LA, not Atlanta.

4 minutes ago, oz615 said:

Well this is interesting!

 

yea...

Paul Maidment, the editorial director of G/O Media, who made the directive to stick to sports, has resigned himself.

Deitsch spoke with Tim Burke, who left Deadspin last year, about last week's events on his podcast yesterday. It was about a 45 minute conversation.

25 minutes ago, DG_Now said:

It's actually kind of interesting Deadspin didn't do podcasting outside of the Deadcast. The Ringer may have reading content, but their bread and butter is absolutely their podcasting network.

 

Deadspin's worth was in its editorial slant and its community. There's money to be made from that; I wonder what a non-invasive, static ad presentation could look like and how much that could support a well-trafficked website.

 

No one likes auto loading audio/video, or ads that load after everything else and change your postition as you're scrolling (and often right as you're about to click something).

 

A static page with static ads and a good community of writers and commenters has to be worth something. Several million per year? Who's to say.

The inability to pivot to digital buried Sports Illustrated, and Deadspin/Gawker/Current Ownership failed to go to podcasting as well.  There was money with Drew podcasting Jamboree or answering Twitter questions on The Takeout or Jalopnik.

Not surprising.

Chernin exploring selling Barstool to gambling company.

EDIT:  It's probably MGM Resorts since they sold Bellagio to Blackstone Group two weeks ago for $4B and will lease back the hotel/casino for $260M/year for 30 years.  The MGM Grand hotel itself is now up for sale this week as MGM Resorts tries to sell all real estate including a percentage of their own REIT (which holds Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Park MGM), reduce their $15B debt, and have some cash ready for a Japan project.

5 minutes ago, slapshot said:

Deadspin was one of my staple sites. Would go there multiple times a day, along with some of its sister sites. If I wanted strictly sports news and box scores, I'd go to ESPN. I enjoyed the side snarky commentary. I'm really disappointed that I won't get to read any of their stuff for a while, and not likely collected in one place in the future.

 

It's very ironic that of all the sites reveling in the downfall, it's another site with "sports" in its name that is basically the exact same thing, but with a very pro-MAGA bent—Barstool. (See also Turtleboy Sports if you live in Massachusetts). Portnoy is a huge misogynist douchebag, and his site caters to that crowd. So it's fine that they co-existed. But out of the crawlspace come all the other MAGAheads supporting Portnoy and laughing at Deadspin's demise. Deadspin really didn't have one face behind the name like Barstool does. And while it was definitely the polar opposite of Barstool, the most visible name that was currently writing on it was likely Drew Magary. But, like many of the other writers, Drew also posted on other sites. He wasn't strictly Deadspin. Unlike Portnoy, who is 100% Barstool.

I, like you, looked at Deadspin multiple times per day,  It lured me to Gizmodo, Jalopnik, The Root and even The Takeout. I go to Jalopnik most overall I stopped going to Gizmodo  as they stopped making serious reviews circa 2014, then Deadspin post-Gawker saw me visit less daily, then The Takeout recently had writers leave, like Kevin Pang, and The Root only looks to have folks leave since us as Black folks cannot be seen as the first to leave, yet not wanting to be seem working for "The Man".

When it was good, it was great, but I'll never say that for Barstool, since every four months, they have editor issues with the same dude.  Barstool is more an audio business with Sirius/XM and podcasting than it is blogging, those page hits don't count nearly as much in 2019.  If Sirius/XM dropped them, Portnoy would instantly panic to cover his gambling debt and his horse stable costs, and NJTank and his food reviews would not save him.