The Sports Media Thread

[DG_ThenNowForever]

19 minutes ago, Germanshepherd said:

well the Athletic just shot themselves in the foot big time

 

Why do you say that?

[Germanshepherd]

7 hours ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Why do you say that?

Social media reaction overwhelmingly negative, the content the crowd at the Athletic wants is more off the beaten path of traditional stick-to-sports journalism. I personally liked the freedom it awarded its writers both on and off the platform, it helped it feel like it’s own thing in sports journalism that wasn’t afraid of sticking out and showing personality. 
 

Now I feel the NYT wants to strip them of that freedom and run them into a traditional online newspaper which is not at all where the company works best. Wouldn’t surprise me if some of their better writers leave because of this either. 

[The_Admiral]

The Athletic was just one day away from finally taking down Dave Portnoy, and then this happens.

[The_Admiral]

Quote

Many Athletic staffers, especially those hired before The Athletic cofounders became desperate to find a buyer and cash out investors, joined the relatively young start-up partly because they were sold on the company’s ideas about reporters’ autonomy. The Athletic, they were made to understand, was a place where staffers and potential staffers could be journalists and fully fledged members of society, not the smug lobotomy patients so often valorized by fuddy-duddy newspaper oligarchs. Its promise as a workplace where reporters would have the freedom to express themselves, fully and civilly, without worrying if they were running afoul of some onerous and unevenly enforced social media policy was what one staffer called a “major selling point” in the company’s sales pitch. After all, isn’t it the rigor of reporting and clarity of thought that matters?

 

This isn't the way I remember it going down. What I remember is that reporters bailed on traditional newspapers because the owners of the Athletic were offering them a ridiculous amount of money in a business model as flawed and as unsustainable as Uber. "Why I've just signed with the Athletic" was how people at Deadspin poked fun at the writers who abandoned legacy media for shady Silicon Valley VC money. I don't remember a lot of celebrations of journalistic integrity there.

 

This seems to have come out of nowhere, so I'm guessing one of two things happened:

 

1) Someone wrote a draft of The Piece That's Gonna Get Dave Portnoy and an editor cut the whole thing off at the pass,

 

2) More likely than even Dave Portnoy Derangement Syndrome, which is really saying something in this industry, the NYT saw what just happened at the WaPo: a rich white woman who went to Harvard had a full-scale psychotic break on the internet because her coworker retweeted a dumb joke, got fired for making a scene, and sued the paper. Someone in management felt he to had to be the adult in the room and crack down on all Twitter shenanigans across the whole company, all the way down to @dril retweets from the nominal beat reporter for the San Antonio Spurs. I don't like that part, because I don't think people should get in trouble for screwing around on the internet.

[Digby]

Uh, has anyone been aware that Sports Illustrated (or whomever owns that brand these days) is planning to get into the hotel/resort business? 

 

https://siresorts.com/#locations 

 

  

[Marcos Flamengo]

It sounds very strange to me that Rogers hasn't launched a French-language version of Sportsnet, because of the first sublicensing French-language NHL rights to Quebecor's TVA. What would be the name for Sportsnet's French-language counterpart if Rogers hadn't sublicensed French-language NHL rights to Quebecor, who owns TVA Sports and Vidéotron?

[Sport]

On 6/22/2022 at 11:26 AM, Digby said:

Uh, has anyone been aware that Sports Illustrated (or whomever owns that brand these days) is planning to get into the hotel/resort business? 

 

https://siresorts.com/#locations 

 

  

 

Who's asking for this? Maven wants to do everything with the SI brand except cover sports well. I don't get it.

[JayMac]

This looks like something that should have been built in the 90s, when people still cared about SI.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I used to think an SI subscription was so sophisticated. Losing magazines from our lives (and bathrooms) is a bummer.

[Digby]

1 hour ago, JayMac said:

This looks like something that should have been built in the 90s, when people still cared about SI.

 

We sort of had that in the 90s, or was it the early 2000s, with the ESPN Zone restaurants as the sports entry to that era of gaudy, crappy mega-restaurants with a theme, post-Hard Rock Cafe. I assume those are all closed by now. The only one I went to sucked. Though come to think of it, they were awkwardly sportsbooks without the betting, so maybe now they'll come back WITH the betting since I guess that's okay now.

[The_Admiral]

On 6/23/2022 at 12:34 PM, Marcos Flamengo said:

It sounds very strange to me that Rogers hasn't launched a French-language version of Sportsnet, because of the first sublicensing French-language NHL rights to Quebecor's TVA. What would be the name for Sportsnet's French-language counterpart if Rogers hadn't sublicensed French-language NHL rights to Quebecor, who owns TVA Sports and Vidéotron?

 

This wouldn't happen. Anglophone and francophone media companies mostly stay out of each other's business. 

[Marcos Flamengo]

On 6/25/2022 at 12:31 AM, the admiral said:

 

This wouldn't happen. Anglophone and francophone media companies mostly stay out of each other's business. 

Except for Bell Media, who together, owns TSN and RDS. In my humble opinion, if Bell Media acquires anglophone and francophone media rights to the NHL, they would take over rights to Hockey Night in Canada and change its logo and graphics, being no longer associated with the CBC, and CTV would take over Saturday night games from CBC. Honestly, I think Bell Media, CBC/Rogers, Colin Oberst and the Estate of Dolores Claman could sit at the table and exchange Hockey Night in Canada and TSN Hockey theme songs, with Bell Media handling rights to Canadian Gold and CBC/Rogers handling rights to The Hockey Theme. This one is a hypothetical scenario. However, if CBC/Rogers retains national rights to the NHL, I honestly think that they would sublicense the rights to Quebecor or another company, and when I talk another company, I refer to Canal+, who is already available in Canada through Canal+ International. By the way, Canal+ already holds French broadcast rights to the NHL. I would also be very surprised if Corus (Global) took away the national NHL broadcast rights in Canada from Rogers. However, unfortunately, Corus sell off its francophone businesses a decade ago, so if Corus acquires national NHL rights, they would sublicense francophone NHL rights to Quebecor.

[RyanMcD29]

As expected, Formula 1 rights are going to get a huge jump in money, as ESPN's going to renew for the next 3 years at about $75-$90M a year. A couple of ESPN+ exclusive races in there, but hopefully they stick to what works which is A) using the Sky Sports telecast and B ) keeping it commercial free

[DG_ThenNowForever]

16 minutes ago, RyanMcD29 said:

As expected, Formula 1 rights are going to get a huge jump in money, as ESPN's going to renew for the next 3 years at about $75-$90M a year. A couple of ESPN+ exclusive races in there, but hopefully they stick to what works which is A) using the Sky Sports telecast and B ) keeping it commercial free

 

Apple just paid more than two and a half times that for MLS. I feel like I'd be way more bullish about Formula 1's future in the US. In 3 years, that $75-90M might feel like a huge bargain.

[Marcos Flamengo]

1 hour ago, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

Apple just paid more than two and a half times that for MLS. I feel like I'd be way more bullish about Formula 1's future in the US. In 3 years, that $75-90M might feel like a huge bargain.

If Apple TV+ takes over Formula 1 rights in the U.S. and other territories in a near future, it will be a major blowup for many current F1 broadcasters

[TrueYankee26]

Fox bringing back the USFL another year! This could be it for the Spring football curse, barring another disease creating another global pandemic or COVID getting strong again.

 

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2022/06/27/fox-wil-bring-usfl-back-for-a-second-season/

[Marcos Flamengo]

With Apple TV+ taking over MLS games, ending regional MLS broadcasts, I think that most of the current regional MLS TV broadcasters will move to radio broadcasters

[Digby]

5 hours ago, Marcos Flamengo said:

With Apple TV+ taking over MLS games, ending regional MLS broadcasts, I think that most of the current regional MLS TV broadcasters will move to radio broadcasters

The Revs have just simulcasted the TV broadcast (which they still produce in-house) to their radio affiliate anyhow, so not much will change in my market. One of the reasons this deal will work is the league, in general, has a lot less infrastructure around broadcasting like that. So it’s easier to just toss it out back and start over at a leaguewide level.

[Marcos Flamengo]

On 6/28/2022 at 1:11 AM, Digby said:

The Revs have just simulcasted the TV broadcast (which they still produce in-house) to their radio affiliate anyhow, so not much will change in my market. One of the reasons this deal will work is the league, in general, has a lot less infrastructure around broadcasting like that. So it’s easier to just toss it out back and start over at a leaguewide level.

So, ESPN may renew their current agreement with the MLS?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

 

 

I said a couple of years ago I'd love to be able to pay $5 per game to watch the Buffalo Bills without having to commit to the entire league. I think we're getting close to that reality (though I think the number per game will likely be closer to $10 because the NFL knows it can get it).

 

But putting the NFL on PPV is a weird reality I wasn't really prepared for. And crazy they'll still get $$$$ in OTA contracts as well.