SBJ Media: What's next for WBD Sports?

In this week’s Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast sponsored by WSC Sports: Andrew Marchand and John Ourand review the broadcast booths for CBS’s production of the AFC Championship game and Fox’s NFC Championship telecast. The two hosts also talk about what Diamond Sports Group’s pending bankruptcy means for professional sports teams and what YES Network’s expected streaming service will look like for the upcoming Yankees seasons. Marchand and Ourand also dive into media rights negotiations for both the Pac-12 and NASCAR.

"It’s time that the NFL embraced it and made it more productive for the fans, let the players and teams and administrators and coaches benefit from it. They’ve got to embrace it all the way through and make it a part of the NFL. You should be able to bet on anything you want relative to a Super Bowl game" -- NFL player agent Drew Rosenhaus, on the Super Bowl being played in Arizona, a state that has legalized sports gambling ("Squawk on the Street," CNBC, 1/30).

The clock has started ticking on NASCAR’s new media rights deal, as the racing circuit started talks to renew its deals with Fox and NBC. The two incumbent broadcasters are at the start of an exclusive negotiating window that runs through April, according to several sources. The most optimistic timeline has NASCAR completing its deals by the fall.

It’s the sound of hearts breaking across Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania… and let’s be honest, everywhere else in the country, too. Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts made a very rare public appearance with his girlfriend Bryonna “Bry” Burrows after the NFC Championship game this past Sunday, which is a surprise to many fans, as he is extremely private about his life outside of football.

Congrats to Tom Brady on a legendary 23-year career in the NFL. His retirement, announced this morning on social media, feels final this time. This lifelong Buccaneers fan is looking forward to hearing the G.O.A.T. call games on Fox when he's ready to enter the booth. Today, payment software company...

The latest player featured in our Athlete's Voice series is Aliyah Boston, the star forward at South Carolina who was named last year's NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player after becoming the first male or female basketball player to win the Naismith Trophy as overall player of the year as well as Naismith Defensive Player of the Year.

Superstar Racing Experience is adding several more big-name drivers to its roster for the 2023 season including for the first time 2012 NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski. SRX will announce later today that Keselowski will compete in all six races this summer on ESPN, as will current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Hailie Deegan plus former NASCAR drivers Ryan Newman and Bobby Labonte. They join previously announced drivers like Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch who are going to race in the series for the first time this season, when the three-year-old SRX will switch from competing on Saturdays on CBS to now doing so on Thursdays. Series CEO Don Hawk said the announcements show that the switch to Thursdays is paying dividends -- since drivers who compete in their main series do so on the weekend so Saturdays had a greater chance to conflict.

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf has opened up about his tumultuous journey countless times over the years, but there’s still catharsis when he revisits some of the darker periods in his life. “It’s therapeutic to get this stuff off your chest and present it to the world,” said Abdul-Rauf, the former NBA...

The breakthrough moment for Wit Sports came in the spring of 2021 as fans had begun trickling back into venues for indoor sporting events, but most states had imposed capacity limits due to Covid-19. Amid these pandemic times came the loss of the t-shirt launch, a custom ritual typically commanded...

NHL viewership on ESPN and TNT has dropped 22% heading into the All-Star break. The main reason for such a big drop is that both cable nets have doubled the number of games that they have carried compared to last season, from 27 to 54. Bigger schedules of games typically hurt average viewership. However, ESPN, TNT and the league cannot be happy with audience numbers so far this season, which is the second one of the blockbuster media deal signed in 2021. Games have averaged 373,000 viewers on ESPN and TNT so far, down from an average of 478,000 viewers at the same point last season. That does not include the Blues-Blackhawks Black Friday game on ABC in 2021; if that number was included, the league average would have been 505,000 viewers last season.

Charlotte FC’s MLS Next Pro team will be known as Crown Legacy FC when it begins play for the first time this season. The team will be one of seven new MLS club-affiliated teams joining the developmental league for its second season, bringing the field to 28 teams (27 club-affiliated and one independent). Crown Legacy FC will play its home matches at a 5,000-seat stadium within the Mecklenburg County Sportsplex in Matthews, N.C.

Globant is aggregating its bevy of immersive services to create a Sports Reinvention Studio that will help teams and leagues accentuate their fan experience efforts. Buoyed by its recent successful integrations with FIFA+, the Clippers and LaLiga, Globant is packaging its offerings under one umbrella. SBJ's Tom Friend has more details on the studio's focus.

Buccaneers QB Tom Brady announced his retirement today in an online video, but all indications are that Fox "will not put him in the booth" for Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, according to Andrew Marchand of the N.Y. POST. Brady has a deal with Fox to join its top NFL broadcast team now that he is done playing, but it would be "unwise" for the net to "try a three-man setup for the first time with 100 million people watching." If Brady were to be "unsteady," he would "immediately create more questions as to why Fox is replacing" Greg Olsen with him. However, it seems "entirely possible" that Brady could be part of Fox's pregame coverage, something that would be a "wise move for both." The current situation between Brady and Fox is "intriguing," and Olsen continuing his strong postseason run into the Super Bowl could see the intrigue "only grow stronger." When Brady arrives, Olsen will be "slotted down to the No. 2 spot on Fox’s depth chart," but he "has his future in his hands." According to sources, his contract "allows him to leave if there is a No. 1 job around" at another network (N.Y. POST, 2/1).

The Premier League has signed a new four-year deal with fantasy sports NFT platform Sorare and has acquired an equity stake in the Paris-based company, which was previously valued at $4.3 billion in 2021. Fans will be able to buy, sell, and trade digital cards of players from all 20 Premier League clubs and use their collectibles to build lineups for free-to-play fantasy soccer contests on Sorare.

Dinner roll brand King’s Hawaiian is extending its trial sponsorship with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing into a full-season, multiyear deal, following an initial foray into the NASCAR Cup Series in the middle of the 2022 season. The renewal will be announced tomorrow with terms unreleased, aside from noting that the CPG company will continue to serve as a primary partner for the team’s No. 6 Ford driven by Brad Keselowski for multiple races this year, starting with this weekend’s Busch Light Clash at the L.A. Coliseum. The third-generation family-owned brand first trialed the team side of the sport last May when it came on for a couple of races with RFK. It also has sold its products and activated its brand at NASCAR tracks.

Starry, PepsiCo's new lemon lime flavored soda, is the new official soft drink of the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League in North America, as well as the title partner of the 2023 NBA All-Star Weekend’s 3-Point Contest. The new Starry 3-Point Contest will take place during State Farm NBA All-Star Saturday Night, as well as WNBA All-Star 2023, and will introduce the new "STARRY Range" -- the “ultimate test of range” where participants will shoot two custom Wilson Starry basketballs worth 3 points from 6 feet out behind the deepest part of the current 3-point line. Starry Senior Dir of Brand Marketing Michael Smith said the new soda will “bring a fresh perspective to the NBA, WNBA and NBA G League and help elevate the game's most exciting moments."

You can’t have a discussion about sports technology today without including athletes in that conversation. Their partnerships, investments and endorsements help fuel the space – they have emerged as major stakeholders in the sports tech ecosystem. The Athlete's Voice series highlights the athletes leading the way and the projects and products they’re putting their influence behind.

Golfer Max Homa further discussed his decision to be mic'd up by CBS during the third round of the PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open last Friday, noting the "idea was to bring fans in to learn." Homa, appearing on the "No Laying Up" podcast, said the CBS announcers, specifically Trevor Immelman, "did a great job. He asked me about what the hole was. It wasn't about how it is being a dad, how it is being in contention, it’s about golf. This hole. That’s what we wanted it to be." More from Homa:

Wit Sports is planning to host an arcade-style game with the NFL in the lead up to Super Bowl LVII, the latest effort from the digital activation platform that has worked with more than 50 teams across the NFL, NBA, MLS, NHL and NCAA since catching fire with some creative fan engagement in the early post-pandemic days.

The Premier League has signed a new four-year deal with fantasy sports NFT platform Sorare and has acquired an equity stake in the Paris-based company, which was previously valued at $4.3B in 2021. Fans will be able to buy, sell, and trade digital cards of players from all 20 Premier League clubs and use their collectibles to build lineups for free-to-play fantasy soccer contests on platform. Sorare has more than 3 million active users, with about 15-20% of those users based in the U.S. after the company partnered with the NBA and MLB last year. Most of Sorare’s fantasy NFT offerings cover soccer given its existing deals with about 30 leagues including MLS, LaLiga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, the Dutch Eredivisie and the J League. The Premier League joins the NBA and MLB as leagues to have equity in Sorare, whose investors include SoftBank and LionTree as well as Serena Williams, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé.