Sports
|
|
Essential sports industry news & intel to start your day.
|
March 9, 2023
|
|
|
|
|
Can Pickleball Make It on TV?
Pickleball is the fastest-growing sport in America, but there are questions about its future as a viable media and TV property. A new Morning Consult survey found that only about 1 in 4 U.S. adults and 1 in 3 sports fans said they have interest in watching the burgeoning sport. Can pickleball stakeholders and media executives translate those rapidly growing participation levels to TV viewership? Read more in my latest feature: The Pickleball Craze Is Real, but Its TV Potential Is a Different Story.
|
| |
|
Today’s Top News
-
Syracuse announced Jim Boeheim retired as the men’s basketball coach, a position he has held since 1976, and will be replaced by former Syracuse player and current associate coach Adrian Autry. The country’s longest-tenured men’s basketball coach, Boeheim, whose Orange failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year after finishing with a 17-15 record, compiled a 1,015-440 career record, five Final Four appearances and one national championship in 2003. (Sports Illustrated)
-
Texas Tech men’s basketball coach Mark Adams resigned following the Red Raiders’ exit from the Big 12 Tournament after the 66-year-old made racially insensitive remarks in a meeting with a player where he “referenced Bible verses about workers, teachers, parents, and slaves serving their masters.” In a statement, Adams, a Texas Tech alum who signed a five-year, $15.5 million contract extension less than a year ago, said he had stepped down because the incident became a “distraction.” (The Associated Press)
- CBS Sports will debut a 24-hour free soccer streaming network on April 11 called CBS Sports Golazo Network, which will include analysis, highlights and game broadcasts, via Paramount+, Pluto TV, the CBS Sports app and CBSSports.com. A two-hour morning program called “Morning Footy” will air weekdays starting at 7 a.m. EST and will feature soccer broadcasters such as host Susannah Collins and former U.S. men’s national team player Charlie Davies. (Variety)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| A MESSAGE FROM MORNING CONSULT |
|
|
|
What Else You Need to Know
|
|
| |
Sources: Jimmy Pitaro Could Succeed Bob Iger At Disney
Michael McCarthy, Front Office Sports
The Walt Disney Co.’s real-life Game of Thrones is taking another twist with ESPN’s Jimmy Pitaro emerging as a possible successor to Bob Iger. The ESPN chairman is on the small list of executives to possibly succeed Disney’s chief executive officer, sources told Front Office Sports.
As Women’s Sports Grows, Broadcaster Taps Into Momentum
Michael McCarthy, Front Office Sports
Women’s college basketball is generating strong TV ratings this season. Just in time for the tipoff of the 2023 NCAA women’s tournament, CBS Sports and ESPN veteran Bonnie Bernstein is poised to launch a new podcast focusing on the key role that sports have played in the lives of high-achieving businesswomen.
CBS Sports, WBD On Pace For Record March Madness Ad Sales
Anthony Crupi, Sportico
Marketing execs who want to get in on the frenzy of March Madness may want to give John Bogusz or Jon Diament a holler within the next 48 hours or so, as only a handful of ad units remains up for grabs in the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.
NWSL strikes media rights deal with TSN in Canada
Joe Lucia, Awful Announcing
On Wednesday, the NWSL announced a media rights deal in Canada with TSN. Per the release, NWSL matches will air this season in English on TSN and TSN+. The full schedule will be announced next week.
Michael Irvin likens allegation at Super Bowl hotel to a lynching
Cindy Boren, The Washington Post
Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Irvin said he was sickened at being accused of misconduct by a female hotel worker in Phoenix during Super Bowl week and likened it to a lynching.
|
|
|
| |
Behind the Scenes of Kia’s Super Bowl Ad ‘Binky Dad’
Olivia Morley, Adweek
The brief was simple: Make an ad that’s as relatable as possible to be seen by 100 million people. That was the goal Kia America vp of marketing Russell Wager set for his agency David&Goliath for the brand’s 14th Super Bowl commercial.
|
|
|
| |
Grizzlies’ Ja Morant to Miss Four Additional Games
Madison Williams, Sports Illustrated
The Grizzlies said on Wednesday that Ja Morant will remain away from the team for at least four more games. This means the earliest the two-time All-Star will return to the team is on March 17 against the Spurs.
Suns’ Kevin Durant out after injuring ankle in pregame slip
David Brandt, The Associated Press
Kevin Durant’s home debut with the Phoenix Suns will have to wait a little longer. The 13-time All-Star slipped on the floor during pregame warmups and was ruled out Wednesday night against the Oklahoma City Thunder because of left ankle soreness.
NBA to use Hawk-Eye tracking system to follow players, ball
Kirk Goldsberry, ESPN
The NBA and Sony Sports on Thursday announced a multiyear partnership with Hawk-Eye Innovations that will change how the league tracks its in-game action. Hawk-Eye’s optical tracking technology is designed to capture player and ball movement in real time in three dimensions.
Former NBA star Shawn Kemp arrested in connection with a drive-by shooting incident
Amy Simonson, CNN
Former NBA star Shawn Kemp was arrested and booked in connection with a drive-by shooting incident Wednesday, according to a sheriff’s office spokesperson in Washington state’s Pierce County and online jail records.
|
|
|
| |
Shohei Ohtani and Japan: It’s much more than just baseball
Stephen Wade, The Associated Press
He’s the culmination — so far, at least — of an evolution in Japanese baseball that began when the game was introduced to the country in 1872 by an American professor. And his fame has now surpassed that of players like Ichiro Suzuki and Hideo Nomo, who came before him.
Aaron Judge’s free agency: How a small inner circle and a 3 a.m. phone call kept him a Yankee
Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic
A dozen people close to the negotiations detailed the final, frantic hours leading to Judge’s $360 million contract with the Yankees.
Yankees won’t have jersey patch for Opening Day — but it’s coming
Andrew Marchand, New York Post
For the first time in Major League Baseball history, teams will have advertising patches on their regular-season uniforms this year. The Yankees, however, will not wear such a patch on Opening Day, The Post has learned.
Yankee Tickets Sales Jump To $345 Million In 2022, Up Sharply On Year
Brendan Coffey, Sportico
The team sold $344.7 million in tickets and suite licenses for 2022, including $100 million collected in 2021 for the 2022 season, as well as $61 million sold in the fourth quarter of last year that almost certainly are deposits for the upcoming baseball season.
And the Oscar Goes to…The Guy Who Inspired Big League Chew?
Lindsey Adler and Ben Cohen, The Wall Street Journal
Todd Field is the Oscar-nominated director of ‘Tár.’ Major League Baseball players are more familiar with his shredded bubble gum.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Fashion Entrepreneur Adam Freede Invests In LAFC Following Buyouts
Eben Novy-Williams, Sportico
MadaLuxe Group CEO Adam Freede has purchased a minority stake in LAFC, the latest local entrepreneur to buy into Major League Soccer’s most valuable club. Freede is purchasing from a pool of equity created last year when LAFC bought out at least a half dozen minority partners.
Most players prefer World Cup in European summer, union says
Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press
Most of the players from last year’s World Cup do not want the soccer tournament to be held again in November and December, global union FIFPRO said Thursday.
No surprise, no lessons learned as PSG exit Champions League early again
Julien Pretot, Reuters
Paris St Germain were knocked out in the Champions League last 16 for the fifth time in 12 seasons under big-spending owners Qatar Sport Investment (QSI) and it came as no surprise given the lack of a club culture at the French capital club.
UEFA’s Player Quotas Favor Big Clubs, EU Court Aide Warns
Stephanie Bodoni, Bloomberg
Football rules aimed at encouraging locally trained young talent may be unfairly allowing top clubs to snap up the best talent in their region, an adviser to the European Union’s top court warned.
|
|
|
| |
Tiger Woods’ girlfriend asks judge to resolve dispute over NDA
Mark Schlabach, ESPN
Tiger Woods’ longtime girlfriend is asking a judge to remove her from a nondisclosure agreement that she claims the 15-time major champion forced her to sign when their relationship started in August 2017, according to court records obtained by ESPN.
|
|
|
| |
WWE in talks with state gambling regulators to legalize betting on scripted match results
Alex Sherman, CNBC
WWE is in talks with state gambling regulators in Colorado and Michigan to legalize betting on high-profile matches, according to people familiar with the matter. WWE is working with the accounting firm EY to secure scripted match results in hopes it will convince regulators there’s no chance of results leaking to the public, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private.
Adidas Could Sell Yeezy Gear and Donate Profits After Ye’s Anti-Semitic Tweets
Tim Loh, Bloomberg
Adidas AG’s new Chief Executive Officer Bjorn Gulden is mulling the idea of selling Yeezy products and donating the profit to charity, as he tries to offset some of the huge financial hit from the collapse of the alliance with rapper Ye.
|
|
|
| |
|
Opinions, Perspectives and Research
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
