Week in Review

Super Bowl

  • The New England Patriots claimed their sixth Super Bowl title in franchise history with a 13-3 victory over the Los Angeles Rams as wide receiver Julian Edelman grabbed Most Valuable Player honors. The game saw a number of historic league records fall: The contest was the lowest scoring in Super Bowl history; quarterback Tom Brady became the first player to win six rings, and at 66, head coach Bill Belichick became the oldest to win a championship.
  • Both in-game advertising sales and television ratings declined for Super Bowl LIII compared to last year, with Kantar Media estimates for the former totaling $382 million, a dip of more than six percent from NBC’s $408 million in 2018. With 98.2 million viewers on CBS — which showed 32 network promotional spots and 91 in all — the game was the least viewed since 2008.
  • The Super Bowl saw almost $185.5 million legally wagered across Nevada, New Jersey and Mississippi. One senior gambling official in Nevada characterized it as “a solid day” despite the state’s 200 sportsbooks taking in $12.65 million less than in 2018; the CEO of William Hill US — which operates sportsbooks at two casinos and a racetrack in New Jersey — called Sunday the company’s “biggest day ever” in the state in terms of money wagered.

Betting

  • Turner Broadcasting and Caesars Entertainment Corp. announced they’re putting a broadcast studio inside the sportsbook at Caesars Palace casino and hotel in Las Vegas, a first-of-its-kind relationship between a major sports broadcaster and casino operator that hopes to take advantage of the growing sports-betting industry. In addition to housing the studio — which will carry the Bleacher Report brand and could produce segments that air during Turner’s coverage of the NBA, NCAA men’s basketball tournament and MLB — Caesars will serve as the presenting sponsor of all gambling programming across Turner Sports.

TV & Streaming

  • Sources said Minnesota Twins owner Jim Pohlad is joining Platinum Equity LLC and Liberty Media Corp.’s bidder group for 21 of the 22 regional sports networks being sold by the Walt Disney Co. as part of a regulatory requirement following its purchase of 21st Century Fox Inc.’s entertainment assets. Disney, which prefers to sell the 21 networks as a bundle, are also in talks to sell the New York metro area-based YES Network, its most valuable network, to the New York Yankees.
  • Four-time major champion Rory McIlroy and NBC Sports’ Golf Channel is launching a direct-to-consumer subscription called GolfPass, which is designed to provide consumers over 4,000 hours of instructional videos, one round of golf per month from a catalogue of 7,000 global courses and additional discounts at resorts and golf clubs. A Golf Channel executive likened the subscription service, which will cost $9.99 a month or $99 annually and won’t include any live broadcasts, as a parallel to Amazon Prime.
  • Sources said tennis analyst Doug Adler will return to ESPN’s payroll and could return to the network’s coverage team after the two parties reached an out-of-court settlement regarding Adler’s termination for an on-air remark made two years ago during an Australian Open match featuring Venus Williams. ESPN fired Adler after his reference to Williams’ guerilla-style tactics in poaching the net were misconstrued online as comparing her to a gorilla.

NBA

  • The NBA and AT&T announced a multi-year relationship that sees the telecommunications company displace long-running category partner Verizon to become the league’s official wireless sponsor, beginning at the NBA All-Star weekend in Charlotte, N.C., this month. AT&T’s sponsorship, which also includes the carrier being featured across the WNBA, G League, NBA 2K League and USA Basketball, will aim to innovate new NBA experiences with augmented and virtual reality as well as market its products, such as 5G, when it becomes available.
  • The New York Knicks are the NBA’s most valuable team at an estimated $4 billion, an increase of 11 percent from 2018, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls and the Boston Celtics. The average NBA team is now worth $1.9 billion, up 13 percent over last year and three times the level of five years ago.

MLB

  • MLB said it found no credible evidence to support former Seattle Mariners Director of High Performance Lorena Martin’s claims that she was the victim of disparaging comments and discriminatory treatment by members of the Seattle Mariners front office. Martin, who filed a wrongful termination lawsuit after she was fired at the end of the 2018 season following one year with the franchise, responded to the league’s statement by saying she was “disappointed but not surprised at the outcome.”
  • With spring training set to begin this upcoming week, sources said MLB and its players association are discussing potentially drastic changes to the on-field game and economic landscape as part of negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, including dueling proposals around a 20-second pitch clock, a universal designated hitter and arguably the most controversial: a three-batter minimum for pitchers. The minimum, which sources say was proposed by MLB and highlights the league’s focus on time and pace of play, could eliminate the viability of the one-out left-handed reliever, a modern bullpen innovation.

Olympics

  • The United States Olympic Committee said it will double its annual funding to $6.2 million for the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an independent nonprofit that investigates sexual abuse complaints raised by Olympic athletes. The announcement comes two weeks after Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) sent a letter to the USOC asking it how it would support athletes affected by the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal and also prevent future abuse.

College Sports

  • Seven months after Jordan McNair’s death while a member of the Maryland football program, some lawmakers in the state are pushing legislation that would give its college athletes the right to unionize and collectively bargain over issues related to health, safety and compensation. The legislation would upend the college athletics model across the state and likely faces long odds of passage, but it could re-energize the debate about college sports governance and the rights of its athletes.

What’s Ahead

  • The Alliance of American Football continues play in the first weekend of its inaugural season later today, .
  • NBA All-Star Weekend begins Friday.
  • The first spring training game will be on Feb. 21 between the Seattle Mariners and Oakland Athletics in Mesa, Ariz.
  • The 2019 NFL Scouting Combine at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis will be held Feb. 26 to March 4.
  • NFL free agency begins on March 13 at 4 p.m. ET.

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

02/10/2019
IAB Annual Leadership Meeting 7:00 am
Yale Soccer Conference 8:10 am
National Sports Forum 9:00 am
02/11/2019
IAB Annual Leadership Meeting 7:00 am
National Sports Forum 8:30 am
02/12/2019
IAB Annual Leadership Meeting 7:30 am
National Sports Forum 9:00 am
02/13/2019
The Athletic’s Two-Year Emergence 7:00 pm
View full calendar

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