Morning Consult Sports: Week in Review & What's Ahead

By Alex Silverman

Week in Review

Media

Minute Media acquired The Players’ Tribune, the digital media venture launched by former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter in 2014 that has offered first-person stories from prominent sports figures. The site has struggled in recent years to build a consistent audience amid competition from a range of digital sports publishers.

NBC News reported The Athletic co-founders Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann tried to acquire the licensing rights to the Sports Illustrated media business last month once it became clear that the legacy publication’s incoming operators, TheMaven Inc., planned to cut full-time staff in favor of freelancers to drive traffic, sources familiar with the Athletic’s offer said. Sources said Mather and Hansmann got in touch with bankers handling Maven’s deal with Authentic Brands Group LLC around the time of the planned layoffs, offering to pay $50 million for the licensing rights — 11 percent more than Maven — only to be declined by ABG.

Altitude Sports and Entertainment, the Colorado-based regional sports network owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, filed a lawsuit accusing cable provider Comcast Corp. of violating state and federal antitrust laws in its handling of carriage negotiations with the network, which carries the Kroenke-owned Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets. The network, which remains dark on both Comcast and Dish Network Corp. after recently reaching a deal with AT&T Inc. to restore distribution, said Comcast’s proposals “make no economic sense unless Comcast’s aim is to use its monopsony power to eliminate Altitude so that Comcast will control sports programming.”

Football

The NFL upheld its indefinite suspension of Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett for his helmet-swinging attack on Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph. The league banned Garrett “at a minimum for the remainder of the regular season and postseason,” which with six regular-season games remaining represented the longest suspension in NFL history for a single on-field incident, though the league banned Oakland Raiders linebacker Vontaze Burfict for 12 regular-season games, plus playoffs, earlier this season for “repeated violations” of unnecessary roughness rules after a helmet-to-helmet hit.

President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign agreed on the broad terms for buying an ad to run during Super Bowl LIV in February, according to multiple sources, which Fox Corp. has sold for as much as a record $5.6 million per 30-second spot. The campaign has prioritized advertising on live sports programming, already buying ad time during Game 7 of the World Series and two NFL games, all on Fox.

Baseball

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he has the latitude under league bylaws to levy unprecedented punishment against the Houston Astros — beyond the forfeiture of draft picks and fines — if the findings of the league’s investigation into the team’s alleged practice of electronic sign-stealing warrants such action. MLB planned to complete the probe ahead of the league’s winter meetings, which begin Dec. 8 in San Diego.

MLB owners unanimously approved the sale of the Kansas City Royals by David Glass to an ownership group led by former Cleveland Indians minority owner John Sherman for $1 billion, a deal first made public in August. Sherman, who will be formally introduced at a news conference Tuesday once the financial transaction becomes official, agreed to divest his interest in the Indians in order to take a controlling interest in the Royals.

MLB faced political pressure to nix a proposal that would eliminate 42 minor league affiliations, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) slamming the plan on the presidential campaign trail a day after 100 members of Congress penned a letter to the league urging it to reconsider. MLB deputy commissioner Dan Halem provided the litigators with a four-page response, insisting that the league is focused on improving facilities, travel and living conditions for minor league players.

Olympics

NBC Sports named Golf Channel executive producer Molly Solomon to the same position for its Olympics broadcast, filling the void left by the departure of 29-year company veteran Jim Bell in one of the most prominent production jobs at Comcast Corp.-owned NBCUniversal. The move made Solomon the highest-ranking woman in sports television production and came just eight months before the start of the 2020 Tokyo Games, during which NBC has projected it will sell $1.2 billion worth of advertising.

Basketball

Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie said he plans to proceed with his proposal to launch a digital token backed by his $34.4 million contract despite outside counsel for the NBA informing him that the league cannot allow him to do so. The NBA met with Dinwiddie twice prior to the start of the season to find a resolution, but the two sides are at a stalemate, with the league saying that the issuance of debt securities based on his on-court earnings violates its collective bargaining agreement with the National Basketball Players Association, and Dinwiddie characterizing the league’s position as baseless.

Racing

Seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson announced that the 2020 season will be his last as a full-time driver, a decision that sets the stage for significant change at his longtime team, Hendrick Motorsports, at the end of next season. Financial services company Ally, which last month announced a three-year extension as the primary sponsor of Johnson’s No. 48 Chevrolet, confirmed that it would continue its relationship with Hendricks after Johnson’s departure.

Soccer

The 2020 MLS All-Star Game is headed to Los Angeles’ Banc of California Stadium, where the league’s top talent will take on the best of Mexico’s Liga MX for the first time, rather than a European club team as in years past. The exhibition is the latest in a series of joint initiatives between the two North American soccer leagues that has included the establishment of the annual Campeones Cup match in 2018 and the more expansive Leagues Cup tournament earlier this year.

College sports

The NCAA handed down a 12-game suspension to University of Memphis center James Wiseman — nine games for his family’s acceptance of improper benefits and an additional three games for the games he played at the start of the season despite the NCAA informing Memphis that Wiseman was “likely ineligible.” The school said it would appeal the ruling, which came a week after Wiseman withdrew his lawsuit challenging the NCAA on his eligibility.

Combat sports

Former world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather said in two Instagram posts that he is coming out of retirement in 2020 and will be working with UFC president Dana White to “bring the world another spectacular event.” Big paydays have drawn the undefeated boxing legend out of retirement several times before, including in 2017 to fight MMA star Conor McGregor.

What’s Ahead

The CFL Grey Cup will be played today between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.

MLB’s Winter Meetings will be held in San Diego from Dec. 9-12.

The 2019 FIFA Club World Cup takes place in Qatar from Dec. 11-21.

The NFL league meeting will be held Dec. 10-11 in Las Colinas, Texas.

The NBA Mexico City Games tip off in December, with the Dallas Mavericks and Detroit Pistons matching up on the 12th and the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns facing off on the 14th.

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