Sports Business
Welcome to the 37th Media Mailbag for The Athletic. Thanks for sending in your questions via the website and app. There were more than 100 questions, so this is Part 2 of a two-parter. You can find Part 1 here.
Note: Questions have been edited for clarity and length.
I was just wondering if you could share any major differences between your experiences with Canadian and U.S. sports media production? Also, could you talk about a behind-the-scenes job that usually no one thinks of, but (is) an integral part of the media broadcast? — Sarah C.
The biggest difference is scale. One country has 330 million people; the other has 40 million. Bell (TSN) and Rogers (Sportsnet) are the primary players when it comes to televised sports production in Canada. The U.S. has many more options. I find the production elements of a U.S. sports broadcast at the highest levels to be better than Canada’s, outside of hockey, where I think Canada has an advantage. Money is a big factor. I do favor how Canada approaches content for sports. Canadian-based sports studio content, whether for television, digital or audio, has conversation and education more in mind, where winning the argument is a hallmark of the U.S. approach.
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A smaller example: One of the biggest differences I’ve seen is how the CBC and Fox approach the World Cup. The CBC isn’t Canadian-centric on everything; they go deep on the tournament, and you won’t get a focus on Team Canada for non-Team Canada games. That’s not the case with Fox.
Another example: In 2021, my colleague Sean Fitz-Gerald, a Canadian, watched NBC’s coverage of the Olympics while I watched the CBC. Here’s what we found.
As for vital behind-the-scenes jobs, there are too many to name. But sports television replay producers are vital to how you view your sports. People in a broadcast truck make split-second decisions on what replay you see, and those replays are monitored by EVS operators. It’s an orchestra working at lightning speed.
Is the NHL worried about the rise of women’s sports in the USA while their ratings seemingly are stagnant? Will broadcasters, advertisers, and sponsors put the NHL even lower on their priority list in exchange for women’s college Basketball, the WNBA, women’s soccer, etc.? — John M.
Apples and pomegranates. I don’t think NHL executives are spending a lot of time on the rise of women’s college basketball. All leagues are focused on how to drive the most eyeballs to their product, how to get better media deals, how to improve the product. Is there a finite amount of ad dollars? Sure. Is everyone competing against everyone in some ways? Yes. But there’s enough audience for both here to be successful.
The NHL should be worried about the struggle to get hockey going in the Southwest. That’s an important market for growth. The good news for the NHL? Viewership was up during the regular season and also up early in the playoffs.
How far do you think the Indiana Fever can go this year? — Andy F.
Sue Bird told The Athletic that Caitlin Clark can be an All-Star as a rookie if she plays up to her potential.
“I think if she plays up to her potential, yes, that’s realistic,” Bird said. “And, by the way, that’s not a knock on anyone in the WNBA. It’s going to be hard, but I think she can do it. You do have to see what happens when they get there. You are now playing against adults and this is their career. But I do think she has a chance at having a lot of success early, and I think a lot of it comes down to her long-distance shooting. That is her separator. You’re not really used to guarding people out there.”
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If that ends up happening — also, expect Aliyah Boston to take a significant jump in her second year — I think the Fever should jump to 19-20 wins after a 13-27 season last year and make the playoffs.
With NBC/Peacock and CBS/Paramount setting a new high standard for soccer coverage in the U.S. for the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, will Fox be able to up their game and be ready for broadcasting the World Cup in two years? If only Rebecca Lowe, Kate Abdo, Thierry Henry and company could be loaned out. — Chris D.
I think Fox’s game coverage is fine. They have professional play-by-play and game analysts steeped in world soccer. The world feed dictates the images but Fox has made the financial commitment to send its top broadcast teams onsite. The studio production has always been the issue. The World Cup coverage routinely bypasses deep coverage of non-American teams, they don’t get nearly as deep on tactics as the coverage of other host broadcasters, such as TSN. They need a change in thinking for the studio from my perspective. That said, I think Carli Lloyd was a terrific hire, and I’d make her the center of both the men’s and women’s World Cup studio coverage.
Do you think Disney/ESPN will be successful in becoming the app that will link to all sporting events for viewers regardless of whether they hold the rights? Kind of an Amazon/Apple channels approach to sports. One could see the goal of creating an app that will give you various sports at different price points depending on who holds the rights. I think most of us would prefer to bundle (our) local sports rights with something like ESPN after the cable bundle atrophies even further. — Andy B.
I think this is a great idea as far as functionality. But whether all entities could get together for something like this, call me skeptical, especially as Amazon becomes a bigger player.
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Is anyone in Iowa ever going to be able to watch a Major League Baseball game without having to use a pirate internet feed? Does MLB not realize the insanity of blacking out eight different teams for pretty much the entire state, as well as a bunch of neighboring counties in other states?
Related second question: Are we *EVER* going to see a World Series day game? Any reason they can’t play a World Series game that starts at 3 p.m. on a Saturday that the kids would be able to stay up and watch all of? Does MLB not realize that they’re utterly failing to create new fans with their idiotic broadcast decisions? — Bd G.
I hear you on blackouts, and it’s ridiculous. Rob Manfred has said blackouts are his No. 1 priority. We’ll see if it’s just talk. As for a World Series day game, Fox isn’t a non-profit, and MLB wants to maximize the most eyeballs, and that means prime time.
What effect will Fox’s postseason men’s basketball tournament have on the NIT, and is it really that much of a ratings boost for Fox? — Robert S.
Here’s a piece on it. I think the viewership will depend on which teams are in the tournament. If you are Fox, you are hoping for a name-brand school that did not have a great year.
Why aren’t there more national baseball games on TV? Why can’t they be played nationally in time slots like college football and NFL? Even if it’s simulcast, it should be more accessible than it is. — Mitch E.
The short answer is baseball is a regional sport until the postseason. A Game of the Week on Saturday would not come close to matching the viewership for a national college football game.
Why isn’t the nepotism that permeates sports broadcasting a bigger story? When a story of a new hire for a network or major sports team isn’t a relative of someone else with a mic it’s a surprise. The utter failure of Jac Collinsworth is just one example yet you never seem to talk about the nepotism epidemic except to celebrate the Harlans working together. — Chad H.
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The Athletic ran a feature story on sports broadcasting nepotism last month. The reality is this will continue to happen — as it does in every professional field. Were there better choices than Jac Collinsworth for the jobs he received? Unquestionably so. But there are also plenty of instances where a son or daughter of a sports broadcaster develops into a tremendous broadcaster. Joe Buck is the prime example here.
What amount of ratings increase do you expect for the WNBA this season with this exciting batch of new talent? — Ursula D.
Per Sports Media Watch: Last year’s WNBA regular season averaged 505,000 viewers across ESPN, ABC and CBS, up 21 percent from 2022 and the league’s highest average since 2002, the final year of its original TV deal with NBC. Games on ABC averaged 627,000 — the highest since 2012, when the network carried just one game. Caitlin Clark and the great draft class will absolutely increase that, and the story will be how much. I think they add a couple of hundred thousand viewers to the regular-season average and Clark’s first national game tops a million.
GO DEEPER
Caitlin Clark’s whirlwind WNBA Draft week just the start for the in-demand rookie
— Here’s something to watch on the broadcasting end with the NBA media rights deal still up for grabs. Candace Parker, who just announced her retirement from the WBNA, has a broadcasting contract with WBD that expires later this year. She’s been a terrific NBA broadcaster and would be a sought-after candidate for a media rights holder with NBA and WNBA inventory.
— Andrew Marchand and I teamed up to examine what to make of NBA and Amazon Prime Video having the framework for an agreement that will make the streamer a major player in how the league’s games are watched in the future.
The opening round of the NFL Draft averaged 12.1 million viewers across ESPN, NFL Network, ABC, ESPN Deportes and digital channels. That was up 6 percent over 2023 (11.4 million). The most-watched first round came in 2020 with 15.6 million viewers. That draft was held when no live sports were played because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Marchand examined Bill Belichick’s NFL Draft work on “The Pat McAfee Show” while I took at look at Nick Saban’s ESPN/ABC debut last week.
Some things I read over the last week that were interesting to me (Note: there are a lot of paywalls here):
• Bob Cole was the voice of hockey, and he became a part of the country in a way few ever can. By Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star.
• Why drafting a successful NFL quarterback remains ‘an inexact science.’ By Mike Jones of The Athletic.
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• The Arizona Coyotes are gone. Someone please tell ex-owner Alex Meruelo. By Katie Strang of The Athletic.
• The Threat. By Ruby Cramer for The Washington Post.
• No one buys books. By Elle Grffin of The Elysian.
• What happened to Deion Sanders’ Colorado castoffs? Revisiting a record-setting exodus. By Max Olson of The Athletic.
• Too Much or Never Enough? Finding Balance in the Explosion of Sports Content. By George Pyne of Bruin Capital.
• A Ukraine-born congresswoman voted no on aid. Her hometown feels betrayed. Via Siobhán O’Grady, Anastacia Galouchka and Marianna Sotomayor of The Washington Post.
• The Billionaire Dogfight Rocking Park City, Utah. By Jim Carlton of The Wall Street Journal.
• How to Bargain Like a Kidnap Negotiator. By Jancee Dunn of The New York Times.
GO DEEPER
Bill Belichick’s McAfee role, Caitlin Clark’s TV potential and more: Sports Media Mailbag
(Top photo of Lionel Messi at the 2022 World Cup: Marc Atkins / Getty Images)
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Richard Deitsch is a media reporter for The Athletic. He previously worked for 20 years for Sports Illustrated, where he covered seven Olympic Games, multiple NCAA championships and U.S. Open tennis. Richard also hosts a weekly sports media podcast. Follow Richard on Twitter @richarddeitsch