SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: August 2, 2024
Start your morning with Buzzcast with Austin Karp: A big, surprising legal win for the NFL; Snoop Dogg delivering as NBC and Team USA’s hype man in Paris; Venu Sports sets its price; NFL Draft media rights go to market; and Paige Bueckers gets equity in Unrivaled.
- Duration:
- 9m
- Broadcast on:
- 02 Aug 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) Rise and shine. This is your morning buzzcast for Friday, August 2nd. I'm Austin Carr here to close out the week for you. You know, heading into Thursday evening, the biggest thing likely happening in the NFL was the Hall of Fame game. But that was quite literally a wash as inclement weather forced an end to the Bears Texans game with a little over three minutes left in the third quarter. Now, the big thing that actually happened in the NFL's orbit last night was a gift from Judge Phillip Gutierrez who overturned the jury's verdict in the Sunday ticket lawsuit. That's right, just like that, the NFL's biggest financial threat in years is gone for now with us. All to talk about the potential for a $14.1 billion payout for the NFL, bye bye. At least for now, because you have to think plaintiffs are gonna appeal this. It's a really fascinating turn of events. First, after the ruling, it was all talk of what the heck was Roger Goodell and the NFL thinking and legness even get to trial. How did they not settle? Something that was gonna be as big as this before it got to a jury. It even got to the point last week where my colleague Ben Fisher was writing about whether some of the payout burden could be put on the plate. Now, last night, Judge Gutierrez laid down the gauntlet in his decision to flip this case on its head. He said the jury did not follow his instructions. He said expert witnesses for the plaintiffs had flawed testimony, basically throwing those guys onto the bus, in that no reasonable jury could have found that this had class-wide injury. Not to mention, he called the jury's award irrational. Sharp words there. Now, this was already gonna be shaky for plaintiffs on appeal. Now, things are looking much brighter for the NFL, but it's not a completely clear sky. Judge Gutierrez did not exonerate the NFL's monopolistic behavior, just really focusing on the plaintiff's argument and the jury there. And let's remember that this isn't just a win for the shield. Also gone very abruptly, is the prospect that this case would force wholesale changes in media strategy for the NFL and other big leagues. Ben Fisher notes that many legal experts speculated that this case would soon trigger copycat lawsuits. So I'm even considered a future where the tactic of pooling teams media rights to be sold in exclusive deals, a long-standing practice for decades in sports could become legally problematic. Well, we're one week into the Paris Olympics. Big winners on the podium are obviously Simone Biles and the US women who's gymnastics team, K. Ledecky, the men's gymnastics team. But there are also US medalists in rifling skateboarding, fencing, rowing, cycling, diving, canoeing, and rugby. But on screen, on NBC Airways, it is Snoop Dogg, who is the winner, he's getting rave reviews for his performances from Paris. The hip hop legend has been everywhere for NBC. Riding around in a van with NBC's camera folks and a social media team in tow, he took in the Novak Djokovic, the doll match at Roland Darrows. He was with the US judo team, US fencers, swimming, skateboarding. And the segments don't feel forced, he comes off as funny, genuine. It was a big gamble here for Molly Solomon and her team at NBC Olympics, but it's been a huge win, very well received. If you haven't seen Snoop Colin, the US China badminton match, give that clip a check for sure. I've also really enjoyed Colin Jost's reports from the surfing competition in Tahiti. Great use of the SNL weekend update anchor. I've tried watching the Keenan Thompson and Kevin Hart show on that and felt that did feel a little forced. Maria Taylor hasn't pressed me, and Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines crushed that first week from the pool all the swimming events, expected those guys are pros. Also, Noah Eagle, Dwayne Wade, Colin basketball, getting love for the improvements that they're doing on NBC. Now, looking at the viewership numbers, still easily up over Tokyo, no matter how you slice that viewership data. And NBC is making big money here. NBC Universal's Mark Lazzers talked to reporters yesterday and said there isn't even much scatter market to sell right now. And the company is perhaps more focused on using that extra inventory to show fans more coverage of these Paris games or just bring in some in-house spots for NBC to promote their shows or other Comcast initiatives. But Paris is looking to be the segue to a brighter time for the Olympic movement that everybody wanted. And so far, things are setting up well for not just Moan Cortina in two years, but LA 2028. Next up for Paris, time to get ready for the track and field events. Those will be taken over, starting today. We'll see if promising Americans can dominate there. And we'll see if reports of a Tom Cruise stunt do in fact happen at the closing ceremony to pass the torch to LA 2028 at the end of these games. You know, one thing I'm also paying close attention to were all the rising prices for over-the-top services and virtual MVPDs, those skinny bundles out there. Well, venue sports, which everyone has been calling Spooloo for a while, finally came out with its price plan for its launch. The joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, Disney is going to be available at launch for around $42.99 a month if you lock that in for 12 months. It's essentially a slimmed down sports focus version of a YouTube TV or a Hulu plus live TV, where you can get channels like ESPN, Fox, ABC, TNT, TBS. You could also even get access to ESPN plus. venue is still targeting the fall launch date, perhaps likely even before football can start. So want some comparisons on this price? It's more than a consumer is going to pay for a standalone regional sports network. That can range from $20 to $30 a month, but it's going to be less than something bigger. Like I mentioned, those Hulu plus live TV or YouTube TV packages, those are going to range still from $75 to $80 per month. So venue trying to thread the needle, trying to find an attractive price point there for sports venues. Now, what does this still not have? No CBS, no NBC. Those are going to be pretty important during football season and beyond. We'll see how many folks like venue as a viable option there. Let's wrap things up this morning with some notes. My old SPJ colleague, Donna Rand, notes that bids are out for rights to the NFL draft, which would start in 2026. ESPN, Fox, YouTube, TV are looking to make a play as our Amazon and NBC. But ESPN's been a great partner for the event, has carried its in 1980. It would take a monumental effort, I think, to move ESPN off being the primary carrier here. What could change is that secondary partner does NFL network stick around. Do they still have rights to this event in the future? That remains to be seen. A lot of interest there. Negotiations between Cleveland Mayor Justin bid and Brown's owners, Jimmy and Dee Haslam, over a possible least extension for Cleveland Brown Stadium, reached a significant turning point Thursday when the mayor went public with a $461 million offer for a publicly financed stadium renovation plan. The city would also turn the Willard Garage and the municipal lot over to the Browns, providing an expected revenue generation point of $94 million. Big moves there in Cleveland, let's say, if they can get a stadium deal done. Next up for the Browns venue though, is this weekend's WWE SummerSlam, which my colleague, Dre Emerson reports, is going to set records for sponsorships at a non-WrestleMania 10 poll event there for WWE. Lot going on there on the lake. Draft games announced plans to implement a gaming-tax search charge in high-tax states that have multiple mobile sports betting operators that will begin in January 1st. This is obviously a knockback at juror traditions like New York, Illinois, who have really laid tax burdens on these operators, especially somebody like DraftKings. Yukon Guard Paige Becker is assigned an NIL deal with the new three-on-three league, Unrivaled, making her the first NCAA athlete to receive ownership equity in a league. Sources said that she's expected to join an unrivaled team after her first WNBA season in 2025, with a 10 to 15% ownership pool for players unrivaled, which was announced by current WNBA players Brianna Stewart and Nefisa Collier in July 2023. They've been really aggressive with its pursuit of WNBA stars, ACES Guard Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plong, the Sky's Angel Reese are among some of the big names already added. We all know though who the difference maker could be for ticketing and a potential TV deal, but there's still no word on whether Kaitlyn Clark is going to strike a deal who would unrivaled something to pay attention to for sure. Finally, SBJ's tracking the number of agencies and how many Olympians they're repping over in Paris. Yesterday, we took a look at CAA sports. Today, it's Wasserman. I also chat with longtime Wasserman Action Sports agency Cersei Wallace about her client, Jagger Eden, and his silver medal win in Paris, and how these Paris games have really solidified skateboarding's place in the Olympics after a subdued debut in Tokyo back in 2021. So that's your morning buzz cast for Friday, August 2nd. I'm Austin Carp. I hope everyone enjoys the weekend, make good choices out there, and I will speak to you all again soon. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)