SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: August 1, 2024
(upbeat music) Congratulations to Katie Ledecky for winning a gold medal on Wednesday. Her first gold in Paris, eight overall in her career. I've said it on the buzz cast before. Big fan of hers, big fan of her brother Michael, her uncle, John Ledecky, who was of course, co-owner of the Islanders. Also, my favorite priest and good friend, Father Jim Shea, who I met in Charlotte and is now at Georgetown, is Katie Ledecky's Godfather. And he would always drop great stories of her in his homilies. So a hat tip to Katie and company. And this is your morning buzz cast. For Thursday, August 1st, yes, I said that correctly. August 1st, thanks for listening to the buzz cast. I made Mad Corps, let's start with the Olympics because the stories continue to be positive for the US OPC in Paris and viewers are turning in. And here is what's opening the eyes of media executives and sports executives in the United States. It's the viewership during these afternoon windows during the week that's incredibly strong and that's making a lot of people pay attention. For example, on Tuesday, Team USA's win in the Women's Gymnastics team final delivered almost 13 million viewers on NBC and Peacock on a workday afternoon. And SBJ's Austin Carp notes that's among the strongest numbers ever for a weekday daytime event for the Olympics. He also puts it in great context. This audience on Tuesday ranks ahead of every game from the recent Celtics MAV's final and it's better than the first round of this year's NFL draft, which was in prime time across three networks. So it's very eye opening and proves that viewers will find live sports content no matter what time of day. And we noted that NBC has strong numbers and they do, but Austin Carp also noted yesterday, they are doing a different form of reporting this year around the Olympic Games for Tuesday night. For example, NBC Sports is reporting nearly 35 million viewers. But, but, but that is combined. That's two o'clock to five o'clock Eastern time and eight o'clock to an 11 o'clock Eastern time. Those windows are combined to give that number. So it's not just one prime time figure. That's something you all have to keep in mind. And so while the numbers are very, very strong, it is a little different form of reporting that NBC Sports is doing this year. And yes, some other networks have privately chafed to SBJ about NBC's move, feeling it might double count some viewers or it's not comparable to previous years. But NBC and advertisers are fine with this approach because every competition is aired live on either TV and Peacock and viewers are finding these live competition windows away from the traditional prime time broadcast. So I know it's a little inside baseball, but it is interesting and it is noteworthy. When other outlets are reporting that NBC's numbers are 70, 80 or 90% higher than Tokyo or even Rio and London, you need to consider the context of what they're comparing it to. And again, nobody is taking aim at NBC's approach here. The numbers are very strong. And the bottom line is these afternoon viewing figures, 15 million viewers in the afternoon on Saturday, 18 million viewers during the afternoon on Sunday, 15 million viewers in the afternoon on Tuesday, those are almost NFL like numbers. And that is opening the eyes of a lot of executives who are very surprised at the strength of these viewership figures we will continue to monitor the numbers. But we did feel that overall context is important. Certainly, if you have other questions or comments on this, let me know and I'd love to hear them. So let's move on. You know, we talked earlier this week on the buzzcast about the big global events and where they will be held around the world over the next decade. And we noted Saudi Arabia's plans to host the 2034 World Cup. And now the country has detailed more plans about hosting that event. They will do a massive, massive stadium building project. They will build nearly 11 new stadiums. Four will be refurbished. One of the venues in Riyadh will have 92,000 seats and it will host the opening and final matches of the tournament. The stadium plans also include a venue that's 350 yards above ground in the planned future city of NIO. And it will be positioned as an iconic stadium landmark around the world. So again, this building boom is amazing. Riyadh is set to have eight of the new stadiums of at least 45,000 seats. Four stadiums are planned for Jeddah. A total of 132 training venues across 15 cities will be billed from scratch. And yes, this effort will cost hundreds of billions of dollars over the next decade. But we know that hosting sports events is critical to the Saudi government's plans to diversify its economy and society. And so here we're getting a first look at the ambitious development plans of Saudi Arabia to host the 2034 World Cup. Let's move on to some baseball news, Motorola. That was the first brand to ever align itself with an MLB team to put its brand on a Jersey patch. They did that with the San Diego Padres. That was the first matchup between a team and a brand on that deal. And now SBJ's Terry left in reports that Motorola is the latest brand to align with a team. They will be the first Jersey patch sponsor of the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs will take the field tonight, Thursday against the Cardinals wearing a Motorola patch on their team Jersey. They also become the official smartphone of the Cubs in Wrigley Field, and they signed Cubs shortstop, Dansby Swanson as a spokesperson. So Motorola was a sponsor of the Cubs as recently as about four years ago. And its corporate headquarters are in Chicago. So this deal makes sense. They're also no stranger to Jersey patch deals. They have the Padres, they have the Chicago Bulls, they have the Milwaukee Bucks, and now they have the Cubs. The Cubs are the 23rd of 30 MLB teams to sign an ad patch sponsor since baseball began allowing them last season. Let's stay in the Midwest because the Big Ten is branching out and targeting Las Vegas for its men's and women's basketball tournaments as Las Vegas was awarded the 27 women's and 28 men's championships. They'll be played at T-Mobile Arena. This move of course makes sense considering how the makeup of the conference has changed. Of course, the Big Ten has added USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon to the conference. So here's the lineup over the next few years for the men's tournament, 25 Indianapolis, 26 Chicago, 27 back to Indianapolis, 28 Las Vegas. For the women, 25 and 26 played in Indianapolis, 27 in Las Vegas and 28 in Detroit. So the Big Ten expanding its basketball footprint. And finally, we'll end with this in one of the smartest moves of the day. ESPN will be keeping the voice of the SEC on board signing Paul Finebaum to a multi-year deal to remain with the company. This is a deal that totally makes sense for ESPN of course, which is the exclusive rights holder for the SEC over the next 10 years or so. Finebaum is one of the most versatile and knowledgeable and non-pretentious talents I've ever seen at ESPN. I love his afternoon Paul Finebaum show. He's that good. He's smooth with the callers. He's smooth on his transitions. He has sharp points of view. What a great career story he's been. And Finebaum, who was represented by CAA sports, will remain at the Disney networks for the long term. And remember, his show started in Birmingham and his show first came over to ESPN radio in 2013. And now he'll continue to be on board at ESPN for the foreseeable future. And so that is your morning buzzcast. For Thursday, August 1st, I made mad core. My colleagues will bring you the buzzcast tomorrow on Friday. I'll return on Monday until we chat again. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you on Monday. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)