SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: July 1, 2024
Start your morning with Buzzcast with Austin Karp: The NHL Draft at the Sphere is a hit; it’s moving day for Texas, Oklahoma and SMU; expect fewer NBA games on ESPN in the next rights deal; Nike’s stock has its biggest one-day drop on record; and the end of era in Bristol.
- Duration:
- 8m
- Broadcast on:
- 01 Jul 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) - Rise and shine. This is your morning buzz cast for Monday, July 1st. I'm Austin Carp. Welcome to the second half of 2024. If you haven't seen the visuals that came out of the NHL draft at the Spear in Las Vegas, the event looked fantastic. Check out some of the photos and videos. If you have a moment, activation both inside the venue and on the exterior looked awesome. It was a really fantastic execution by the NHL. My colleague, Alex Silverman, was on the ground in Sin City for the event and wrote about the numerous viral images and moments that garnered attention far beyond that of a typical NHL draft, which oftentimes goes under the radar among casual sports things. But a sellout crowd of 14,220 packed the sphere on Friday night for the first round looked great. NHL, Executive P, and Chief Content Officer Steve Mayer also had some comments to SPJ suggesting that a decentralized NHL draft, something most teams approved to begin next year for the draft, might be something to reconsider giving the success of this event in Vegas. Now, traditionally, hockey operation staffs of all 32 franchises gather on a single arena floor and make picks like this year. Decentralizing would allow each team's front office to be in their own markets and their own war rooms back home. That model is in line with what the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, what they do, and it also keeps some travel costs down for owners. There is no site selected for 2025's NHL draft, so given the incredible visibility that the sphere offered the NHL, maybe a centralized draft could be something that's back on the table, we'll see. But again, hats off to the league for the execution of this event. Me personally, I'm gonna be interested to see if casual fans tuned in on ESPN for this event if that was able to drop some numbers there as well. Let's move over to college. As the start of July means it's officially moving day for a number of schools. Texas and Oklahoma both have parties planned on their campuses as the schools move from the big 12 to the SEC. SEC Network even has some studio shows originating from Norman, an official SEC merch for both schools just became available. Today also marks SMU's entry into the ACC. It's the end of a 29 year journey back to the upper echelons of college football. If you haven't seen the ESPN 30 for 30 pony excess, check that out for sure. To understand just how far the mustangs have had the bounce back after almost three decades. SMU won't receive any shares of the ACC's broadcast revenue for nine years, but that's not gonna be an issue for the wealthy boosters of the school, which is in one of Dallas's ritziest suburbs. The school last year launched a $125 million campaign and a support to transition to the ACC in the week after SMU was officially accepted. During those seven days, it raised $100 million, pretty impressive down there in Dallas. But even with the addition of SMU and then Cal and Stanford in a month, SPJ has been portantly notes that there are still realignment questions and pending litigation that make projecting the stability of the 71 year old ACC an increasingly stiff task. Travel costs are now a huge issue for schools as the Atlantic Coast Conference now looks more like the all coasts conference. Sources do say though that relations have remained cordial between the conference and Florida State and Clemson, even as those sides remain entangled in litigation. A move to July also means the end of a 12 year run for PAC 12 networks, which went dark on Sunday night. It was an innovative idea when introduced by former commissioner Larry Scott, but the rollout and management over the years were just not done right. There were even some lifeboats along the way that Scott could have taken, but he and the school presidents opted against such a move and the conference, as well as the PAC 12 networks, are no more. The NBA news media deals expected to be worth around 76 billion are still not formally done, but my colleague Molly Kaling cites sources in reporting that ESPN's impending pact will include an increased international and digital package timed to the networks direct to consumer flagship property that is set to launch in 2025. Now we're not talking about venue sports, that's the skinny bundle that you're doing with Fox and Warner Brothers discovering the fall. This is that dedicated ESPN OTT service planned for next spring. Now to get that increase in international and digital ESPN sources tell us needed to concede some regular season games for this soon to be signed deal. This gave the NBA some additional games that it could offer to NBC Universal and Amazon as part of their potential packages. However, sources say ESPN doesn't view the concession as really meaningful. ESPN last season aired 77 games on the cable network that includes nine as part of the in-season tournament. ABC had 24 regular season games, only one of those was part of the IST. NBA free agency is also underway and the 76ers looked to be doing some major remodeling. Ford Paul George is leaving LA for the city of brotherly love to team up with Joel and B and Tyrese Maxie. It's another step in the process for the 76ers as they looked to climb the mountain in the east. But perhaps the bigger impact is with the Clippers who lose a big name in Paul George just as they are getting set to open into it dome and eagle wood, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden, they're still around, but losing George definitely takes some wind out of the sales for the clips. A few final notes to wrap things up this morning. Nike shares on Friday dropped 20% as the company said that it expected sales to decline in its new fiscal year. It was the biggest one day drop in Nike history, wiping out roughly $28 billion in shareholder wealth. Even with Conor McGregor not on the card, UFC 303 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas delivered USC, its fourth best gate on record. When McGregor does eventually come back and makes that return of UFC look for a huge number there on both gate and pay-per-view ESPN plus sales. Wimbledon is also underway, the All-Eland Law and Tennis Club. Look for some increased branding on the grounds this year as the event seeks to increase its revenue. If you're a fan of minor league baseball, definitely check out the cover of SBJ this week. Over the past 10 years, more than two dozen affiliated minor league baseball teams have either rebranded or adopted new team names or in the process of doing so. We look into the how and why behind some great rebrands. I'm talking about the Jackson Bill Jumboschring, the Akron rubber ducks, Binghamton Rumble ponies, Rocket City trash pandas and the Hub City Spartan Burgers. Did I make some of those up? I don't know. You'll have to check out the piece and SBJ to know for sure. And finally, a couple of shout outs the ESPN legends. Long time sports center anchor John Anderson said goodbye to the network on his final sports center on Friday, 25 years with the network. A number of anchors filled a really great tribute video praising Anderson for his role. With a number of people saying he was the best writer that sports center has had period. Personally, I loved Anderson as a host in the show. So witty, seems so affable. A number of his, this is sports center spot sport classic. Sounds like he was very beloved and bristle and SBJ wishes him well as he's going to be joining the Missouri School of Journalism in January. Some very lucky students there in Columbia. Also, a very speedy recovery to Dick Vitale, the longtime ESPN college basketball analyst. One Friday's posted on social media that he has been diagnosed with cancer for a fourth time. By TAL, 85, his schedule has surgery on Tuesday and has previously been treated for melanoma and lymphoma. Think of a view, Dickie V. So that is your morning buzz cast for Monday, July 1st. Let's have a great back half of the year. Make good choices out there. And I will speak to you all again soon. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)