SBJ Morning Buzzcast
SBJ Morning Buzzcast: August 27, 2024
(upbeat music) Good morning, it's Tuesday, August 27th, and I'm Ted Keith with your Morning Buzzcast. You probably remember that earlier this summer, I mentioned on Buzzcast that the 103rd anniversary of the first major league baseball game on the radio was being celebrated. Well, yesterday marked a different technological anniversary. The 85th anniversary of the first televised baseball game. Reds Dodgers from Ebbets Field in Brooklyn on W2XBS. Red Barber, who would go on to become one of the first famous broadcasters in baseball's first generation of television, was behind the microphone and only 3,000 people were able to experience what would eventually become an American tradition, watching sports on TV. It's doubtful Barber or any of those 3,000 people could have imagined just how important television would become to baseball, sports, and American life in general that afternoon. It seems rare that a week has passed this summer in which the shifting TV landscape hasn't been a major part of the sports business discussion and this week is no different. Yesterday, SBJ's Tom Friend reported that Amazon recently pulled its offer to infuse Diamond Sports Group with $115 billion in cash, which has delayed Diamond's plan to reemerge from bankruptcy proceedings. That cash infusion would have given Amazon local streaming rights to all 15 NBA teams that at the time had RSN deals through Diamond. That group is now down to 13 teams and as Friend wrote, Diamond's remaining NBA teams have been told that Diamond is on pace to make its scheduled rights payments this fall. Still, even without this deal, Amazon has since become a major player in the NBA landscape, having landed part of the rights package that the NBA agreed to with various networks earlier this summer. Elsewhere in the TV world, ESPN announced a sweeping reorganization that elevated 37 year veteran Mike McQuaid to the title of EVP sports production. McQuaid, who replaces the recently departed Norby Williamson, helped create the Scott Van Pelt version of Sports Center among other accomplishments and will be relocating to Bristol, Connecticut for the role. Among the other moves is the appointment of Katie Daly, the 2022 SBJ 40 under 40 honoree as SPP of digital social and streaming content, where she will oversee mobile apps streaming and SEO. It's another step in the evolution of ESPN and for all the details, you can check out the closing bell on SBJ.com. The special events trend in sports has been growing all summer and shows no signs of slowing down. Earlier this summer, Major League Baseball announced it would hold a game at the popular NASCAR track Bristol Motor Speedway for the first time. And today, NASCAR is expected to announce its next evolution in its special events. It will hold a Cup Series race in Mexico in June of 2025. That'll be the first international points race for the circuit since a race was held in Toronto in 1958. NASCAR has held exhibition races in Japan and Australia, but those were both before the turn of the 21st century. Having successfully ventured into new places such as the LA Coliseum and the streets of Chicago and returned to a dirt track race, this marks yet another turn in NASCAR's evolution into new markets and will be one to keep an eye on. I was back home in New York City this weekend and got to experience what I used to call US open weather, that perfect late summer blend of sunshine without humidity. So make yourself a honeydoose cocktail and get ready for two weeks of incredible tennis now that the US open has returned to Queens. The event started yesterday with Coco Goff among other headliners taking the court, but there's drama underpinning this year's event. The number one seat on the men's side is Yannick Skinner, who narrowly avoided a suspension after twice testing positive for performance enhancing drugs. However, the international tennis integrity agency deemed that those tests were the result of contamination. Opposing players are vocal about their displeasure around the ruling, and that brings an undercurrent of tension to this year's proceedings. Finally, be on the lookout for a jam-packed issue of sports business journal this week. The cover centers around Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber as he celebrates 25 years at the head of MLS. Garber is the fourth longest tenured commissioner in North American team sports history. And if I gave you a minute, I bet you could come up with who the other three are. That's right, it's Pete Rosell, David Stern, and Gary Betman. And just like those other Titans, Garber has transformed his league. At one point in Garber's tenure, Major League Soccer was down to 10 teams, and it had only one soccer-specific venue. Now, as he hits his 25th anniversary, it's up to 29 teams with a 30th coming next year, and 22 soccer-specific venues, plus an industry-shaking $2.5 billion minimum deal with Apple TV+ to stream every MLS game. We also have our college football preview issue, led by a story retracing the backstory of the moves it brought Oklahoma and Texas to the SEC and shook up college sports all over again. Those moves go into effect this year and have led to a seismic change in college sports that will conclude with the first year of the 12 team playoff. That's all for BuzzCast. I'm Ted Keith, and I'll be back again tomorrow morning. Thanks for listening. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)