Here’s the intro on the historic return last night.
That’s all that got posted on youtube. For mysterious reasons, I am having technical problems with the embed of the entire commentary here.
However, here’s the link. Watch and make note of history.
Trash talk: CBS Sports cites big Time Warner fees to subscribers in wake of mega Lakers, Dodgers deals
Thought I would share this release sent out by CBS Sports yesterday. The network had some fun with numbers in its continuing battle with Time Warner.
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A CASE STUDY ON TIME WARNER CABLE & RIGHTS FEES
In Los Angeles, TWC is on the other side of the table in terms of rights fees.
Here are the facts that many don’t know about their fight for the consumer.
Half of LA Lakers games used to be on free over-the-air TV before TWC outbid everyone for the rights for $3 billion.
TWC then created a Lakers channel charging subscribers $4/month whether they watch the games or not.
This works out to $49 per subscriber for 52 exclusive games this year, or nearly $1/game.
TWC followed this up by paying nearly $8 billion for rights to the LA Dodgers.
And next season the Dodgers will reportedly also move from free over-the-air TV to a newly created TWC Dodgers channel that by industry estimates will cost even more than $4 per subscriber per month.
Neither the Lakers nor Dodgers TWC channels are available to consumers on an a la carte basis.
A class-action lawsuit has been filed against Time Warner Cable on the matter (attached).
Meanwhile, per local regulations, TWC discloses on the back of its bills that they are charging $20/month for “broadcast” television.
This is 54% higher than they charged just two years ago, during which time it’s been made known that both the Lakers and Dodgers have been removed from broadcast (TV).
Time Warner Cable has yet to address this matter publicly.
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Is USGA saying NBC/ESPN are old-school when it comes to U.S. Open coverage?
Update: Scott Van Pelt had this tweet about USGA’s remarks:
The notion of ‘brand new” golf tv is funny. Like what, Glen? There’s only so much innovation. But 100M = 100M. Which is fine
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You certainly could make that leap based on the statements coming from the United States Association in announcing the move of the U.S. Open to Fox Sports.
USGA president Glen Nager had this comment in the official release:
“This is an exciting and remarkable day for the USGA, as our partnership with the FOX Sports is a game-changer for our organization and for the game of golf,” said USGA President Glen D. Nager. “The game is evolving and requires bold and unique approaches on many levels, and FOX shares our vision to seek fresh thinking and innovative ideas to deliver championship golf. This partnership will help us to better lead and serve the game in new and exciting ways.”
And then there was this from Doug Ferguson’s story in the Associated Press:
USGA spokesman Joe Goode said in an email that signing with Fox was not a reflection on NBC or “simply the financials.”
“Rather the decision is consistent with our strategy for delivering golf in new and innovative ways, which can be achieved with a partner that has a completely fresh perspective on the game,” he said.
So NBC/ESPN were old and stodgy? Are you saying that those networks weren’t capable of “delivering golf in new and innovative ways?”
Forgive NBC and ESPN if they are a bit miffed today. They poured their heart and soul into televising the U.S. Open. NBC golf producer Tommy Roy has brought production of the Open and the game itself to new levels.
Sorry, but both NBC and ESPN deserved better here.
The reality is that this decision wasn’t based on innovation. Here’s what Nager should have said in the release:
“Can you believe Fox is willing to give us $100 friggin’ million dollars per year for essentially one tournament?”
All in all, considering this announcement also was made on the eve of the PGA Championship, it was poor form by USGA.
Johnny Miller ticked off about Open moving to Fox; Will shift lead to him retiring?
Typically, Johnny Miller didn’t hold back when he learned NBC lost the U.S. Open to Fox Sports, beginning in 2015.
Miller told Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press:
”It was a big bummer,” Miller told The Associated Press from his home in Utah. ”For some reason, I told Dan Hicks at the U.S. Open this year, ‘I don’t think we’re going to keep the U.S. Open.’ I just had a hunch it would be ESPN or Fox that stepped in and made a high bid. I know we tried.
”I feel bad for the USGA in a way that money was more important than basically a good golf crew.”
Later Miller added:
”I don’t know what they’re going to do,” Miller said about Fox. ”You can’t just fall out of a tree and do the U.S. Open. I guess the money was more important than the performance. No way they can step in and do the job we were doing. It’s impossible. There’s just no way. I wish Fox the very best.”
Miller could go a long way in helping the telecasts by jumping to Fox. His contract with NBC runs through 2015.
If Miller is interested, NBC would have to let him out of his contract a year early so he could do the 2015 U.S. Open for Fox. It is possible given all that Miller has meant to NBC’s golf coverage.
Miller told Ferguson that it is unlikely he would go to Fox if given the chance. However, he could change his mind. Miller’s famous 63 at Oakmont has him forever linked with the U.S. Open. The chance to do more Opens would be enticing.
Miller, though, is 66 and has talked of cutting back in recent years. He also is fiercely loyal to the NBC golf crew, headed by producer Tommy Roy. He likely wouldn’t be thrilled about learning to work with a new team at Fox at the age of 68.
Don’t be surprised if Miller works NBC’s final U.S. Open at Pinehurst in 2014 and then walks off into the sunset.
Fox is serious about this, folks: Snags U.S. Open from NBC/ESPN
In golf terms, what Fox did is open the match by holing out from the fairway on No. 1.
Game on, everybody.
Last night, Fox Sports announced it had landed the U.S. Open and other USGA events (U.S. Women’s Open, Senior, Amateur, and so on) in a 12-year deal, beginning in 2015. Suddenly, Fox is in the golf business with programming for the network and new Fox Sports 1.
And it took away a prime property from its main rival ESPN, which has televised the tournament for 32 years, not to mention NBC, which has had the Open for 19 years, and the Golf Channel, which covered other USGA tournaments.
Talk about a stunner.
Shackelford.com put it appropriately with this headline on his site: “Not April’s Fools: USGA announces new TV deal with Fox Sports on eve of PGA Championship.”
Sure, the timing was horrendous. But who cares? I’m sure the PGA of America still will listen to Fox when that tournament becomes available.
Fox Sports clearly is anxious to show that it is serious about its new sports network, which debuts on Aug. 17. For all the talk about studio shows, what ultimately will carry the day for Fox Sports 1 is quality live sports programming. The U.S. Open falls under that category.
From Richard Sandomir in the New York Times:
Randy Freer, the co-president of Fox Sports, said in an interview, “We were a little surprised that we got the opportunity to participate” in the talks, “but ultimately we like big events.” He added, “We think the U.S. Open can once again be the pre-eminent golf championship in the world.”
Here’s the kicker for all the other sports properties out there: Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press writes that Fox reportedly is spending in the neighborhood of $100 million for the USGA events, more than double the previous package.
Did you see that NBA (TV deals expire in 2016)? And how about you, Big Ten (through 2017)? Fox obviously is willing to write some big checks to bring Fox Sports 1 to the next level. The new sports network is going to make a lot of people very rich, increasing the price of poker for all the bidders.
Game on, indeed.
Feherty on Tiger Woods: How far back does he have to be to be back?
The PGA Championship starts today. “Glory’s Last Shot” gives Tiger Woods one last chance in 2013 to not have to answer “the-when-are-you-going-to-win-another-major?” question leading up to the 2014 Masters.
During a conference call, I asked the CBS crew if it is possible for Woods to win five tournaments in a year (and counting) and have it be considered an unsuccessful year if one of those victories doesn’t occur in a major? Five wins would be a career for most players. Then again, Woods isn’t most players.
Leave it to David Feherty to put it in perspective:
“Is it possible to have that kind of year and have it be disappointing? Only for one player.
“People ask me all the time: Is Tiger Woods going to make it back? Well, he’s won five times and has been No. 1 most of the year. How far back to do you have to be to be back?
“There are two separate ways of viewing golf. There’s Tiger Woods and there’s everyone else.”
So will his drought end this week? Don’t think Oak Hill suits his game. My prediction: Despite all those non-major victories, it’ll be another “disappointing” year for Woods.
Best golf show ever? Larry David chats about his lack of game in upcoming Feherty
The PGA Championship just became No. 2 on my golf viewing agenda.
Set your DVR. Larry David is the guest on the season finale of Feherty (Golf Channel, Monday, 9 p.m. ET).
For the first time ever, David Feherty won’t be the funniest man on his show. Here’s a clip in which David says, “There’s no reason for me to be golfing at all…All I do is get unhappy.”
Would Bilas have done brutal takedown of NCAA if he still worked as CBS analyst for tournament?
In case you missed it, Jay Bilas used his Twitter feed to do an incredible takedown of the NCAA yesterday. Talk about “shock and awe.”
From Gary Parrish, the college basketball insider for CBSSports.com:
Bilas — who seems just as frustrated as most by a system that allows the NCAA and Texas A&M to profit off of Johnny Manziel while preventing the reigning Heisman Trophy winner from selling his own signature — began a little experiment in an attempt to highlight the hypocrisy.
It began with this tweet:
Go to http://ShopNCAAsports.com , type in “Manziel” in upper right search box, hit enter. This comes up. pic.twitter.com/N7KNvXIu24
There’s much more as Bilas unloaded on the NCAA. He finished with this tweet:
Go to http://ShopNCAAsports.com and type “NCAA Executive Committee” in upper right search box, hit enter. This comes up. pic.twitter.com/7mwaNKO3TA
Well-played.
However, it made me wonder if Bilas would have engaged in a similar display if he still worked NCAA tournament games for CBS. From 2003 through 2010, Bilas was a game analyst for the network’s tournament coverage. He was paired with Dick Enberg from 2005 through 2010.
Bilas has been a long-time critic of the NCAA. Who isn’t?
Yet what Bilas did yesterday takes the attack to an entirely different level. That last tweet makes a powerful statement. Don’t ya think?
However, if Bilas still had a role with CBS for the tournament, you have to wonder if he would have gone as far as to depict the NCAA leaders as clowns.
Just asking…
60 Minutes Sports: Armen Keteyian reports on first black NFL quarterbacks
Highly recommended: The latest edition of 60 Minutes Sports (Wednesday, 8 p.m. ET, Showtime) features a compelling report from Armen Keteyian. Here’s a preview with insights from Keteyian with the rundown below.
From Showtime:
Two decades after Jackie Robinson broke pro baseball’s color line the NFL still had no black quarterbacks, even as African Americans excelled at every other position on the field. It was pro-football’s open secret: the quarterback position was for whites only. A handful of pioneers began to change this in 1968 and three of them tell their humiliating and often emotional stories to correspondent Armen Keteyian about an unpopular chapter in the history of America’s most-popular sport. Keteyian also talks to the black QBs of the 1980s and ‘90s whose paths were paved by those pioneers in this rarely told story for the next edition of 60 MINUTES SPORTS, Wednesday, August 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT only on SHOWTIME.
Marlin Briscoe, who still holds the Denver Broncos rookie passing record of 14 touchdowns in five games, was the first African American to start an NFL game on Oct. 6, 1968. Despite this successful beginning, he was not even invited to a post-season meeting about the quarterback position. They would find a white player to replace the starter he substituted for. He joined the Buffalo Bills and then the Miami Dolphins, playing the rest of his career as a wide receiver. Was it institutional racism? “About 95 percent,” Briscoe tells Keteyian.
Star black quarterbacks in high school and college got drafted into the NFL in the 1950s and ‘60s, but a disturbing thing happened when they got there. It happened to Briscoe. “Well, they tell me that, you know, I am an athlete.” The implication was he and other blacks would have to be receivers or defensive backs to be successful in the NFL.
The first black to start the season at quarterback in the NFL, James Harris, didn’t switch. Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King and groomed to be the first NFL starting quarterback by his coach at Grambling, the legendary Eddie Robinson, Harris overcame humiliation and frustration. Drafted by the Buffalo Bills, he was told to play wide receiver while learning quarterback, had to stay at the YMCA instead of the players’ hotel and suffered the indignity of working in the equipment room cleaning spikes. “I knew that was out of line,” says Harris. But in 1969, Harris persevered, just as Robinson knew he would. He went on to play 13 seasons; leading the LA Rams to the NFC Championship in 1974, but it was hard.
He received death threats, withstood racial epithets and was never considered the face of any of the franchises he played for. He tells Keteyian he was a black quarterback and every article that was written referred to him in that way. “It affected my play. …I tried to play perfect.”
In 1978, quarterback Warren Moon led the University of Washington to an upset victory in the Rose Bowl. He was not even drafted by the NFL. “I was…very, very bitter,” he says. Forced to go to the Canadian Football League, he did so well there that six years later, NFL teams started a bidding war for him and Moon wound up being, for a time, the highest paid player in the NFL. He played so well for 17 seasons in the NFL that he became the first black quarterback admitted to the Football Hall of Fame in 2006. He, too, earned it the hard way.
Moon endured the racial epithets and death threats like the others. It was a burden, but one he took advantage of he tells Keteyian. “I pretty much played my whole career…with a chip on my shoulder…and that drive helped me play for as long as I did and for as high a level as I did,” he says. “You felt like not only did you have to play well for yourself, but you were playing for your race…You knew you were doing something that was going to help another generation of guys,” says Moon.
Keteyian also talks to Doug Williams, whose exploits took the Washington Redskins past the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII in 1988, earning him the game MVP Award – the first for a black quarterback and a milestone in the integration of the position. It was a special day for men like Moon and Harris and even more important for Briscoe, who had fallen on hard times after his football career and another as a stock broker. He watched the game in a San Diego jail, locked up for drug possession. He had become addicted to crack cocaine.
“I just cried when the game was over…just made me feel so proud. And I felt I had something to do with this,” he tells Keteyian. Briscoe says he cried tears of joy for Williams and the black race, but also tears for himself for being where he was now after helping pave the way for such a feat. “And after I got out of the San Diego jail, I moved back to LA, didn’t do drugs since,” says Briscoe. “That day probably saved my live.”
Return of Jay Mariotti: Launches own site that includes M-F radio show
He’s baaackkkkk.
After what he describes as a “much-needed” break that lasted three years, Jay Mariotti is jumping back in.
This morning, the former Chicago Sun-Times columnist and member of ESPN’s Around The Horn launched Mariottishow.com. In an email, Mariotti writes:
“We’re launching a national multimedia site that we think is innovative because it wraps my three-hour national daily radio show around a site of my 24/7 content — columns, short opinion hits, videos, audience interaction via Twitter and email, a travelogue of sports and restaurants and who knows what.”
Mariotti writes that he is teaming with Genesis Communications, a Florida company that is “paying me for the content and the show.” The Genesis site has six channels with programming, featuring numerous shows.
Day 1 for Mariotti’s new site has columns on Alex Rodriguez (“tragic”), Johnny Manziel (“crashing”), and the upcoming battle between ESPN and Fox Sports 1 (“LOL”). It also has a video comparing Michael Jordan and LeBron James (“please”). As usual, Mariotti has plenty to say.
The M-F radio show will begin Monday, running from noon-3 p.m. ET.
With a few exceptions, Mariotti has been mainly on the sidelines since a domestic violence incident with a woman in 2010. He lost gigs on Around The Horn and as lead columnist for AOL.
Mariotti writes that he has had discussions with several outlets, including ESPN and Fox Sports. Instead, he says he wants to be “fiercely independent,” building a personally-branded site that he hopes will include hiring other writers.
He writes:
“I should note I’ve had meetings with ESPN and Fox about joining their operations, and candidly, I think they’re too corporate, while they have their own opinions of me. Point being, I can’t be The Man if I’m working for The Man and The Man has a close business arrangement with the subjects of my commentaries.”
The above quote is part of an open letter to readers. It is 2,726 words, which will be 2,726 words more than many of his detractors will want to read from him.
Mariotti touches on his legal issues; what he has been doing with himself; his view of sports in 2013; and why his site is needed in the new media landscape.
Here are some of the highlights:
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Making the scene: I’m kind of bored in paradise. I’ve seen my sunsets in Santa Monica, eaten at every restaurant from Silver Lake to Malibu, spent nights on Abbot Kinney and Ocean Avenue, done the scenes and parties and museums, cruised my bike from Pacific Palisades to Palos Verdes, been to the Dodgers/Angels/Lakers/Clippers/Kings/USC/UCLA/Beckham. I’ve done the Hollywood Bowl. They got me to the Greek. I’ve chatted with Owen Wilson, talked sports with Pittsburgh homeboy Michael Keaton, viewed paintings by the Incubus singer at a gallery and watched the paparazzi harass poor Lohan in Venice. I’ve been to a holiday party in Orange County where President Obama’s face was a dartboard target. I stop everything when I see the Grilled Cheese Truck. I’ve been to Laguna Beach, Newport Beach, Napa, Yountville, Santa Barbara, San Diego, La Jolla, Palm Springs, San Francisco, Carmel, Sausalito, Big Sur, Pebble Beach and the original In-N-Out Burger in Baldwin Park. I’ve done my California. Sharknado wasn’t real.
Time to work. With a portable studio — how I love 2013 — we’ll be doing the radio show from L.A., Florida, the Super Bowl, a Mexican bullfighting ring, anywhere and everywhere. I can’t wait to renew my fascination with the bigger planet.
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His legal issues: While the Internet paves new avenues of media creativity, it also enables the irresponsibility of hacks. I know this too well, having come off a legal case filled with countless lies and accompanied by lazy, reckless, inaccurate, incomplete news coverage. As the father of two wonderful, successful daughters, I abhor domestic abuse and never have or would strike a woman. The hard lesson I’ve learned is not to let another person’s problems become mine and to be careful about my associations, particularly as a figure in the public eye.
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The landscape: Fox ended up downsizing its digital effort into a silly-season site, featuring such nonsense as a National Enquirer report that Lindsey Vonn is worried Tiger Woods will sleep with his ex-wife. It’s a bizarre approach as Fox Sports 1 launches in an attempt to compete with the ESPN empire. Wouldn’t you want a strong news site to support your fledgling network? Consider it another example of why independent sites can thrive today. Other than ESPN.com, which is pumped with enough resources and care to remain the gold standard, and the New York Times, which has monetized an elaborate site and features a deep roster of skilled writers, the digital sports landscape is teetering.
Consider the estimable Yahoo Sports, filled with meaningful content but always dependent on the whims of whoever is running the company today. Or USA Today, which has committed to a revamped sports division but also is facing a clock in which profits must be turned. A lot of companies and entrepreneurs are investing in sports media, but too many sites are hiring inexperienced writers cheaply or aggregating news from other sites — what happened to competing instead of giving each other credit for shared story links? It’s still difficult to monetize news and commentary digitally, but by 2015, it’s estimated that 85 percent of media revenue will be digital-based. The sites positioned for advertising’s eventual full-blown shift to digital will succeed in the end.
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And finally: Evolution is what’s fun about this business. The Mariotti Show is a site firmly planted in 2013 yet detached from the government-like climates of corporate media. I can tell the truth about any subject I want, anytime I want, and no one can summarily spike content because your boss is friendly with a commissioner or owner, your company is in business with a league or team, your newspaper has a comped suite at the ballpark or your network has a rights deal through 2082 with a major college conference.
Hope you enjoy our venture. I’m enjoying it already.
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So will you enjoy it?
This is a man who once performed on the biggest platforms in sports media. Now he is looking to make a comeback, starting from if not the ground floor, a much, much lower floor.
Mariotti may be back, but he still has a long way to go.
More to come.