For a brief moment last week Venu had new life. But then Disney, Fox and WBD hammered the final nail in the coffin and buried it for good. According to reports, the threat of continued litigation from DirecTV and Dish was too big a risk for Venu’s founding partners. They feared that if the satellite … Continue reading A Requiem for Venu
sports media
The Seven Steps To Finding A Job In Sports
“Hey Fred, would you mind talking with my ______, (insert son, daughter, niece, cousin, next door neighbor’s kid, etc). They want to get into the sports business?” Like many friends and colleagues in the business, I’ve been asked this question more times than I can remember. Make no mistake, this is not a complaint. I … Continue reading The Seven Steps To Finding A Job In Sports
Venu is Dead, Long Live Venu
There’s been a lot of speculation about the future of Venu, or its lack thereof, since a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction preventing its launch. Given the snail’s pace of the appeals process, there is virtually no chance the product will be available this football season. It's a massive setback, no matter how you … Continue reading Venu is Dead, Long Live Venu
Stop Trashing Spulu
Trashing “Spulu,” the new sports streaming venture from ESPN, Fox and WBD, is the favored pastime of people from across the business. The leagues are pissed. Analysts think it’s dead in the water. Competitors dismiss it. The politicians suspect collusion. According to pretty much everyone, Spulu is a train wreck waiting to happen – which … Continue reading Stop Trashing Spulu
You Are Looking Live
It’s Brent Musburger’s fault. If you watched the NFL in the 1980s Brent’s open for The NFL Today on CBS is the stuff of legend. I can hear him now: You are looking LIVE at Soldier Field in Chicago where today the Bears take on their arch divisional rival the Green Bay Packers… Except for the … Continue reading You Are Looking Live
My Next Chapter – Ready Golf
Earlier this summer I shared that after much thought and deliberation, I made the difficult decision to step away from a job and a group of co-workers that I really liked to take a shot at fulfilling a long-held dream of being an entrepreneur. Today I wanted to share more about my plans and how … Continue reading My Next Chapter – Ready Golf
“The Answer to All Your Questions Is Money”
Why are world class athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo and Dustin Johnson playing in clearly inferior leagues when they can still compete at the highest level? Why is the college football playoff expanding to 12 teams? Why is the NFL considering hosting the conference championship games in neutral venues? Why is it becoming increasingly necessary to … Continue reading “The Answer to All Your Questions Is Money”
Getting Paid to Call a Game
Why do networks pay their top sports broadcasters so much? It’s a part of the business that continues to mystify me. Increasingly it seems that conversations – and decision making – about the appropriate compensation for the “face of the network” are out of touch with reality. I thought of this when I read the … Continue reading Getting Paid to Call a Game
Time to Break Up the NFL
If recent press reports are accurate, the NFL is close to renewing its broadcast rights deals with NBC, CBS, Fox and ESPN. Word is the broadcasters will pay twice their current rate and ESPN’s fee will increase 30%. Assuming these reports are accurate, is anyone else deeply troubled by the news? A handful of billionaires, … Continue reading Time to Break Up the NFL
Reinventing Sports Media In the Covid 19 Era
What impact will the pandemic have on upcoming sports media rights negotiations? Once the games return, team owners, league executives and collegiate sports administrators face huge decisions about the primary financial engine that drives each of their respective sports: the television broadcasting rights. Those decisions will impact millions of Americans. To cut to the chase, … Continue reading Reinventing Sports Media In the Covid 19 Era