Whomever thought July and August 2013 would be boring for sports media news certainly underestimated what the Big Three in Sports Television would do. We’ve seen the return of Keith Olbermann to ESPN, NASCAR ousting ESPN and Turner in favor of NBC, and Fox increasing its commitment to the sport, Fox Sports 1 making a series on on-air hires and now we have Fox throwing a boatload of cash at the United States Golf Association for the rights to the US Open. It seems every day is bringing something new to the sports media landscape. Perhaps with three or four major players for sports properties, this is the new normal.
I’ll try to make sense out of some of this. As usual, I’ll do it bullet form.
- Nobody saw Fox coming with its deep pockets for the US Open. While it was known that the USGA had been negotiating with ESPN and NBC to keep the Open on either or both networks, no one thought that Fox would step in and take the tournament with a bid that practically doubles what the current rightsholders are paying (a combined $37 million according to the New York Times’ Richard Sandomir).
Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press reports that Fox bid close to a whopping $100 million annually over 12 years starting in 2015 for all of the USGA’s pro tournaments and its series of amateur events.
The USGA pointed out that it chose Fox for a fresh perspective on the game. Now if Fox had been televising golf for three years, I would believe that, but the network’s experience has been just a couple of exhibition tournaments played during the sport’s Silly Season back in the 1990’s.
There are a couple of trains of thought here. First, Fox could go totally off the rails and offer a totally new way of airing golf just as it did with the NFL in 1994 and baseball in 1996 (the Fox Box, increased field mics, umpire cam, the dreaded Cleatus the Robot). The other train is that this could go the way of Fox’s coverage of the Bowl Championship Series when the four games that comprised the BCS were the only college football games it aired all season. Fans thought Fox’s coverage of the games were disjointed and they mostly used announcers who had focused on the NFL rather than college football.
Remember, the US Open will be the first-ever major golf tournament that Fox will produce and it doesn’t have a regular staff of golf announcers. Seeing who the Fox Sports Media Group will hire will be watched closely.
This certainly gives content to Fox and Fox Sports 1. In the Summer of 2015, Fox/Fox Sports 1 will have the US Open, MLB All-Star Game and the FIFA Women’s World Cup. It’s going to be a busy summer for Fox.
By the way, the great Ryan Ballengee of Golf Net News has a FAQ on why the USGA chose Fox over NBC/ESPN (besides the money).
- The CBS/Time Warner Cable dispute has been just plain silly from the beginning. And with no end in sight, the customers are smack dab in the middle. Now if you think the war of words between CBS and TWC is interesting, wait until ESPN and Dish Network get closer to the end of their contract next month. David Goetzl of MediaPost points out that Dish and ESPN have had a tense relationship over the last eight years.
Once again, the issue is over money. Dish is currently paying more than $5 per subscriber each month. If ESPN seeks a 5-6% increase, Dish could shell out as much as $8 per subscriber each month and no cable or satellite provider wants to pay that price.
CBS is reportedly seeking $2 per subscriber which would be double of what Time Warner paid before the last contract expired.
In describing free agency, the late Will McDonough of the Boston Globe opined that no matter what players say or their agents tell reporters, it’s always about the money. The same logic applies to these stupid cable disputes. Both sides say they’re looking out for the customer, but when it all comes down to the bottom line, it’s always about the money.
- Lastly, we have Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger telling investors that he doesn’t believe ESPN will lose the NBA. ESPN/ABC’s contract expires after the 2015-16 season, but the league wants to renegotiate now while the sports rights bubble is still intact.
Also with ESPN passing on NASCAR and allowing its 14 Sprint Cup races to go to NBC and the entire Nationwide Series to be split among Fox and NBC, the company now has more money to throw at the NBA. I do think ESPN will keep its portion of the contract, but it will definitely come at a price.
That’s going to wrap up this edition of the Sports Media Thoughts.
