Let’s go for your links today.
Starting with Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, he explores whether the Women’s World Cup can find an audience and he also scolds Pierre McGuire.
Steve Weiberg of USA Today says a group of former college athletes is suing ESPN and CBS plus other networks for using their likenesses on commercials, promos and classic programming without their permission. This is going to be a very interesting case.
Sergio Non of USA Today says Spike’s replay of an old UFC event beat a new UFC card airing on Versus in the ratings on Sunday.
Wayne Friedman of MediaPost looks at the NFL seeking yet another TV package to help drive up revenue.
George Winslow of Broadcasting & Cable writes that NBA Digital saw record traffic for the Draft last week.
Mike Reynolds from Multichannel News says the Sportsman Channel continues to gain HD access on Comcast systems in the South.
Mike says a couple of presenting sponsors of ESPN’s self-aggrandizing ESPY Awards are back for another year.
Anthony Crupi at Adweek tells us that TNT still has a few spots open for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Daytona this Saturday.
Louisa Ada Seltzer of Media Life says the Women’s World Cup is a top draw on TV this week.
Cam Martin of SportsNewser says Fang’s Bites fave Bethanie Mattek-Sands has issued a challenge to the Larry Brown Sports blog.
Chris Ariens at TVSpy notes that there’s a baby boom among female sportscasters in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex including my Twitter friend, Gina Miller of KTVT/KTXA .
Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN’s True Hoop NBA blog network notes that the league’s techies and social media gurus are possibly looking at websites without the likenesses of any of its players in case a lockout becomes reality. Thanks to Marcus Vanderberg of SportsNewser for the link.
Dan Fogarty from SportsGrid notes that ESPN is stocking up on attractive blond female sportscasters.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell talks with DirecTV Football Cop C.J. Hunter a.k.a. Eli Manning.
Dave Seminara of the New York Times’ Straight Sets blog isn’t a big fan of having to shuffle around NBC and ESPN2 to find the Wimbledon match he wants to watch.
Newsday’s Neil Best looks at Tiki Barber’s attempted NFL comeback.
And Neil has more with Tiki in his blog.
The Washington Post’s Dan Steinberg in the DC Sports Bog has the results of a local magazine’s sports media poll.
Ed Sherman at Crain’s Chicago Business notes that former Cubs and Nationals manager Jim Riggleman will be a guest analyst for the Cubs-White Sox series on Comcast SportsNet.
The Idaho Press-Tribune notes that CBS Sports Network gets an important pickup in Big Sky country and for fans looking to watch Boise State football.
Brian Murphy of the Idaho Statesman says CBS Sports Network will be added to a digital tier which means customers will have to pay extra to see it.
Joe Flint of the Los Angeles Times says the NFL is going full speed ahead with a new TV package.
Tony Manfred of the Business Insider Sports Page says Comcast hopes to use a Thursday Night NFL Football package to challenge ESPN.
Jim Barthold of Fierce Cable talks about Comcast desperately wanting to pick up the NFL for Versus.
Barry Janoff of The Big Lead says when athletes tweet, they engage their fans.
The Canadian Sports Media Blog says the Pierre McGuire-to-NBC story is just about official.
Sports Media Watch notes that the USA-Mexico Gold Cup Final captured plenty of viewers on Univision.
SMW says the NBC Sports Group has yet to settle on a new name for Versus.
SMW has some announcing recommendations for MLB’s TV partners.
Joe Favorito says it’s time for the Yankees Old Timers Game to shuffle into a new era and bring in a “new generation” of old timers.
Awful Announcing’s Bob Bender is not a fan of ESPN’s coverage of the Women’s World Cup or of women’s soccer in general. And the USA played North Korea today, not China.
And I’ll end it there for today.
