The Olympics get started tomorrow with women’s soccer action and while the Games don’t officially begin until Friday with the Opening Ceremony (live in most countries except the United States), today is really the calm before the Olympic storm. Starting tomorrow and going through August 12, this site will be awash in Olympics sports media coverage as it was in 2008 for Beijing and 2010 in Vancouver. While I’ll be covering other sports media news, I’ll be focusing on NBC’s coverage, the business of the Olympics and other news out of London. I hope you’ll continue to visit.
Ok, let’s do the linkage. It’s time to bring it back. I was doing so well last week, six straight days of links, then last Friday, I got bogged down with family stuff and wasn’t able to do what I wanted to. Sometimes that happens. Time to take life back now.
Starting with the great Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, he has his Media Power List for July.
Ed Sherman of the Sherman Report talks with Big Ten Network’s President about doing an about-face and covering the Penn State story wall-to-wall on Monday.
Ed talks with NBC Olympics Executive Producer Jim Bell who takes the reins from his mentor, former NBC Sports Emperor Dick Ebersol, for London.
Sports Business Journal interviews the President of the Jacksonville Jaguars about stadium technology and the NFL Blackout policy.
Daniel Frankel of paidContent says the next sports network carriage dispute will be between the Pac-12 Networks and the two major satellite TV providers.
Michael Hiestand of USA Today says NBC will provide an Olympics “Red Zone Channel” that will be online-only.
Shira Ovide of the Wall Street Journal says NBC will delay the Olympics Opening Ceremony and it won’t be seen live on cable or online.
The Big Lead says ESPN lured Brett McMurphy away from CBSSports.com to become one of its college football insiders.
Gabriel Beltone of Adweek looks at some of the best Olympic ads thus far.
Mike Reynolds at Multichannel News says CBS Sports Network will piggyback on CBS’ coverage of the PGA Championship and US Open tennis.
Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age writes that the Penn State scandal could hurt the school’s marketability down the road.
David Goetzl at MediaPost says McDonald’s has begun its Olympic marketing campaign.
Steve McClellan at MediaPost writes that the Olympics help brand awareness.
Evan Weiner of Examiner.com says the International Olympic Committee should honor the Israeli athletes who were massacred during the 1972 Munich Games.
Sports Video Group notes that the MLB At Bat mobile and tablet app had its 5 millionth download.
Merrill Knox of TVSpy says a former Washington DC sports anchor returns home to the Bay Area.
Excellent story from Jason Schwartz of Boston Magazine on the hard fall of Curt Schilling’s 38 Studios. Nothing to do with sports media, but very good reporting.
The Boston Bruins announced Monday that it has signed an extension with radio flagship WBZ-FM.
The New York Times’ Richard Sandomir says you’ll be able to see all of NBC’s live Olympics streams, provided you sign up.
Newsday’s Neil Best talks about Sports Illustrated coming to TV.
Pete Dougherty at the Albany Times Union says the Open Championship received its highest overnight rating in four years.
Ken McMillan of the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record writes that NBC’s Olympic specialty channels will be picked up locally.
Bob Fernandez of the Philadelphia Inquirer says Comcast will be all over the Olympics on its cable platforms.
David Selig of the Baltimore Sun says an Orioles pitching prospect will be featured on tonight’s premiere of Sports Illustrated on NBC Sports Network.
Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog notes that the area’s sports radio stations are getting ready for the Robert Griffin III era in DC.
Dan notes that Maryland’s field hockey coach Missy Meharg who will be an Olympics analyst for NBC.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci who will be a part of the magazine’s TV premiere tonight.
KSAT-TV in San Antonio named Jessica Ghawi an honorary member of its sports department. She was one of the 12 victims killed in the Aurora, CO movie theater massacre.
Jerry Garcia of the San Antonio Express-News writes about the KSAT honor for Jessica.
Paul M. Banks of Chicago Sports Media Watch says MLB Advanced Media is bad for baseball.
Dusty Saunders of the Denver Post says NBC’s Olympic coverage begins and ends with the Holy Diminutive One, Bob Costas.
Ben Fong-Torres of the San Francisco Chronicle profiles Ron Barr and his Sports Byline USA network which keeps plugging along from the Bay Area in a world dominated by ESPN Radio.
Joe Lucia at Awful Announcing says Big Ten Network got the job done in covering the Penn State sanctions on Monday.
Sports Media Watch has some various ratings news and notes.
Steve Lepore at Puck The Media says ESPN should air TSN’s SportsCentre to gain street cred with hockey fans.
Tony Manfred of the Business Insider’s Sports page notes that the Olympics helped to transform one of London’s seedier neighborhoods into a showcase.
And that’s going to do it.
