Yesterday, we listed the bottom half of the Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2014. Now on this New Year’s Day 2015, we list the top half of the Big Dozen. If you need a reminder, Part I of the Big Dozen went as follows:
7. CBS Gets Thursday Night Football
8. ESPN, Fox and Univision Get MLS
9. ESPN’s Silly Suspensions
10. TBS’ First Year With the NCAA Men’s Final Four™
11. First Year of Multiple Screens for Big Events
12. MLB’s Low National Ratings vs. Record-High Local Ratings
It’s now time to go to the Top 6 sports media stories of the year. Remember, the stories get bigger as the numbers get smaller. I feel like Casey Kasem doing a countdown. RIP, Casey.
6. The NBA Continues with ESPN and Turner Sports
Before the NBA agreed to new TV contracts with incumbents ESPN and Turner Sports in October, there had been rumors about the league bringing in Fox Sports 1 or even alternating the NBA Finals between ESPN and TNT. Well, that didn’t happen. Instead, the NBA chose to go with the status quo, but for a lot more money.
In a nine-year deal that begins with the 2016-17 season and lasting until the 2024-2025 season, the NBA will receive a total of $24 billion from ESPN and Turner. ESPN will continue to air games on Wednesday and Friday nights as well broadcast the finals on ABC. Turner continues to run NBA Media including NBA TV and telecast more games on TNT including one conference final.
ESPN increases its commitment to the NBA with year-round programming and it will develop an over the top service to reach viewers without cable. Details of this service are not available, but it’s a possibility that it could launch next season, before the new contract takes effect.
5. The World Cup is a Success in ESPN’s Last Season
Maybe it was the summer season or perhaps it was the US-friendly time zones in Brazil that allowed fans to watch right after work, no matter, the World Cup on ESPN/ESPN2 and ABC was a giant success. Team USA’s run into the led to some great numbers for ESPN with a 9.6 rating and 18.22 million viewers for USA vs. Portugal, both records for a soccer match viewed in the US. The World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina on ABC drew 17.3 million viewers which was also a record.
Not only were the ratings high, but the production went well. ESPN could not have asked for a better month.
Fox has taken over the FIFA contract and begins this year with the Women’s World Cup in Canada. It has yet to announce who will call the games as Gus Johnson resigned as main soccer voice in September.
4. Bill Simmons vs. ESPN
If Bill Simmons didn’t exist, someone would have to create him. As he enters the last year of his contract with the Alleged Worldwide Leader, there’s evidence that the relationship between the two is eroding. In 2014, there was Simmons pouting over airtime at the NBA Finals causing Sage Steele to shake her head. There was the Simmons three-week suspension for calling NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell a liar and challenging his bosses to suspend him for said comments. There was Simmons going after Mike & Mike.
It was a rather interesting year for sports media observers especially for those who follow ESPN for a living. We’ll see if Simmons will stay with ESPN in 2015 or if he leaves to start his own venture, or if he decides to join another network. Would a network want the headaches that come with a Bill Simmons? These are questions that will be answered in the coming months.
3. NBC Signs a Megadeal to Keep the Olympics Forever
Ok, maybe not forever, but at least through 2032. Three months after airing the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, NBCUniversal surprised the sports media world by announcing a deal extending its contract with the International Olympic Committee for another decade. It’s current deal runs through the 2020 Olympics. The Peacock signed a $7.65 billion deal with the IOC extending that for another six Olympiads. Comcast which began ownership of NBC in this decade saw the value of keeping the Olympics and IOC Chairman Thomas Bach and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts put together the deal which secures the long-term future of the Olympic movement.
3a. Sochi Olympics Ratings Were a Mixed Bag
NBC went into the Olympics with high hopes, but ended leaving with the lowest rating in the 18-49 demographic in primetime, down considerably from Vancouver. However, NBCSN saw record ratings for live hockey and figure skating coverage, a dramatic opposite from previous Olympiads when NBC would not show events live.
3b. Bob Costas Catches Pink Eye; Has to Sit Out
One of the big stories of the Sochi Olympics was not Mikaela Shiffrin winning a gold medal or Lindsay Vonn sitting out or the failure of the Russian hockey team, but NBC’s Bob Costas getting pink eye and having to sit out for an extended stretch. Today co-host Matt Lauer and former Today co-host Meredith Vieira filled in. The New York Post claimed the pink eye came from a botched botox injection, something that Costas and NBC later denied.
3c. The Tara and Johnny Show Ruled Sochi
One of the pleasant surprises was the commentary from figure skating analysts Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir. Tara and Johnny turned out to be the shining stars of the Games from a TV standpoint. They also turned their social mdia accounts into must-sees for their fashion and short videos. Terry Gannon was the perfect straight man. And because their work was so good, NBC named them as the figure skating commentary team for the 2018 Olympics.
2. NFL Domestic Violence Issues
The Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson stories dominated the NFL in the summer and early into the 2014 regular season. And the reporting from various outlets put the NFL on the defensive. Whether it was the elevator video that made the league do an about-face on Rice’s original two-game suspension or the indictment on Peterson that led him out of the league, the NFL spent most of the summer backpedaling.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell did an interview with CBS’ Norah O’Donnell, but hid under his desk until a shaky press conference a week later where he mostly dodged questions. There was talk that Goodell would have to resign, but he maintained support from the NFL owners and appears to be firmly entrenched in his position. But even so, he appears to be weakened from the Rice and Peterson stories.
We’ll see how he does in 2015.
1. TMZ’s Reporting Influences Two Sports Leagues
It was the TMZ’s release of the Ray Rice videos, first one where he was dragging his then-fiancée out of a casino elevator, then the one showing he hit her inside that forced the NFL to change its two-game suspension of the Baltimore Ravens running back to indefinite. The release of both tapes forced the NFL’s hand on the situation. Had the video inside the elevator not been released, the league might have stood pat on the two-game suspension and held steadfast to its position. But the release of the elevator video led to a chain of events that sent the NFL reeling and still is to this day.
Then there was TMZ’s obtaining and subsequent release of the infamous audio of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling spouting racist remarks to V. Stiviano. It led the NBA to suspend Sterling for life and then forced him to sell the team.
Some traditional journalists may lament the role that TMZ played here, but as we are in a new age where digital and new media get more of a foothold with a thirsty audience, the rise of TMZ shows that it can join the pack and influence sports leagues.
It was a rather interesting few months where TMZ was taking the lead on both the NBA and the NFL stories and shaking both leagues to their core.
Will this influence other outlets to find incriminating tapes and videos? Maybe not, but it has influenced the sports media in how it treats Roger Goodell especially in the wake of the Rice and Peterson stories.
The year 2014 brought some interesting stories to the forefront and we look forward to what 2015 will bring us.
So to recap our Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2014:
1. TMZ’s Reporting Influences the NBA and the NFL
2. NFL’s Domestic Violence Issues
3. NBC Keeps the Olympics Forever
4. Bill Simmons vs. ESPN
5. The World Cup is a Success in ESPN’s Last Season
6. The NBA Stays with ESPN and Turner
7. CBS Gets Thursday Night Football
8. ESPN, Fox and Univision Get MLS
9. ESPN’s Silly Suspensions
10. TBS’ First Year With the NCAA Men’s Final Four™
11. First Year of Multiple Screens for Big Events
12. MLB’s Low National Ratings vs. Record-High Local Ratings
That concludes the Big Dozen Sports Media Stories of 2014.
