Been busy this week shuffling between two offices and while I’m trying to tie up a few things from last month, I’ll do a few links for you.
USA Today’s Michael Hiestand says ESPN is pulling out the stops to cover this week’s Open Championship.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch has his Media Power Rankings for June/July.
Jason Whitlock at Fox Sports has his facetious take on “The Decision.”
Fox Sports’ Brian Lowry feels All-Star Games in every sport need some punching up.
John Ourand and Terry Lefton of the Sports Business Journal have a good feature story on the rivalry between ESPN’s Baseball Tonight and MLB Network’s MLB Tonight.
Tripp Mickle of the SBJ says World Cup sponsors are pleased by the early results of their activation.
Tripp and John look at the short-term and long-term effects of the high World Cup TV ratings.
Mark Walsh in MediaPost says both ESPN and Univision saw increases in online viewing for the World Cup.
Sommer Saadi in Bloomberg Businessweek writes that while the TV ratings were good, neither ESPN nor Univision made money from the World Cup.
Lauren Goode of the Wall Street Journal says the World Cup helped to bring viewers to ESPN’s Mobile TV, but the numbers are small compared to other media.
Shira Ovide of the Journal writes that Turner Sports is ready to take on ESPN on the web.
Writing for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center, the St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans says ESPN’s “The Decision” blurs the line between promotion and journalism.
Milton Kent of Fanhouse looks at the anemic All-Star Game ratings.
Rich Thomaselli of Advertising Age speaks with the agent who helped to bring the LeBron James Decision into live TV fruition.
CNBC’s Darren Rovell says LeBron James did not take as much of a hit on his brand from “The Decision” as you would think.
Darren also looks at the New York Islanders signing a new cupcake deal.
Ben Grossman of Broadcasting & Cable says ESPN’s World Cup coverage gave the International Olympic Committee notice that it could cover an international event.
Glen Dickson of B&C looks at the company that provided worldwide streams of the World Cup for various media outlets.
R. Thomas Umstead of Multichannel News says DirecTV has increased its coverage of the Open Championship for subscribers.
Mike Reynolds at Multichannel writes that ESPN and Univision saw their biggest-ever audiences for the World Cup.
Todd Spangler in Multichannel tells us to get ready for another cable retransmission fight, this one between Time Warner and Disney which includes ESPN.
Katy Bachman of Mediaweek writes that Michael Irvin will begin a new syndicated radio show on July 25.
Toni Fitzgerald from Media Life Magazine looks at the precipitous ratings drop for this year’s MLB All-Star Game.
Michael Whitmer of the Boston Globe says the LPGA Tour is being mistreated by its TV partners.
Dan Shaughnessy from the Globe mourns the passing of Jack Craig who was the nation’s first sports media TV and Radio critic for the newspaper.
Bill Doyle from the Worcester Telegram & Gazette laments the loss of the Open Championship from over the air TV.
Ken Belson and Richard Sandomir of the New York Times look at the Yankees’ plans to honor former public address announcer Bob Sheppard and owner George Steinbrenner this weekend.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post says it was hard to root for Steinbrenner based on his past and how he treated people.
From the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman says a big part of Steinbrenner’s legacy is the YES Network.
Pete Dougherty from the Albany Times Union says the four NCAA Tournament play-in games will be aired on truTV under the new CBS/Turner contract.
Pete puts the MLB All-Star Game ratings drop squarely on the shoulders of Walking, Talking Conflict of Interest Bud Selig.
In Press Box, Dave Hughes of DCRTV.com talks to John Riggins whose show returned to MASN this month.
Leonard Shapiro of the Washington Post says “The Decision” calls ESPN’s integrity into question yet again.
Dan Steinberg in the Post’s DC Sports Bog says Verizon Fios will be adding MASN2 in HD.
Jim Williams of the Washington Examiner talks with an ESPN exec about its first start-to-finish coverage of the Open Championship.
Dustin Long of the Hampton Roads Virginian-Pilot says ESPN’s NASCAR analyst Rusty Wallace has apologized for calling driver Kyle Busch “a dumbass” after last week’s Nationwide race in Chicago.
Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald says Michael Irvin’s syndicated radio show will be heard in South Florida later this month.
Sarah Talalay in the South Florida Sun Sentinel says Dolphins owner Steve Ross could be the beneficiary of some tax breaks … in New Jersey.
Jeremy Fowler of the Orlando Sentinel profiles Erin Andrews’ sideline replacement on ESPN’s Thursday night college football package, Jenn Brown.
Corrie MacLaggan from the Austin American-Statesman says a local ESPN Radio host has been off the air since May due to his candidacy for the State legislature.
In the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Bob Wolfley talks about the Brewers’ ranking in a poll naming their favorite baseball team and the All-Star Game TV ratings.
Ed Sherman in Crain’s Chicago Business says White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf had a unique relationship with Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.
Philip Hersh of the Chicago Tribune writes that the US Olympic movement owes a huge debt of gratitude to George Steinbrenner.
Bob Mayhall in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat reports that Missouri Tigers football voice Mike Kelly will call Kansas City Chiefs exhibition games next month.
Dan Caesar from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes that the Cardinals will be all-cable next season.
Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News previews the second season (what?) of Shaq Vs.
Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star says Sunday’s World Cup Final cleaned up in the ratings for CBC.
Sports Media Watch looks at the 50 most watched sports programs on broadcast and cable TV through the half year.
I don’t follow the ESPY’s and have never watched them, but The Big Lead did and has a nice roundup of red carpet pictures of the various hot chicks who were in attendance.
Joe Favorito says Netball is approaching its Centennial and could be finding a global audience and more importantly, some sponsors.
Matthew Coller at the Biz of Hockey has the NCAA Frozen Four locations for 2013 and 2014.
Dave Kohl at the Major League Programs blog says having Michael Irvin start his syndicated radio show in Miami is a good fit for both parties.
SportsbyBrooks found ESPN hottie Michelle Beadle (and a candidate to appear in this year’s Five Women Who Can Make Me Stop the Remote) in a bar after the ESPY’s.
And we’ll end it there.
