Sport & Story Daily November 27, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

November 27, 2023

Good morning! Amazon’s “Black Friday” NFL broadcast is a game-changer.

NFL’s Black Friday game is the latest warning sign for traditional TV
The Miami Dolphins and the New York Jets face off in the National Football League’s first ever Black Friday game this week — but it’s not going to be the usual broadcast or cable offering. The game will stream exclusively on Amazon’s Prime Video. The NFL’s decision to start a new Thanksgiving tradition with a streaming platform instead of a broadcast or cable channel is yet another indicator of trouble for linear, or traditional, TV, which has suffered from slumping ad revenue and customers cutting the cable cord.
Read more here.

DeMar DeRozan Made NBA History In Bulls-Nets Game
On Sunday evening, the Chicago Bulls are in New York facing off against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. DeMar DeRozan is playing in his 1,048th career regular season game, which tied Leroy Ellis for 115th on the all-time list.
Read more here.

Alex Smith roasts Tom Brady's mediocrity comment: He played in 'biggest cupcake division'
Former NFL quarterback Alex Smith pushed back on Tom Brady’s recent comments, saying he sees "a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL." And he had no problem roasting Brady, and his fellow "NFL Countdown" panelists in former Patriots receive Randy Moss, former Patriots linebacker Teddy Bruschi and former Jets and Bills coach Rex Ryan in the process.
Read more here.

MLB rumors: A dark horse contender for Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto's expected timeline after posting
As expected, Major League Baseball news the past few days has been slow. Now that we're past Thanksgiving, the expectation should be that things pick up here in the next few days. Generally speaking, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is when the most player movement happens. With the hope that the deluge of transactions happens soon, let's dive into today's news and rumors.
Read more here.

Minnesota Wild goalie wears Native American mask despite threats of punishment from NHL
Marc-Andre Fleury was notified that he would be punished if he were to wear a Native American-themed mask during warm-ups on Friday night. He wore it anyway. Fleury's Minnesota Wild held a Native American Heritage Night on Friday evening, so the goalie had a mask designed by a member of the Prairie Island Indian Community to honor his wife's background. However, over the summer, the NHL banned themed equipment from the ice during warm-ups.
Read more here.

DraftKings Needs a Growth Strategy or a New Story for the Public Markets
DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG) has been on a tear. The company overtook FanDuel as the U.S. market share leader in October (at least by one key metric, top line revenue) and recently reported revenues rose 57% YoY to $790 million in Q3.

Its share price is up ~250% YTD.

But heavy is the head that wears the crown (DraftKings logo pun intended). The recent success has brought upon a new challenge. Where does a high growth company that has long chased the online sports betting market leader go from here?

New states, online casino, and international expansion all remain possibilities.

But the surest bet is to “turn back to what it can do with the core market, the core product, to bring in more consumers and to find more ways to expand wallet share with those consumers,” Chris Grove (partner emeritus, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming) said.

Read more at JohnWallStreet >>>

Here Is How Much The NFL May Increase The Debt Limits For Its Owners
Members of the National Football League’s finance committee are leaning toward increasing the debt limit for the league’s team owners. Currently, owners can have as much as $600 million of debt on their team, and a buyer of a team can use as much as $1.1 billion of debt. According to the NFL executives who spoke with Forbes, those figures are likely to be increased to $1 billion and $1.6 billion, respectively.
forbes.com

What is Donna Kelce’s Net Worth? The NFL Mom Worked in Finance for Three Decades
As the mother of two Super Bowl champions, Donna Kelce has a lot to be proud of. The 71-year-old is now in the spotlight for something other than the epic rivalry between her boys at the NFL’s biggest match: Her son Travis’ relationship with Taylor Swift. Wondering about Donna Kelce’s net worth?
stylecaster.com

Scott Hanson, NFL RedZone forced into ‘unprecedented’ studio evacuation as alarm sounds
Perhaps Sunday’s NFL action got a little too hot at the NFL RedZone studios. Emergency alarms were set off during the live broadcast, forcing an evacuation as host Scott Hanson was on the air. While the evacuation of both the studio and control room appeared brief, alarms were still heard in the background as Hanson signed off for the day. Hanson cut in as the program was doing a live look-in as the Bills were driving down the field.
nypost.com

Jason Benetti signs multi-year contract with Detroit Tigers as TV play-by-play broadcaster
The Detroit Tigers promised to be ambitious in their search process for a new television voice of the team. It's safe to say, the franchise accomplished that by hiring one of the best in the business. The Tigers hired Jason Benetti on Thursday as the television play-by-play announcer on the Bally Sports Detroit broadcast, beginning in the 2024 season. He signed a multi-year contract.
freep.com

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bucks stun Trail Blazers with biggest comeback in the NBA this season
The only reason Sunday's matinee between the Milwaukee Bucks and the lowly Portland Trail Blazers was circled on anyone's calendar was because of the Damian Lillard angle. Instead, his first game against his former team will be remembered for the Bucks' historic comeback in their 108-102 win. Milwaukee's 26-point comeback is the largest in the league this season, and the largest second-half comeback in franchise history.
cbssports.com

Joe Burrow investigation: Bengals turn over hours of footage to NFL showing QB was healthy, per report
The Cincinnati Bengals lost star quarterback Joe Burrow for the season due to a wrist injury suffered in the Week 11 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The right wrist injury either evolved from a pre-existing issue that was not reported as it should have been, or is a big coincidence, which is why the NFL is investigating the matter.
cbssports.com

Patriots’ Jabrill Peppers Rips NFL, Refs Over No-Call on Violent Hit That Knocked WR Out of Game
Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers was not at all pleased with the officiating in Week 12’s 10-7 loss to the Giants. Peppers took particular issue with a high hit taken by teammate Demario Douglas on a punt return, who was knocked out of action for the game by Giants linebacker undefined. Brown's forearm came across Douglas's face mask on the play, leaving Douglas to be treated by the medical team on the field. While his teammates pleaded with officials to throw a flag, none was thrown.
si.com

Panthers owner David Tepper drops F-bomb after loss: When will ax fall on Frank Reich?
David Tepper reacted to the Carolina Panthers’ latest loss probably like most fans of the woebegone franchise. Exiting the visitors locker room at Nissan Stadium after a 17-10 defeat to the Tennessee Titans, Tepper took several strides, shook his head and yelled, “F—!”

It was that kind of day—and has been that kind of season—for an owner whose frustration has seemingly reached a boiling point. Considering Tepper’s track record, it’s hard to see how Frank Reich will make it through his first season as the Panthers’ head coach.
theathletic.com

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