Sport & Story Daily January 16, 2024

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January 16, 2024

Good morning! ESPN learns about the “chaos” of college football at the Annual Football Coaches Association convention

College Football Calendar a 'Mess': Coaches Convention Takeaways
ESPN spent four days last week at the Annual Football Coaches Association convention, where more than 7,000 coaches descended from every corner of the sport. The event wrapped up Wednesday with a discussion on the sport’s biggest challenges.

As ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg writes, “Multiple coaches used words like ‘chaos’ and ‘mess’ to describe the current state of college football. Before Wednesday's meeting, a Group of 5 coach said it would be hard to screw up the sport more if you tried. Although coaches realize they're not seen as victims and shouldn't be -- ‘We make $2 million to $10 million per year,’ a Big 12 coach said late Tuesday. ‘We're paid to deal with this stuff’ -- they also want their voices heard and note that they predicted some of the sport's biggest challenges years ago.”
^espn.com

More Streaming NFL Playoff Games Expected After Peacock Sees Record Viewership
Despite initial complaints about the paywall, the game averaged 23 million viewers on Peacock, NFL+, and on NBC affiliates in K.C. and Miami. Saturday's Dolphins-Chiefs game streamed exclusively on Peacock is “unlikely to be the last playoff matchup shown on a streaming service” after SBJ notes that it drew a record audience.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Australian Open Serving Up a Big Purse Increase
The Australian Open begins this weekend, and, as Front Office Sports’ David Rumsey writes, “The first Grand Slam of 2024 looks to set the tone for the biggest tennis events of the year.

Players at Melbourne Park will be competing for about $60 million after the Australian Open made a record 13% increase to its overall prize fund for this year’s tournament. That’s a bigger purse than last year’s French Open and Wimbledon, but still less than the U.S. Open. And once the other three tennis Grand Slams approach, each likely delivering their own annual financial boosts, the Australian Open could still be near the bottom of the prize pool.”
^{frontofficesports.com}

Lessons in Business From The WWE and World of Professional Wrestling
WWE is a sports and entertainment company that aims to put smiles on people’s faces through different characters and storytelling. By creating strong fan loyalty and engagement, incredible results are achieved, and this often leads to numerous revenue opportunities.

As Barrett Sports Media’s Jason Barrett writes, “Media consumption, monetization, and social media reach have drastically changed. Rather than chasing meters and subjectively touting that we have ‘the best content‘ we should be focused on building strong, sustainable, multiplatform businesses.”
^{barrettsportsmedia.com}

NFL Wild-Card Playoffs: Offseason Questions for Losing Teams
As ESPN’s Bill Barnwell writes, “For these four organizations [Browns, Dolphins Cowboys, Rams], the offseason begins now. And while they'll probably look back and be pleased to have advanced to the postseason, the goal naturally will be to take a step forward and make it further in 2024. Let's look at the big question for each of the four teams coming out of their postseason loss and how they might rectify or solve that issue to be better next season.”
^espn.com

Why This Overlooked Yankees Signing Could Be a Sneaky-Good Addition to Replenished Pitching Staff
As CBS Sports’ Mike Axisa writes, “Late last week, the New York Yankees added to their starting rotation in a big way and a small way. The big way is Marcus Stroman. New York signed the 2023 All-Star to a two-year, $37 million contract with a vesting option for a third year. He'll essentially replace Michael King in the rotation after shipping the latter out as the returning headliner in the Juan Soto trade with the San Diego Padres.”
^{cbssports.com}

NFL “Wild” Weekend Broadcasting Takeaways
As Barrett Sports Media’s Dave Greene writes, “It was billed as ‘Super Wild Card weekend’ for the NFL. And wild it was, with many different game storylines, the weather, changing schedules, Taylor’s coat and much more.”

But Greene goes on to call out the biggest story of the date, “PeacockGate,” and he says, “If you just wanted to complain about having to pay to get the game, I have a news bulletin for you: GET USED TO IT, MORE IS COMING!”
^{barrettsportsmedia.com}

ESPN’s College GameDay Covered by State Farm Heads to Baton Rouge for No. 1 South Carolina at No. 7 LSU on Jan. 25; First of Five Women’s Basketball Stops This Season
ESPN’s College GameDay Covered by State Farm® travels to Baton Rouge, La., on Thursday, Jan. 25, for its first of five women’s college basketball shows this season. The one-hour program will air at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN, preceding the conference rivalry between No. 1 South Carolina and No. 7 LSU. The game is part of ESPN’s annual We Back Pat initiative honoring late women’s basketball coaching legend Pat Summitt.
^{espnpressroom.com}

The Indianapolis Airport Currently Has a Full Court Basketball Court 
It was put in the airport to celebrate the NBA All-Star Game in Indy next month.
^twitter.com

New Center Will Better Support Mason’s Student-Athletes
George Mason University Athletics has announced plans to expand the Recreation Athletic Complex on the Fairfax Campus to provide a modernized academic support venue for Mason’s 500 student-athletes and to improve resources for the men’s and women’s basketball programs.

The 7,000-square-foot academic performance center will serve all Mason student-athletes. The $30 million expansion, half of which would be funded by Athletics, has an estimated completion date of summer 2026.
^gmu.edu

Sources: Texas A&M Athletic Director Ross Bjork Has Emerged as the Target in Ohio State's Athletic Director Search
According to Pete Thamel, the search is supposed to be finalized in the upcoming days.
^twitter.com

ODU Men’s Basketball Head Coach Jeff Jones to Take Leave
Old Dominion University Head Men's Basketball Coach Jeff Jones announced Sunday that he will step away from coaching for the rest of the season due to health issues.
 
Jones has been recovering at home since suffering a heart attack and subsequent stent procedure on December 20, 2023, during the team's trip to the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
^{odusports.com}

Leaked Audio of Kalen DeBoer Telling the UW Team He was Heading to Alabama
As Jamey Barnes writes on Twitter, “Heavy stuff, he obviously struggled with leaving those guys.”
^twitter.com

UConn Budget Trending in the Right Direction in '23 Financial Report
Ticket revenues reportedly rose 32.8%, from $9.7 to $12.9M, and contributions 30.3%, from $13.7 to $17.7M. UConn Athletics will "release its NCAA financial report for fiscal year 2023” tomorrow, and the numbers are “trending in the right direction,” according to Dom Amore.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Paul Finebaum Highlights His Greatest Concerns About Kalen DeBoer at Alabama
“So that’s really the issue, and quite frankly, this man a week ago was in the national championship game,” said sports columnist and author Paul Finebaum. “That’s probably my biggest concern for Kalen DeBoer, being able to find enough hours in the day to deal with the issues. There’s probably multiple issues he’s having to deal with every single moment.”
^on3.com

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