Sport & Story Daily January 24, 2024

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January 24, 2024

Good morning! Netflix makes its move into live sports with a WWE smackdown

Netflix Finally Makes Its Big Move Into Live Sports—in the Most Logical Way
As Front Office Sports reports, Netflix’s first major move into live sports is happening with what is likely the most natural and favorable set of circumstances for the dominant streaming platform. 

On Tuesday, the company completed a 10-year deal with WWE to stream its flagship weekly show, Raw, beginning in January 2025, and building massively upon Netflix’s modest steps in live sports to date, such as the in-house golf tournament The Netflix Cup and the similar tennis tournament The Netflix Slam. Valued at more than $5 billion, the WWE-Netflix agreement will not only see the streamer show Raw in the U.S. but also pick up international rights for other major WWE properties, such as SmackDown, WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Royal Rumble. A behind-the-scenes WWE documentary airing on Netflix is also being discussed. 
^{frontofficesports.com}

GM To Sit Out Super Bowl, Breaking 4-Year Streak 
Despite the Detroit Lions making a historic run in the playoffs, General Motors will sit out the 2024 Super Bowl, breaking a four-year Big Game ad streak. 

The move comes under new marketing leadership—in July, GM hired former CVS Chief Marketing Officer Norm de Greve as its senior VP and CMO, replacing Deborah Wahl, who had held the CMO role since 2019, and was a proponent of Super Bowl advertising. 
^adage.com

Chiefs-Bills Delivers Best NFL Divisional Round Audience With 50.4 Million Viewers
The viewership for Chiefs-Bills on Sunday was higher than each of the last five NFC Championship broadcasts. Chiefs-Bills on Sunday delivered the best NFL Divisional Round audience on record, with CBS pulling in 50.4 million viewers.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Dwayne Johnson Gets $30 Million Stock in WWE Promotional Deal
As Sportico’s Brendan Coffey writes, “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is inking a promotional deal with WWE that will pay him more than $30 million, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission Tuesday.

TKO Group, the parent of WWE and UFC, named Johnson to its board of directors Tuesday, as part of a move to increase the size of the board to 13 members from 11. Joining Johnson on the TKO board is technology executive Brad Keywell.

At the same time, Johnson has agreed to a merchandising and promotional agreement with WWE that will allow the wrestling company to use his name, image and likeness for up to a decade. In return, TKO will give Johnson stock worth $30 million, based on the recent 30-day weighted average—probably around the value of $76 a share, or about 400,000 shares.”
^sportico.com

Super Bowl on Univision—Why Some Advertisers Are Skipping CBS For the Simulcast
As Ad Age’s Parker Herren writes, “TelevisaUnivision will air Super Bowl LVIII’s Spanish-language broadcast for the first time, and multiple brands are using it as an opportunity to go all-in on Hispanic viewers. 

Brands including Nissan, Audi and Metro by T-Mobile have announced campaigns that will air only on Univision’s Feb.11 broadcast (also streaming on TelevisaUnivision’s Vix) as marketers seek to engage the growing Hispanic population, while also taking a more budget-friendly approach to Super Bowl Sunday.”
^adage.com

Camping World Stadium Gets $400M to Fund Reno
The 17-year-old Camping World Stadium campus vision that Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan has long harbored is a big step closer to completion after the Orange County Board of County Commissioners voted 6-1 today to approve $400M in funding for stadium renovations.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Lakers Discussed Potential Blockbuster Trade for ‘Bona Fide Star’ Such as Trae Young, per Report
As SI.com’s Jeff Smith writes, “Whether the Los Angeles Lakers can compete for an NBA title with the roster as it currently stands or by making a minor trade or two remains a popular debate. But if the team’s front office and VP of basketball operations, Rob Pelinka, aren’t sold on that being the case, it appears they’ve already discussed the idea of swinging for the fences.

The Lakers have had internal discussions about sending three draft picks, paired with players already on the current roster, to land a “bona fide star,” according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, who mentioned two specific names.

Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young and Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell.”
^si.com

Titans Agree to Hire Bengals Offensive Coordinator Brian Callahan as Head Coach, AP Source Says
The Tennessee Titans have agreed to hire Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan as their head coach, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Monday on the condition of anonymity because the deal hadn’t been finalized.

Callahan replaces Mike Vrabel, who was fired on Jan. 9 after six seasons and losing 18 of his final 24 games.
^apnews.com

R.C. Slocum Named Interim Athletics Director
Special Assistant to the President R.C. Slocum has been named interim director of athletics by Texas A&M President Mark A. Welsh III, effective Feb. 1. This marks the second time Slocum has been asked to take over in an interim role during a search for a new AD. He also was asked to serve in the role in 2019.

"Coach Slocum has been a champion for Texas A&M on and off the field for more than 50 years," Welsh said. "His passion for this university, knowledge of Aggie athletics and commitment to the success of our student-athletes are second to none, and I'm grateful for his willingness to once again step into this interim role."
^12thman.com

Bears Hire Seahawks’ Shane Waldron as Offensive Coordinator
The Chicago Bears hired the Seattle Seahawks’ Shane Waldron as their offensive coordinator to replace offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who was fired on Jan. 10.

For the past three seasons, Waldron, 44, has served as the Seahawks’ offensive coordinator. Before that, he worked for the Rams, serving as passing-game coordinator in three of his four seasons in Los Angeles, and was Washington’s offensive quality control coach in 2016.
^{theathletic.com}

Bucks Fire Coach Adrian Griffin After 43 Games, per Report
As SI.com’s Patrick Andres reports, “After just 43 games, it appears Milwaukee Bucks coach Adrian Griffin's tenure is over.

The Bucks dismissed Griffin Tuesday afternoon, according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Griffin, 49, was hired by Milwaukee on June 5 after a lengthy stint as a Toronto Raptors assistant. Replacing fired coach Mike Budenholzer, he led the Bucks to a 30–13 record, second in the Eastern Conference behind the Boston Celtics.”
^si.com

Iowa/OSU Women’s Basketball Game Breaks Records
The women’s basketball game between the Ohio State University and the University of Iowa averaged 1.93 million viewers, the most-watched regular-season women’s college basketball game on any network since 2010.
^twitter.com

Athletic Department Donations Up Despite Rise of NIL Collectives
As Sportico reports, “The rise of the NIL collectives—pools of donor money distributed directly to college athletes—has presented a big fund-raising question for colleges: Will donations to the athletic department slow now that boosters have another avenue for supporting their favorite teams?

Early data says no. Sportico is in the process of collecting the annual revenue/expense reports for all 115 public schools in college football’s top tier for the 2022-23 school year, the first major year of collectives on a national level. Across the first 46 schools that have provided documents, the median school’s donations are up 13%.”
^sportico.com

Ohio State Reports Record Athletics Revenue in FY 2023
The Ohio State Department of Athletics continues to succeed on and off the field, reporting record revenue of $279,549,337 in fiscal year 2023.

Revenue for the year running from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, increased 11% from the previous fiscal year’s record $251,615,345, according to an annual financial report filed each year with the NCAA.

“Ohio State athletics remain on a rock-solid foundation thanks to the tremendous support from our fans, students and alumni,” said Gene Smith, senior vice president and Wolfe Foundation endowed athletic director.
^news.osu.edu

College Sports’ Rising Costs Becoming Institutional Level Problem
“The cost to colleges and universities in student-athlete recruitment and acquisition is higher than it’s ever been. Then you add deregulation, more liberal transfer guidelines and chaos in NIL, it makes these commitments more like a series of one-year contracts,” Tim Pernetti (president of IMG Academy and former director of athletics at Rutgers University) said. “Then you face the cost to retain student-athletes including developing deep NIL resources, and making massive experience investments which is another challenge entirely.”
^{blog.johnwallstreet.com}

Caught in Crossfire of an Amateurism Trial: Realignment, Social Media Policies, and Athlete Handbooks
As Front Office Sports’ Amanda Christovich writes, “On Monday, at a labor trial over college athlete employment, USC deputy AD (and former interim AD) Denise Kwok made several eyebrow-raising statements.

Kwok, charged with overseeing athlete academics and well-being, did not clearly answer whether athletes would be impacted by increased travel due to conference realignment. She also testified that her athletic department does not currently have an athlete handbook or social media policy, despite their ubiquity in college sports.”
^{frontofficesports.com}

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