Sport & Story Daily January 12, 2024

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January 12, 2024

Good morning! Penn State and Playfly agree to 15-year multimedia rights deal

Penn State, Playfly Agree to 15-Year Multimedia Rights Deal
Penn State has a new multimedia rights partner after months of discussion, as the school and Playfly Sports have agreed to a 15-year deal, SBJ has learned. An announcement could come as soon as today. The agreement will center on driving commercial growth for the athletic department through fan engagement, content creation and premium game-day programming, among other facets.

“We sort of dove in with both feet to try to structure a relationship that wasn't just around multimedia rights,” Playfly Founder & CEO Michael Schreiber said. “Especially with [AD Pat Kraft’s] vision for the future of Penn State athletics, we saw tons of opportunities to add even more services as we built out the Playfly sports company.”
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Welcome To The Wildest Football Job Fair Ever
As Front Office Sports’ Eric Fisher writes, “Over the course of just a few days, the football coaching market has been flooded in unprecedented fashion, leaving more top available jobs and talent than arguably at any point ever—setting up a ripple effect that will ultimately reach dozens of pro and college teams.

Beginning with the NFL’s Black Monday and continuing with the stunning departures of Nick Saban and Bill Belichick from their iconic roles, the pro and college coaching market is positively teeming. Among the top available jobs and coaches…”
^{theathletic.com}

Michigan AD Warde Manuel: ‘I Want Jim Harbaugh to Stay’
As MLive’s Aaron McMann writes, Manuel has offered Harbaugh, 60, a contract extension that would reportedly make him the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten. Harbaugh still has three years on his current deal that guarantees him more than $7 million annually, but a relatively low buyout that would make an exit possible.”
^mlive.com

College Travel Company’s Split With Exec Spurs Turbulent Lawsuit
Dohmen, in an email statement, told Sportico: “All I can say at this point is that it’s very unfortunate that it had to come to this. I’m hoping that we can get it resolved in a timely manner and go on about our business.” Short’s CEO David LeCompte declined to comment, citing the pending litigation, as did a lawyer representing the company.

The falling out comes at a time when the niche industry of transporting college sports teams is opening up new opportunities amid far-flung conference realignments and the increasing pressure on schools to make their athletes’ travel less onerous.
^sportico.com

NCAA Imposes Significant Sanctions on Florida State for NIL-related Recruiting Violations
The NCAA will impose several penalties against Florida State due to NIL-related recruiting violations committed during the 2022-23 academic calendar, the governing body announced Thursday. According to the NCAA, a Florida State assistant coach (identified by Yahoo Sports as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins) facilitated an impermissible recruiting contact between a booster and a transfer prospect (identified by 247Sports as Georgia offensive tackle Amarius Mims).
^{cbssports.com}

Shota Imanaga Signs with Cubs: Breaking Down His Deal and What’s Next For the Team
Two months after the stunning decision to fire David Ross and make Craig Counsell the highest-paid manager in the game, the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday finally did something else, reaching an agreement with Shota Imanaga on a four-year, $53 million contract, according to league sources with knowledge of the complex deal. The Cubs made the deal official Thursday morning but did not disclose the terms.
^{theathletic.com}

ESPN Recuts Ad to Include Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo After His Comic Rant
“We love working with ESPN because their passion and playfulness is downright contagious,” added Will Kelleher, associate creative director at Preacher. “When we saw Mad Dog’s response to being left out, we knew we had to take action. Shout-out to the whole team, who sprang into action to give Mad Dog his moment in the sun.” 
^adage.com

CBS NFL Analyst Tony Romo Can’t Get By on Just Personality and Prognostication
As Barrett Sports Media’s Andy Masur writes, “Once in a while, Romo seems to get lost in his own ramblings. Sometimes that results in something pretty interesting and funny, but I wish that were the rule rather than the exception. He knows the game, there’s no doubt about that. Just watch him predict the next play. That’s a special talent. He has good insight. I just want to hear more of it, more of his own experiences as a QB in the NFL. Romo has all the intangibles to be a great analyst, but preparation is the key to a great broadcast, I hope he takes that to heart.”
^{barrettsportsmedia.com}

Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh Stresses Importance of New Football Practice Facility as Donations Reach More Than 80% of Goal
According to University of Wisconsin officials, a total of $62.5 million has been raised for funding the new football indoor practice facility adjacent to Camp Randall Stadium.

That amount, bolstered by a $20 million commitment from alums Ted and Mary Kellner, is 83.3% of UW's goal of $75 million. The fundraising efforts started in late October. The estimated cost of the project is $285 million.
^jsonline.com

Dan Lanning Releases Video Confirming Return to Oregon Amid Alabama Rumors
Oregon coach Dan Lanning confirmed that he’s staying in Eugene following rumors and reports linking him as a candidate for the Alabama opening in the wake of Nick Saban’s retirement.

Lanning released a video from his personal account on X (formerly Twitter) confirming to the fan base that he’s not going anywhere. The beginning of the video was a recording of a team meeting to begin work on the 2024 season, where Lanning told his players, “The world has a lot of starters but doesn’t have a lot of finishers.”
^si.com

NCAA President: Michigan Won National Championship ‘Fair and Square’ Amid Sign-Stealing Controversy
“I don’t regret doing it because sitting on that information, given both the comprehensiveness of it—I think we would have put everyone, including Michigan, in an awful place,” Baker said. “I mean, as it was, it was out in the public domain, and people either made adjustments or didn’t. And at the end of the day, no one believes at this point that Michigan didn’t win the national title fair and square. So I think we did the right thing.”
^si.com

Q&A With ... NCHC Commissioner Heather Weems - Talking NCHC Tournament and the Future of Hockey in the NCAA
“I think we're certainly trying to keep our finger on the pulse and drive some conversation around that simply because the governance structure in the NCAA right now doesn't really support or give an avenue for single-sport conferences to have a voice,” NCHC commissioner Heather Weems said. “I think the conversation is mostly being driven by FBS football. But the biggest thing for hockey and particularly for our institutions — I'll speak for the NCHC, but I know it's the truth for other institutions as well on our campuses — hockey is the flagship, and it's extremely important not just to the student-athlete experience, but also to alumni and community outreach.”
^{collegehockeynews.com}

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