Sport & Story Daily May 21, 2024

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May 21, 2024

Good morning! Sports in Limelight @ Upfronts

TV Upfronts 2024—Media Buyers React to Amazon, Netflix, Disney, NBCU and Other Ad Pitches
Ad Age’s Parker Herron reports: “Amazon debuted numerous scripted series and game shows coming to Prime Video and breezed through its valuable sports content, including ‘Thursday Night Football’ and the WNBA.

“And while Netflix is known for its entertainment content, it gave attention to its new sports assets. The streamer announced exclusive NFL games streaming on Christmas Day in 2024, 2025 and 2026, and played up its upcoming WWE Raw matches streaming live every week in 2025.”
^{Ad Age}

Caitlin Clark Adjusting to Playing in the WNBA, Finishes First Week on a High Note
“I think the media needs to give her a little bit of grace and time to develop into a player,” Liberty center Jonquel Jones said. “She’s learning every game she’s out there.”

And, as AP News’ Doug Feinberg writes, “Even if her stats haven’t been at the same eye-popping level they were in college yet, Clark has already left her mark. Her first three games with the Fever have been huge for attendance and TV ratings.”
^{AP News}

Is Man City’s Premier League Dominance Making Soccer’s Most Dominant League Boring?
AP News’ James Robson writes, “A fourth straight Premier League title for Manchester City marks an unprecedented period of dominance by one team in English soccer. A sixth in seven seasons underlines City’s superiority in a league that is widely regarded as the most competitive — and certainly the most popular — in the sport. But does City’s pre-eminence mean England’s top division is in danger of becoming a turn-off for billions of fans around the world?”
^{AP News}

Barbie and Women’s Pro Hockey—Inside the Brand’s Deal With the Fast-Rising PWHL
That the newly established league had within months reached a deal with one of the hottest brands in popular culture is one chapter in a “storybook” first season for the PWHL, said Amy Scheer, the league’s senior VP of business operations.
^{Ad Age}

Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso Delightfully Troll Ring-Less Players in 2024 NBA Finals Promo
USA Today’s Meghan L. Hall writes, “In a new promo for the NBA Finals — yes, the NBA — Angel and Kamilla join Dwyane Wade, Magic Johnson and many more legends to celebrate one of the most special moments in sports and to playfully troll players who don’t have championship rings.”
^{USA Today}

Manfred, Some MLB Owners Getting More Serious About Nationalizing TV Rights 
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and some of the sport’s owners are “more seriously talking about nationalizing baseball’s TV rights than ever before,” according to Evan Drellich of THE ATHLETIC via SBJ. Some owners and execs believe that the “best way to grow media revenues over the long haul is to centralize the deal-making, and from there, to potentially sell all 30 teams’ regular-season broadcasts as one streaming package.”
^{Sports Business Journal}

PGA Championship Drama Nearly Delivers a Major Boost to LIV Golf
FOS’ David Rumsey posits that “The drama surrounding Scheffler’s arrest could mean big viewership numbers for ESPN, which had complete coverage of the early rounds. And lingering interest in the Scheffler story, along with a tight leaderboard including players from the PGA Tour and LIV on Sunday may end up giving CBS a good number for the final round.”
^{Front Office Sports}

‘This Is Semi-Pro’: Inside One Arena Football League Team’s Collapse
“I want this situation to never happen again,” said Georgia Force’s Justin Arth, who has been posting about his experiences on his social media channels and other platforms, “So that nothing that I went through, or nothing that my 23 other teammates went through, happens again to somebody else. And unfortunately, it’s Arena Football. It happens way too often.”
^{Front Office Sports}

Cincinnati Open Announces Latest Renovations to Tennis Center
The Cincinnati Open today announced the next phase of planned renovations to the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Beginning in 2025, both the campus’ Center and Grandstand Courts will be wrapped in a continuous façade, a shaded fan plaza will be added, and a fifth permanent stadium, with 2,000 sunken seats, will be erected on the grounds. The stadium represents one of 10 courts being added between 2024 and 2025. Also coming in 2025 is a new two-story, 56,000-square-foot player center that includes a lounge, restaurant, recovery, locker room spaces, etc.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Mark Flaherty Resigns From PGA Tour Policy Board
Golfweek via SBJ is reporting that the PGA Tour announced last night, just a couple hours after the conclusion of the 2024 PGA Championship, that Mark Flaherty has resigned from the PGA Tour Policy Board. The resignation of Flaherty, who served on the Policy Board for the past 4 1/2 years, comes just six days after Jimmy Dunne resigned from a similar role.
^{Sports Business Journal}

Arne Slot Named Jürgen Klopp Successor as Liverpool Manager
Arne Slot has been confirmed as Liverpool manager, with the 45-year-old officially announced as Jürgen Klopp's successor at Anfield 24 hours after his predecessor's final game in charge. Sources have told ESPN that Slot has signed a three-year contract at Anfield, securing him to the club until the end of the 2026-27 season.
^ESPN

How Do College Football Teams Keep Players Out of the Transfer Portal in the NIL Age?
So, how much is player retention prioritized? What kind of resources are NIL collectives dealing with? And what do players need to do to hold up their end of NIL deals? The Athletic surveyed numerous coaches, NIL collective officials, agents, personnel staffers and players who have transferred on a variety of portal-related topics. All survey participants were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor and to preserve relationships.
^{The Athletic}

The Unusual Public-Facing Push to Settle House vs. NCAA
Sportico’s Michael McCann writes, “The settlement would cost the NCAA and its members billions of dollars to be paid out over about a decade. According to the leaks, the cost of not settling House—set to go to trial next January—would be even higher. A loss could allegedly cost the NCAA and members $20 billion, even though damages for House project to be about $4 billion and the math for it morphing into $20 billion remains mysterious.”
^Sportico

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