Sport & Story Daily January 10, 2024

Stay Ahead of the Game

January 10, 2024

Good morning! The news right now? All Michigan, all the time - including Harbaugh Watch

The Confetti Has Settled. … O.K., Now It’s Time for Harbaugh Watch
As Front Office Sports’ Eric Fisher writes, “Within hours of those postgame comments, the NFL coaching carousel continued to spin, as the Tennessee Titans fired Mike Vrabel. Six NFL head coaches have now been fired since November, and Harbaugh has been linked to several of those jobs. In fact, multiple sportsbooks are now taking bets on Harbaugh’s next move, with a shift back to the NFL the favored outcome.” 
^{frontofficesports.com}

FanDuel Returns to Super Bowl With Another Rob Gronkowski Kick—Behind the New Strategy
“From the moment [Gronkowski] missed [the live field goal attempt] last year, he looked up at me and said, ‘Andrew, I’m so sorry. You gotta give me another chance,’” Andrew Sneyd, FanDuel’s executive VP of marketing, recalled in an interview.

And so “Kick of Destiny 2” is on for Super Bowl LVIII. Except this time the spot won’t feature Gronk kicking the field goal as part of a live commercial, as he did last year. Instead, the live kick will air on CBS before the game begins as the penultimate chapter in a five-part story.

The story arc is meant to drive new FanDuel subscriptions ahead of the Feb. 11 game in Las Vegas. Last year’s campaign helped FanDuel acquire 70% market share of new users, the brand said.
^adage.com

Sports Ratings on X: CFP Breaks Records
Last night’s College Football Playoff national championship drew 25.05M viewers across ESPN (24.276M), ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN Deportes, per Sports TV Ratings.
^twitter.com

NFL Exclusive Streaming Game on Peacock Something for MLB and the NBA to Take Note Of
“As Barrett Sports Media’s Moses Massena writes, “Last week, I assumed the streaming game would be the Rams and Lions, but that’s why I’m a writer and not a league or network executive. The NFL and NBC decided the Chiefs-Dolphins game would be streamed on Peacock, and once the Bills clinched the division, it made that game even juicier.

It has been reported NBCUniversal paid around $110 million for the rights to this exclusively streamed playoff game, and now they have a great matchup in a great time slot.”
^{barrettsportsmedia.com}

Woods' Next Sponsorship Chapter Awaits Amid Nike Split
Woods has "worn the famous swoosh" since he was 20 Getty Images It is going to be an "enticing, tantalizing wait to see" which company Tiger Woods partners with following his split from Nike after 27 years, though it is unlikely Woods will be "launching a brand of his own…”
^{sportsbusijnessjournal.com}

Sources: More Than 200 NFL League Employees Offered Buyout Package
Sources said that over 200 tenured NFL employees across departments yesterday were emailed a voluntary buyout package Getty Images While the NFL’s postseason is days away, it is layoffs, rather than playoffs, that are a principal concern within the league’s Park Avenue, Manhattan offices…
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

Major League Baseball Rejects Amazon’s $150M Bid to Bail Out Bankrupt Diamond Sports: Sources
Diamond Sports, a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcasting, filed for Chapter 11 protection last March. Amazon attempted to come to Diamond’s rescue last month by offering to invest roughly $150 million in the company and take over streaming broadcasts for the 11 baseball teams it carries, which include the World Series champs Texas Rangers, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals, a source close to the situation told The Post.

“They rejected it because Amazon wanted a streaming deal for more than one year,”  the source told The Post.
^{newyorkpost.com}

Kevin Negandhi Signs Multi-Year Extension With ESPN
“I’m excited and honored to continue my career at ESPN, working with so many talented individuals,” said Negandhi.

“We’re very happy to have Kevin remaining with ESPN for years to come,” said Norby Williamson, Executive Editor & Head of Event and Studio Production. “He has contributed to our success in so many areas –SportsCenter, college football, NBA Draft, and more – and he’s a consummate professional in everything he touches.”
^{awfulannouncing.com}

Michigan's Athletic Success Translating to Greater University Exposure, Donations
UM is seeing student applications and donations up as teams win. Univ. of Michigan President Santa Ono said that college football “remains popular among people of all stripes” and it can unite schools like Michigan.
^{sportsbusinessjournal.com}

New Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. Gives Ryan Day a Vote of Confidence and Said the Search For a New Athletic Director is “Well Underway”
"I have a great respect for the biggest rivalries that exist in the country," new Ohio State President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr. told reporters Monday. "As somebody that ran the Naval Academy, the Army vs. Navy game is as big a rivalry, only second to the Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry. I think Ryan Day would also say that our goals are to win the Big Ten and win the national championship every year. We didn't meet that. But Ryan Day runs a fantastic program. He’s our coach, I’m proud that he’s our coach and he will continue to be our coach.”
^{elevenwarriors.com}

Brian Flores Isn’t Afraid and Isn’t Looking Back — How About the Rest of the NFL?
As The Athletic’s Alec Lewis notes, “Last year’s Vikings defense ranked 24th in DVOA, an all-encompassing metric that factors in strength of schedule. This year’s Vikings defense ranked 11th, even with the subtractions of premium edge rusher Za’Darius Smith, stout defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson and future Hall-of-Fame cornerback Patrick Peterson.

The 2023 transformation, paired with his overall resume, is why Flores’ name should be mentioned among the league’s premier head-coaching candidates in the coming days. Should be.”
^{theathletic.com}

Former ESPN Exec Lee Fitting Joins WWE as Head of Media & Production
On Tuesday, TKO announced that Lee Fitting, former ESPN VP of Production, will become WWE’s new Head of Media & Production.

Fitting takes over many of the responsibilities from Kevin Dunn, one of the longest-tenured employees at WWE. Dunn submitted his notice to retire as Executive Producer and Chief of Global Television Distribution at the end of 2023, ending a WWE career that spanned nearly 40 years.
^{awfulannouncing.com}

Inside the Titans’ Decision to Move on From Mike Vrabel
Tennessee provided perhaps the biggest surprise of the coach carousel by firing the sixth-year coach Tuesday. Plus, a look inside the GM searches for the Panthers, Commanders, Chargers and more.
^si.com

Michigan President, Athletic Director Won't Guarantee Jim Harbaugh's Return to Wolverines
“I’m doing my very best. Hopefully, he will stay," Michigan President Santa Ono said, per The Athletic's Austin Meek.

"I just want to enjoy this. I hope you give me that. Can I have that?" Harbaugh said. "Does it always have to be what's next, what's the future?"
^{sportingnews.com}

Friday Was a HUGE Day for College Hoops on FS1
Purdue’s win over Illinois scored 904,000 viewers – FS1's third most-watched college hoops game in history

UConn bested Butler drawing 503,000 viewers – the fourth most-watched regular season BIG EAST matchup ever on FS1
^twitter.com

Play College Football, Then Go to College
During the oral argument for NCAA v. Alston, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito bluntly said, “The athletes themselves have a pretty hard life. They face training requirements that leave little time or energy for study, constant pressure to put sports above study, pressure to drop out of hard majors and hard classes, really shockingly low graduation rates. Only a tiny percentage ever go on to make any money in professional sports.”

Stahl stresses this system doesn’t have to continue. In a world where college football players are employees, they could simply work as players and then pursue college studies after their football careers end. 
^sportico.com

Sources: College Football Playoff, ESPN Discuss 6-year Rights Contract
"I have to say, this is a negotiation, and so I'm not going to be able to tell you much about it," CFP executive director Bill Hancock said. "We're happy with where we are and not quite to the finish line yet."

A sublicense agreement was reportedly a sticking point that has been settled, according to sources. The agreement would give ESPN the ability to sell the rights to some of the games -- something Fox Sports would be interested in, sources indicated.
^espn.com

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