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NBC Retains Preakness Rights

Jason Barrett

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NBC Sports Group said it reached a long-term agreement with the Maryland Jockey Club that gives NBC exclusive rights to the Preakness Stakes.

NBC has aired the Preakness since 2001 and now has long-term agreements for all of the races of the Triple Crown. Financial terms were not disclosed.

This year, NBC drew big ratings as American Pharoah won the Triple Crown for the first time in 37 years.

The new deal gives NBC multiplatform rights to the Preakness plus other races including the Black-Eyed Susan, which will be televised on NBC, NBCSN and on NBC’s digital platforms.

“We are thrilled to continue our relationship as the TV home of the Preakness Stakes,” said Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports and NBCSN. “Coming to this agreement was a rewarding process from start to finish. We look forward to working with our partners with the Maryland Jockey Club and The Stronach Group for years to come.”

NBC Sports International will continue to distribute NBC’s coverage of the Preakness Stakes globally through the terms of the deal. NBC Sports Radio will broadcast the Preakness Stakes through the terms of the deal.

“The Stronach Group is delighted to continue its long relationship with the NBC Sports Group,” said Alon Ossip, CEO of The Stronach Group, parent company of the Maryland Jockey Club. “This long-term agreement will allow us to build the Preakness, Black-Eyed Susan, Pimlico Special and Preakness week activities through multiple channels to reach a wider audience. The Stronach Group is committed to growing the sport of Thoroughbred racing, and we believe our relationship with NBC is another step in that direction.”

Credit to Broadcasting Cable who originally published this article

Sports TV News

ESPN Employees Brace For Major Layoffs

“According to Front Office Sports, 700 jobs have been cut, including those of anchors, reporters and analysts, since 2015.”

Jordan Bondurant

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ESPN

As the restructuring at Disney continues under CEO Bob Iger, tough decisions regarding people’s careers with the company are being made.

The jobs of 7,000 Disney employees will be eliminated as the company tries to save $5.5 billion in costs.

Stephen A. Smith, on a recent episode of his podcast K[no]w Mercy, said ESPN is not going to escape unscathed.

“ESPN is under the Disney umbrella,” Smith said. “They’re going to have cuts coming.”

ESPN has gone through multiple rounds of layoffs in recent years. According to Front Office Sports, 700 jobs have been cut, including those of anchors, reporters and analysts, since 2015.

Stephen A., who has an annual salary of $13 million, said no one’s job is safe.

“Hell, for all I know, I might be one of them,” Smith said. “Now, I doubt that. But it’s possible. No one knows.”

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Sports TV News

Steve Rosenberg Out As President of Diamond Sports Group

“John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that a memo went out to the company on Monday morning announcing the change.”

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A company declaring bankruptcy is never good for the people at the top. Steve Rosenberg is experiencing that right now. He is out as the president of Diamond Sports Group.

John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that a memo went out to the company on Monday morning announcing the change. In it, Diamond CEO David Preschlack wrote that CFO David DeVoe will assume Rosenberg’s responsibilities for now.

Steve Rosenberg joined Sinclair in 2020. He replaced Jeff Krolik as the company’s president of local sports.

Last week, Diamond Sports Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company intends to work out new deals with the NBA and NHL for its Bally Sports RSNs in hopes that it will remain in tact. Ourand writes that an attempt to do the same with Major League Baseball has not yielded meaningful results as of yet.

“With the recent appointments we have made to the senior leadership team, and the talented staff we have throughout the organization, I am confident in this team’s ability to work together to execute our strategic goals at this time,” Preschlack wrote in his memo.

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Sports TV News

Variety Predicts Sports Betting Broadcasts Future of RSNs

“With the state of the RSN business a little hazy for some networks, closer integration with gambling is something that VIP+ expects to be leant into more in an effort to engage the most passionate local fans.”

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The sports betting market grew in 2022. With five new states legalizing mobile wagering last year, that is not a surprise. The overall take for sportsbooks was $93.4 billion. That is a whopping 84% growth over 2021.

With so much money coming from new markets, Variety wanted to get an idea of how much the sports betting industry is actually growing versus how much of the growth is artificial.

The study from the publication’s VIP+ shows that in markets with a full year of mobile wagering on the books before 2022, the growth is slower but still significant at 19%. Writer Gavin Bridge suggests that the statistic could hold the answer for the future of regional sports networks.

“While winning money was the most popular reason for sports betting, data provided by VIP+’s research partner CRG Global in our ‘Sports Gambling & Media‘ report show that one of the most popular reasons was that betting ‘makes the games I watch more exciting,’ with several other reasons relating to watching televised games also important to some betters,” he writes.

With regional sports networks looking for a new model in the face of serious economic uncertainty, Bridge points to Comcast’s regional NBC Sports networks as a reasonable path forward.

Through its partnership with PointsBet, NBC offers alternate broadcasts of the local teams it covers that have a gambling focus. The alternate feed have not been available for every game on the RSNs, but Bridge writes that we could see more of that in the future.

“With the state of the RSN business a little hazy for some networks, closer integration with gambling is something that VIP+ expects to be leant into more in an effort to engage the most passionate local fans. Ultimately, sports betting overlays and alternative game feeds can be anticipated for most major sports in the coming years as media partners look for new revenue streams and ways to engage fans for longer.”

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