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Traina Worried About Where Tiger vs Phil Leads

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Jimmy Traina lead his daily column at SI.com yesterday with some thoughts on the news that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson will meet in a one-on-one round of golf over the Tanksgiving weekend. He wasn’t concerned about whether it would be good TV or who would win. Traina was more intrigued by the fact that the match will be available on pay-per-view.

Golf fans can pay to watch the event through their cable or satellite provider or they can stream it on the B/R Live app. The price hasn’t been announced but Traina doesn’t expect it to be insignificant, writing “I highly doubt it’s going to be 99 cents.” And he expects a full on publicity push as we get closer to the event, noting that the hypehas already started with Phil Mickelson joining Twitter to coincide with this week’s announcement.

They’re going to sell this one-on-one battle as a big deal, when in reality, it’s just a useless exhibition. It’s not a major. It’s not a real tournament. However, it stars the most iconic golfer of all time, so you’re being tricked into thinking you’re getting something good. The reality is, it’s just a TV special.

Traina is convinced that it won’t just be the folks at Bleacher Report or cable and satellite providers rooting for the event to succeed. He says that the whole sports media world wants to see the event generate big profits. “If you pay for it, sports media companies are going to be overjoyed because then they know they have an audience who will actually hand over their money to watch stuff like this,” and Traina is worried about where that might lead.

The danger here (and I use that word loosely, because this really isn’t that important in the grand scheme of life) is that this will open the floodgates for sports media outlets to eventually experiment with putting good things on pay-per-view. It’s not going to stop with Tiger-Phil if that’s a success. And I’m not saying you’re going to see an NFL playoff game or the NBA Draft or a college football playoff game on pay-per-view next year or the year after, but if you don’t think the leagues and networks, especially ESPN which just launched a streaming network, have that idea in the back of their heads for down the road, you’re not paying attention.

ESPN+ already has exclusive rights to a number of lower tier college football and basketball games. That service, and others like it, typically offer a lot of content for a lower monthly price ($4.99 in ESPN+’s case). Major boxing and MMA cards can get expensive. The Mayweather/McGregor fight, for instance, cost $99.95 to watch in HD. Would the Tiger and Phil extravaganza be priced similarly? If so, what would that mean football fans would have to pay to watch an NFL playoff game should that league switch to a pay-per-view model in the future?

Count Traina amongst the few sports media professionals encouraging fans to save their money.

At some point the sports fan, as a consumer, has to say no. We get dumped on constantly. Games ending past midnight on the East Coast. A billion commercials during every sporting event. Offensive ticket prices. More offensive concession prices. Even more offensive prices for parking.

Now we’re going to be tested to see which sporting events we’re willing to pay for. If you shell out the money for Tiger-Phil, you’ll be giving sports media companies incentive to take advantage of you again. And again. And again. Just say no.

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ESPN to Produce Content Series Centered on Brittney Griner

“The last two years have been the most harrowing, transformative and illuminating period of my life, and I am grateful to be in a place now to share my story with the world.”

Jordan Bondurant

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After being imprisoned in Russia for almost a year, WNBA star Brittney Griner is ready to share her story. Griner has collaborated with ESPN and Disney Entertainment Television to develop a documentary feature from ESPN Films and a scripted series is in the works with ABC Signature.

Additionally, Griner will do an exclusive interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News.

“The last two years have been the most harrowing, transformative and illuminating period of my life, and I am grateful to be in a place now to share my story with the world,” Griner said. “I’m proud to partner with ESPN and Disney to share this very personal story because of its incredible potential to inspire hope around the world and their proven ability to do just that.”

The documentary feature will be a chronicle of Griner’s story from the moment she was arrested at a Moscow airport for cannabis possession, through her prosecution and imprisonment, to her eventual release from Russian custody.

The feature will feature exclusive footage, recordings and letters to and from Griner during her time in prison.

“Brittney is an exceptional athlete whose hardship and resilience are nothing short of extraordinary,” ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus said. “We are thrilled to be working with her to tell the nuances of her story and feel confident that this documentary will captivate audiences everywhere.”

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Andy North on Beginning TV Career: ‘You Don’t Have Any Clue What You’re Doing’

“You learn by mistakes and you get your butt chewed every day for a couple of years… You’re just trying to figure it out, but I’ve had some great people to work with and have had a ton of fun and it’s been 30-plus years.”

Jordan Bondurant

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(Photo: ESPN)

ESPN golf analyst Andy North has enjoyed a successful broadcasting career, but he knows it’s taken a lot of work to get where he wanted to be.

North will be part of ESPN’s broadcast crew covering The Champions Cup team event this weekend, and he reflected on the early days of his second career.

North joined ESPN in 1992 as an on-course reporter. His big break came when the network asked him to fill in for Gary Koch, who was injured at the time.

“It went reasonably well, and they asked me to join (ESPN) the next year,” North told the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

But things weren’t exactly smooth sailing right out of the gate for North, who said he basically went into the job blind.

“You don’t have any clue what you’re doing when you start out,” he said. “You learn by mistakes, and you get your butt chewed every day for a couple of years.

“You’re just trying to figure it out, but I’ve had some great people to work with and have had a ton of fun and it’s been 30-plus years,” North added.

Andy North continued that it was the support he got from everyone around him in the media space that helped him elevate his broadcasting skills. It helped that the two-time U.S. Open champion was also in his element.

“You’re around a bunch of guys you spent your whole life with,” he said. “You got a lot of great friends out here, and you can say it’s work and you work at it, but it’s not the worst thing you could do.”

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ACC Network Adds Chelsea Gray as Women’s Basketball Analyst

“I’m honored to be coming back home to the ACC. This conference proves its greatness year after year and I’m thrilled to be a part of it again.”

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ACC Network just added another talent to its growing roster, this time adding three-time WNBA champion and former Duke Blue Devil Chelsea Gray as a women’s college basketball analyst.

Gray will make her ACC Network debut on Sunday, Dec. 10 when her alma mater takes on the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles live at Cameron Indoor Stadium at noon E.T.

“I’m honored to be coming back home to the ACC,” Gray said. “This conference proves its greatness year after year and I’m thrilled to be a part of it again.”

This won’t be Gray’s first rodeo when it comes to live game analysis. During the 2021-22 season, Gray was a key member of ACCN’s Nothing But Net studio coverage. She also called seven regular season games and three NCAA Tournament games throughout the year.

Along with her on-screen duties, Gray still plays as a member of the Las Vegas Aces, where she helped guide the team to back-to-back WNBA Championships in 2022 and 2023.

“We are very excited to welcome Chelsea back to the ACC Network as a game analyst. She’s competed and won championships at the highest level so her experience and knowledge of the game will be such an asset to our already strong women’s basketball coverage,” said Sara Gaiero, vice president of production at ESPN.

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