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UConn President Doesn’t Want Hoops Teams On ESPN+

“ESPN and SNY are expected to come to some sort of agreement on the matter, though ESPN and the AAC have been mute on the subject so far.”

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While the American Athletic Conference’s new 12-year, $1 billion extension with ESPN is regarded as a good thing for the conference as a whole, the UConn Huskies program begs to differ.

The deal complicates a tradition of UConn basketball games broadcast on the SNY Network and so far it is unclear how much the ESPN contract will impact that partnership.

“We at UConn have been a dedicated and enthusiastic charter member of the AAC,” UConn president Susan Herbst said. “The level of play in the conference has been outstanding, and our university colleagues in the conference are a pleasure to work with. That said, I am deeply concerned about potential exposure for UConn men’s and women’s basketball.”

ESPN will broadcast a host of games including UConn men’s and women’s basketball not only on traditional, linear networks such as ESPN2 and ESPNU, but also digital streaming service ESPN+. The worry from UConn is this will force fans who traditionally watch the Huskies play on SNY, which has been the program’s TV partner for the past six seasons, to purchase an over-the-top service such as Roku or Chromecast to watch the team play.

“It’s not about technology,” Herbst said. “Our fan base is of course sophisticated in the ways of digital media. But exposure on ‘linear’ television is vitally important to us because many Husky fans gather to watch UConn basketball as a social event — when traveling, in restaurants or bars, or in the living room with family and friends. Right now, wherever I am, I can tune in easily and see our student-athletes in action.”

ESPN and SNY are expected to come to some sort of agreement on the matter, though ESPN and the AAC have been mute on the subject so far.

“It’s such a great relationship,” said Gary Morgenstern, SNY’s senior vice president of programming before the deal was finalized Wednesday. “I think it’s been really good for the university and we know it’s been really good for SNY. And it would be a shame if it weren’t able to continue.
SNY reaches about 12 million homes in the Northeast, while ESPN+ has around 2 million subscribers. 

Not only is this a risk for Husky fans, but the new deal isn’t expected to make enough of an impact financially for UConn to warrant such a shift in viewership. According to the Hartford Courant, UConn’s athletic department reported a $41 million deficit for the 2018 fiscal year, among the worst in Division I athletics. UConn, and the rest of the AAC, will receive $6.94 million a year, which significantly tops the $2.16 million number from the previous deal, but isn’t enough of a revenue boost to fix all of the program’s problems.

UConn and SNY are in a “wait and see” mode and will have to hope for the best as ESPN, the AAC and SNY come to an agreement. In the end, SNY doesn’t have much leverage in the matter and may be at the mercy of ESPN and the AAC.

“We’re just sitting on the sidelines waiting on the call to really understand what the next step would be,” Morgenstern said. “Clearly, if we’re left out of that, that’s not good for the fans. That’s what we strive to do, is put a service out there that satisfies what the fans want. But we just don’t know how it’s going to play out.”

Habst added this isn’t a change UConn or Husky fans want to take without SNY still in the mix. “We do not want our amazing Husky fan lifestyle disrupted. Period.”

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Tiki Barber: WFAN is My Passion Job, Calling NFL on CBS is a Grind

“It’s a fine balance of finding time to grind on tape, but watch the local sports, develop these opinions, and still have a good family life.”

Ricky Keeler

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Tiki Barber
Courtesy: Derek Futterman

When Tiki Barber is talking about either the New York Jets or New York Giants every weekday afternoon with Evan Roberts on WFAN, the goal he wants to accomplish is to inform and teach the audience without having any emotion get in the way. Even though he had a great career with the Giants, the former running back is able to take any emotion out of whatever analysis and takes he gives.

Barber was a guest on the Amazin’ Conversations with Jay Horwitz podcast and he mentioned that over the last decade, he has been able to watch a game and not have emotion cloud what he is actually seeing on the field.

“I’m trying to inform. I’m trying to teach in a way because I think it’s one thing to be passionate about sports and have an emotional reaction, but I watch a lot of the games whether it’s the Jets or the Giants dispassionately. It’s called true media. I can watch any game over the last 10 or so years without the emotion of the broadcast. I see exactly what’s happening as opposed to that emotionally moved me and it clouds what’s going on.”

One of the reasons why Barber is able to do that is because of what happened before he entered the NFL. Barber grew up in Virginia as a then Washington Redskins fan, but once the Giants made the call to draft him, that was the beginning of him becoming dispassionate as a fan.

“I look at sports really analytically and I think it’s because I grew up a Washington fan. As soon as I got drafted to New York, that fandom had to change. When the paychecks are coming from the Meadowlands, that fandom had to change. I became dispassionate as a fan, which allows me to not be biased, but also understand it.”

“I also try to see things from inside the organization. What would a player think about this criticism? Is it fair? If it isn’t, then I’ll expose that. If it is, I’ll say that as well. I’m not afraid to be critical of people.”

When Tiki Barber isn’t talking to fans on Evan & Tiki, he is in the booth as an analyst for NFL games on CBS. With that job, he considers the CBS role more of a grind than WFAN because of the time he puts in watching tape and preparing for the game.

“I love being busy. I love trying to achieve things. I consider WFAN my passion job because I’m talking about sports. All I have to do is pay attention to sports. The grind is a little bit on the NFL games.”

“It’s a fine balance of finding time to grind on tape, but watch the local sports, develop these opinions, and still have a good family life.”

Tiki Barber told Horwitz that his goal is to learn something new every day and while he may not know everything about baseball and basketball, he never wants to come across as if he knows everything.

“I try to learn everyday. I know I don’t know everything about baseball and basketball. I know a lot of football. I feel like I learn as I go and it helps me because I don’t come off as knowing everything. I am having a conversation with someone at a bar. That’s what it feels like to me.”

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Dave Portnoy Blasts YouTube, Announces Other Plans For Airing Surviving Barstool

“If they’re not smart enough to watch a reality show and realize what’s going on. Fine, whatever.”

Jordan Bondurant

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(Photo: Marcellus Wiley)

Barstool Sports founder and president Dave Portnoy isn’t bending the knee to YouTube.

On Thursday, Portnoy held an emergency press conference on his X account to let fans know that Surviving Barstool — a reality show produced by the company — was being pulled from YouTube. This stemmed from repeated strikes levied against the Barstool channel on the platform due to alleged broadcasting of violent threats.

In one of the Surviving Barstool episodes, Barstool host Kirk Minihane apparently threatened to blow up the house of another show competitor. Portnoy said he was given the option by YouTube to either take down the episodes and edit them to remove the questionable content or continue to receive strikes.

“I’m not changing the f–king episodes,” he said.

“This is Barstool, we’re doing it our f–king way,” Portnoy added. “F–k YouTube if they’re not smart enough to watch a reality show and realize what’s going on. Fine, whatever.”

Ultimately the decision was made to move the Surviving Barstool episodes that had already aired to the outlet’s streaming platform Barstool TV. Future episodes of the season plus the live finale will be available for fans to watch for $9.99.

“I think if you’ve watched it, you’ll admit that it’s worth the price,” Portnoy said. “We gotta make up the money we’re going to lose with all that shit.”

Survivng Barstool is about what you would imagine. It’s the Barstool Sports version of the CBS show Survivor. Contestants on the show are Barstool employees who compete for a $100,000 prize.

Portnoy, who bought back ownership of the outlet he founded and built from the ground up this summer, made it clear that if people thought he would jump when YouTube says jump they need to think again.

“The show is the f–king show, and I would rather eat my f–king insides and smash my d–k with a hammer than have to change the f–king show to make YouTube happy,” he said.

Several Barstool employees responded similarly to Portnoy, airing their displeasure with the situation.

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Dave Portnoy Found Out About The CW, Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl Partnership on X

Portnoy reposted the company’s announcement that it had secured a distribution deal with The CW by saying “Love finding out about this in a tweet.”

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Dave Portnoy
Courtesy: Slaven Vlasic, Getty Images

Earlier today, it was announced that Barstool Sports had partnered with The CW to broadcast the 2023 Barstool Sports Arizona Bowl. However, it appears no one told the company’s founder, Dave Portnoy.

Portnoy reposted the announcement that it had secured a distribution deal to bring the bowl game to terrestrial television with The CW. He accompanied the post by saying “Love finding out about this in a tweet.”

The bowl game’s official X account wrote it was “thrilled to be able to bring the most cutting edge postseason experience to college football fans across the nation.”

Barstool Sports play-by-play voice Jake Marsh shared his enthusiasm for the partnership by calling it “huge news”.

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