Sports TV News

Jason Fitz Is Comfortable With Chaos

“I just looked at the camera and I was like well guys, the beauty of live television. Nothing is working. So, we are going to take a break and we will see if we can get it right on the other side. When we went to a commercial, they got in my ear and they were like you handled that so well.”

Published

1 year ago

June 15, 2022

Ricky Keeler

Part of being in the sports media industry is being able to adapt on a live show when something goes wrong. That doesn’t come easy, but thanks to his time doing digital work for ESPN, it is something Jason Fitz has become comfortable with.

Fitz was a guest on the GoJo with Mike Golic Jr. podcast and he told the story of the first time he covered the NFL Draft in 2019 on ESPN’s digital platform with Golic Jr., Domonique Foxworth, and others. There was one moment where he had to figure out on-the-fly on how to make everyone look good on the broadcast when something unexpected happened:

“ For anyone that has never watched digital shows, we don’t have commercials, we don’t have researchers, we don’t have a safety net. When I host College Football Live on TV, I have had things go wrong and it’s ok. You get a commercial, you regroup. Digitally, you don’t get that chance.”

“The first time we did the draft together, I remember looking at Domonique Foxworth for one pick and I was like ‘hey Dom, what do you think of this one?’ He was like, ‘I don’t know, never heard of the guy’. I was on this island and I figured out quickly how I can steer the conversation over to somebody else to make sure we look good. That moment for me was transcendent because I was like I can handle being on my feet.”

When Fitz had the opportunity to host Outside The Lines, that digital experience helped him during a time when technical issues happened that caused the show to lose both of their interviews in the first segment of the show:

“My life changed on OTL. I was hosting Outside The Lines. We had two interviews back-to-back, the first segment. They have you switch from one seat to the other. The intro is ready. I read the intro exactly as we script and I roll my chair to the first spot and I am looking at the camera and in my ear, they are like we don’t have it, we lost comms. Go to the next interview.”

Instead of panicking and having the show go off-the-rails, Fitz decided to let the audience know nothing was working and sent it to commercial:

“I realized in that moment that all the times you and I [Fitz and Golic Jr.] had done digital shows without a safety net prepared me. I am so comfortable now with chaos. That took a couple of years to honestly get my footing with.”

Ricky Keeler

Ricky Keeler is a reporter for BSM with a primary focus on sports media podcasts and national personalities. He is also an active podcaster with an interest in pursuing a career in sports media. You can find him on Twitter @Rickinator555 or reach him by email at [email protected].

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Sports TV News

Final SEC on CBS Broadcast Scores Highest-Rated Conference Championship Game

The broadcast of Alabama/Georgia marked the final game in a partnership that began in 1996.

Published

14 hours ago

December 6, 2023

Jordan Bondurant

The final SEC broadcast on CBS turned out to be the most-watched game of the weekend.

The SEC Championship broadcast on CBS averaged 17.519 million viewers, making it the most-watched conference championship game on any network in five years.

Viewership of the telecast peaked at 22.35 million. The game was the second-most-watched college football game of the season so far behind Ohio State/Michigan.

The game also was the most-streamed college football game ever on Paramount+ across households, minutes, and average minute audience.

Jordan Bondurant

Jordan Bondurant is a features reporter for Barrett Sports Media. He’s a multimedia journalist and communicator who works at the Virginia State Corporation Commission in Richmond. Jordan also contributes occasional coverage of the Washington Capitals for the blog NoVa Caps. His prior media experiences include working for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Danville Register & Bee, Virginia Lawyers Weekly, WRIC-TV 8News and Audacy Richmond. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @J__Bondurant.

Sports TV News

NBCUniversal CEO Mark Lazarus: People Have Said Sports TV Rights Bubble Would Burst for 30 Years

“For 30 years everyone said, the sports [rights] bubble is gonna burst, it’s gonna burst. You’re starting to see rights fees growth moderate.”

Published

14 hours ago

December 6, 2023

Jordan Bondurant

Courtesy: NBCUniversal, Inc.

Value is power when it comes to sports rights, and NBCUniversal CEO Mark Lazarus understands that. It’s why newly completed media rights deals across sports, and college sports in particular, command billions of dollars from networks each year now.

Next TV reported that Lazarus, in a conversational interview with TODAY host Hoda Kotb on Tuesday, said while the price for rights to properties like the NFL, NASCAR, Notre Dame, and the Big Ten are astronomical, the cost is starting to level off in some ways.

“For 30 years everyone said, the sports [rights] bubble is gonna burst, it’s gonna burst,” Lazarus told Kotb. “You’re starting to see rights fees growth moderate.”

Lazarus mentioned that there are no individual content budgets for sports, news, and entertainment at NBCUniversal. Those three divisions have a single budget executives work from. Executives are responsible for finding content audiences will consume and a platform to house it on.

“What’s the best content and where can it be successful in our portfolio?” Mark Lazarus said. “It’s a combination of art and commerce.”

“We reach massive amounts of people, we have reach and scale,” he later added, pointing out the company reaches 65-70 million homes on pay TV and another 30 million on Peacock.

“That’s great for our distribution partners and that’s great for our advertising partners and it’s really important for our audience.”

Mark touted Sunday Night Football, which is a ratings juggernaut and averages 22 million viewers. The NFL streaming on Peacock has also seen strong numbers this season, with this past week’s Chiefs/Packers game having an average minute audience of 1.86 million viewers. That’s between Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, and NFL Digital platforms. It marked the second-largest streaming audience ever for a regular-season Sunday NFL game for NBC Sports.

Jordan Bondurant

Sports TV News

CBS Sports Shares Details of Spongebob-Themed NFL Broadcasts

Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson return to the booth for both games alongside Dylan Schefter and Young Dylan.

Published

20 hours ago

December 5, 2023

Jeff Kotuby

Get ready for some Turtles on Christmas and some SpongeBob on Super Bowl Sunday. CBS Sports and Nickelodeon are teaming up to deliver two alternate NFL broadcasts this year — one for the Monday night “Nickmas” game between the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs, and then a second, SpongeBob Squarepants-themed broadcast for Super Bowl LVIII.

Noah Eagle and Nate Burleson return to the booth for both games alongside Dylan Schefter and Young Dylan. The live-action hosts will be joined by two groups of Nicktoons depending on the game.

SpongeBob and Patrick (voiced by Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, respectively) will join Eagle and Burleson in the booth for Super Bowl LVIII, while Sandy and Larry the Lobster will provide some additional flair from the sidelines. The Bikini Bottom crew will be joined by Dora the Explorer and Boots the Monkey, who will explain penalties to the younger viewers. During the “Nickmas” Game on Dec. 25, the crew will be joined by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s Raphael in the booth, while Donatello will join Schefter on the sidelines.

The Christmas Day game will be Nickelodeon’s first regular-season game, as previous Nick alternate broadcasts were all during Wild Card Weekend. Last year, Nick aired an alternate broadcast of Cowboys/49ers, which drew an audience of 41 million viewers. The games have also become a social media phenomenon from adult viewers watching tongue-in-cheek.

The Nickelodeon Super Bowl telecast and Nickelodeon NFL Nickmas Game are produced by CBS Sports in association with Nickelodeon Productions.

Jeff Kotuby

Jeff Kotuby is a nationally-published journalist with bylines on many popular broadcasting and pop culture sites, including The Streamable, eBaum’s World, Twin Galaxies, and more. Jeff grew up in the shadows of New York City and cultivated his love for sports media with the classic broadcasting voices of the area, like Mike & The Mad Dog, Mike “Doc” Emerick, and Michael Kay. You can reach Jeff on Twitter @JeffKotu3y.