Jay Marine, the head of Amazon’s sports group, is “The Big Get” on this week’s Sports Media podcast.
NASCAR has expanded its proposed midseason package to 10 races, rather than the six it originally purchased, multiple sources tell SBJ’s Adam Stern and me.
NASCAR has been in the market to sell its media rights, starting with the 2025 season, for most of the year. Legacy broadcasters Fox and NBC agreed to renew their packages months ago, although nothing has been officially announced.
A mid-season racing package proved a tougher sell. Originally, NASCAR planned to create a six-race package. But now he’s buying a package of up to 10 races in the hopes that the added races will entice new bidders to close the deal. NASCAR created the mid-season package with races currently broadcast by Fox and NBC, meaning those two broadcasters will have less inventory in future deals.
Both Amazon and Turner remain the frontrunners to pick up the midseason package, sources say. It’s possible the two split the package, with each getting five races. NASCAR is hoping one of the media companies will agree to support all 10 races.
NASCAR does not have a deadline to reach a deal. There have been some rumors that his management wants to announce it at the end of season banquet in Nashville next week.
NASCAR is selling its rights at a time when the sports rights market is tightening. In the face of cable cutting and shaving, linear TV companies are cutting costs. At the same time, major digital companies, such as Amazon and Apple, have remained disciplined in their approach to sports rights.
This has led some properties to create more gaming and event packages to increase the amount of revenue they can make from these rights. The NBA, for example, is expected to go from two media partners to three or even four when it finalizes its media rights deal next year.
When the NBA media committee met Friday morning, discussions went well beyond the next round of national media rights, a topic that dominated sports reporting for much of the last year. Rather, committee members and Adam Silver spent a lot of time discussing how to make the game more accessible to a global audience.
“We talked about much more important agenda items today than you would think a basketball team or a basketball commissioner would talk about,” said Ted Leonsis, who chairs the committee. “We talked about the demographics of the planet.”
Leonsis and Silver made their comments later Friday afternoon at the 18th annual Povich Symposium hosted by the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. I moderated the discussion held at my alma mater.
Leonsis’ main point is that the NBA’s growth potential in international markets is enormous. The NBA has ensured that all of its international media rights deals end before 2025, underscoring the idea that international play will be an important part of the next rights deal.
“Businesses, industries and individuals get into trouble when they get comfortable,” Leonsis said. “We are digital-first data companies, and our manifest destiny is to work globally. »
Another major topic discussed at last week’s broadcast committee meeting focused on discovery: how fans will find games, especially since the NBA is likely to create multiple packages with multiple media companies different.
Silver: “I hope that if you are a Washington Wizards fan and have indicated that you want to watch these games on your smartphone – rather than having to click through an app – at 7 p.m. that evening, if Wizards -Knicks game is on, it will just start showing on your phone. You will have the choice to turn it off or do something else.
ViewLift CEO Rick Allen attended the event and wrote this recapwhich is worth a click.
Click the image above for the full panel moderated by SBJ’s John Ourand with Monumental’s Ted Leonsis and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
MLB has hired Josh Clark as Senior Vice President/Content Distribution, a role in which he will ensure distributors carry local MLB games. Clark comes to MLB from Paramount and reports to Executive Vice President/Media and Business Development Kenny Gersh.
Clark will also oversee distribution for MLB Network, MLB.TV and Extra Innings. But the biggest part of his job — at least initially — will be to ensure that MLB teams without local TV contracts will still be available on local cable and satellite systems in their markets.
Last season, for example, MLB took over the rights to the Padres and D-backs from Diamond Sports Group. The league produced these teams’ games and negotiated with local cable and satellite systems in San Diego and Phoenix to broadcast them.
This season, as Diamond attempts to emerge from bankruptcy, the league is expected to control teams’ rights even more. Clark will be the executive negotiating for cable and satellite companies to carry these games.
John Skipper’s Meadowlark Media has reached a deal with Bleacher Report for a one-hour version of Dan Le Batard’s daily show to appear on Sports Level Max every weekday.
The show will debut on the sports level on November 27. DraftKings will remain the title sponsor of the show, which streams on YouTube and the DraftKings Network FAST channel.
Warner Bros. Discovery launched the Bleacher Report Sports add-on in early October, primarily featuring live events simulcast on one of the company’s linear TV channels. The tier is free for Max subscribers until February 29. It will cost $9.99 per month after February 29.
Max’s Sports Level broadcast some live sporting events that were not shown on linear television, such as football matches. It also offers video-on-demand content, shoulder programs and podcasts.
Jay Marine, Amazon’s Global Head of Sports, is “The Big Get” in this week’s Sports Media podcast that I host with Andrew Marchand. On the capsuleMarine said Amazon wanted more than just a package of regular-season NBA games.
“Would something like the playoffs be an important part of (our bid)? Yes, I think that’s fair to say,” Marine said on the podcast released on November 22.
Several media and technology companies have expressed interest in striking a deal for NBA rights, including incumbents ESPN and Turner, as well as Amazon, Apple, Google, NBC and Netflix. The NBA has a 45-day exclusive negotiating window with ESPN and Turner that begins March 9.
When asked why Amazon would be interested in the NBA rights, Marine pointed to the league’s young fan base and global appeal. “What is consistent is that it is one of the biggest championships in the world and people care about it,” he said. “At the end of the day, do Prime members care? Is it important to their lives? And therefore, can it be significant in terms of adding value to Prime members and the Prime program? And I think with the NBA, that’s true on all those fronts.
Chili’s has not aired a single TV commercial in 2022, according to the iSpot Midseason TV Ad Report provided to SBJ. But from January 1 to October 31, 2023, 38% of the $30.6 million the brand spent on all TV ads was spent on live NFL action.
