Tag: Sports Business

HBO’s reported entry into streaming sports adds more to an already expensive problem for fans

Streaming is taking over sports and that’s not a good thing.

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! I hope you’re well. Thank you so much for reading this morning.

The media landscape just got a little bit weirder with the announcement that there’ll be some sports programming coming to HBO’s streaming platform, Max.

And, no, I don’t mean the sports programming we’re used to from HBO. This isn’t just Bryant Gumbel or Bomani Jones hitting us with gems on their various talk shows or documentaries about some of our favorite athletes.

Nah, y’all. I’m talking actual sports.

Starting in October, MAX will add live sports to its service under the Bleacher Report brand, according to Front Office Sports. The package is going to include live MLB, NHL, NBA, College Basketball and U.S. Soccer action. It’ll initially be free until February 2024 in its promotional period, but following that users will have to pay an additional $9.99 per month.

It’s not just one-off games, either. Max will be streaming some huge moments in the sports landscape. The MLB playoffs, March Madness, the NBA in-season tournament. This is pretty big stuff, man. And that’s so weird.

I don’t think there’s a soul out there who has ever asked to watch live sports on HBO. I’m not sure who wants that. Nobody is going to say no to it, though. The more sports for the consumer to consumer, the better. And it’s free — for now.

But that’s the concern, right? It’s free for now. But it won’t be free forever. And this isn’t just a cable option everyone has access to through their television provider. It’s something you have to pay an extra fee for.

Today, it’s fine. The games will still be simulcasted on other Warner Bros. Discovery channels. We’ll also still have access to other games on other channels, too, like ESPN.

But what about when those things go away? Because that might be coming.

There are already plenty of rumors out there about ESPN ditching cable completely and moving to a direct-to-consumer streaming service. The NFL has moved its Sunday Ticket package to YouTube TV. The MLB has a streaming deal with Peacock and Apple+. I haven’t even mentioned Amazon, who already has rights to Thursday Night Football.

Watching live sports today is becoming more and more like a scavenger hunt. Our streaming overlords have slowly begun to conquer sports and, all of a sudden, I miss simple cable.

Wow. Never thought I’d say that.

We’re one step closer to the clash of the Superteams

(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The New York Liberty are moving forward to the WNBA semifinals after dispatching the Washington Mystics on Tuesday night.

It was a close and competitive game the Mystics had ample opportunity to find a way to win, but turnovers combined with the dominance in the paint of Jonquel Jones (19 points, 14 rebounds) put Washington away.

In this game we saw the sheer versatility of the Liberty. Sabrina Ionescu doesn’t have it tonight? Ok, cool. We’ll go to Jones in the paint. Courtney Vandersloot seems a bit off? Fine, let’s just run inverted pick-and-rolls with Breanna Stewart as the ball handler.

The Liberty creates so many mismatches that most teams can’t handle. This is why we want the Aces vs. Liberty series so badly. They counter each other so well. Not only just in talent, but also in scheme. I can’t wait to see if we actually get it. We’ll see if we have any upsets along the way.

New York find out who it plays in the semis on Wednesday night when the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx play a decisive Game 3. Should be fun.

Here’s where things stand:

  • Dallas Wings @ Las Vegas Aces (Sunday, Sept. 24, 5 p.m. ET)
  • Winner of Sun/Lynx @ New York Liberty (Sunday, Sept. 24. 1 p.m. ET)

RIP to the no-no

No-hitters in the MLB haven’t had a very good month. Actually, scratch that. They haven’t had a very good week-and-some-change.

In the last 10 days, four different team no-hitters have been broken up in the 9th inning or later, according to MLB.com’s Dylan Svoboda. I don’t know what’s wilder — the fact that four teams have nearly pulled off no-hitters in a 10-day span or the fact that all four have been broken up.

Here’s a wild stat, per Svoboda:

“The four no-hit bids have all happened over the past 10 days, which is the shortest span in at least the expansion era (1961), per the Elias Sports Bureau.

The 10-day span surpasses the previous 18-day record, which happened from Aug. 29 to Sept. 15 of this season and Apr. 23 to May 10 in 1989.”

The four games in question:

Look, I know. I know. Some of you don’t believe in team no-hitters. But, honestly, this just goes to show you how difficult a feat that is to pull off and no-hitters are already hard.

Best of luck to the next team that comes this close.

Quick hits: Week 4 watchability rankings for CFB … Is Swelce a thing? … and more

(Photo by Michael Tran / AFP)

— Matt Scalici ranked the top 5 most watchable college football games for week 4. Of course, Colorado is there.

— *pssssst* Jason Kelce thinks Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are dating. Pass it down. Charles Curtis has more.

— Robert Zeglinski just dropped his latest Super Bowl Contender Index and, Cowboys fans, you’ll love this one.

— Long Island QB Chris Howell has the weirdest throwing motion and I’m just so captivated by it. Cory Woodruff has more.

— Sean McVay tried — and failed — to explain away that weird field goal kick at the end of the Rams game to cover the spread. I now have more questions. Prince Grimes has you covered on the situation.

— Mitchell Northan has us Star Wars nerds covered with his weekly Ahsoka recap.

That’s all, folks! Thanks for rocking with us this morning. Have a fantastic Wednesday. Let’s chat again tomorrow.

The WNBA is right where it’s supposed to be on its 25th anniversary

The WNBA is ahead of where the NBA was in its 25th season

Saturday is officially the WNBA’s 25th birthday. The NBA’s board of governors approved the concept of a women’s professional basketball league. And on its 25th anniversary, the league looks stronger than ever before.

The W has hit so many milestones on its way here like its new collective bargaining agreement with the league in 2020. The league also expanded its broadcast reach a few years back in a new deal with CBS.

There’s plenty more room to grow for the game, but the strides it has already made have been pretty incredible.

For a bit of perspective, here’s a note from Wages of Wins’ David Berri on where the NBA was after 25 seasons in 1971. They’d just signed a new television deal that paid $5.5 million to the entire league with just 7,648 fans per game.

Of course, we have to adjust that number for inflation. That $5.5 million isn’t the same in 2021 as it is in 1971. So let’s do it.

Using this U.S. inflation calculator, that same deal the NBA signed in 1971 would be worth about $36 million today. Now take that number and compare it to the WNBA’s most recent television deal.

They signed a 10-year deal for $12 million per season annually. In 2016, that number doubled to $25 million as part of a performance clause in the agreement, per Front Office Sports. And that was before the network decided to add more WNBA games to its slate.

There’s lots of context in between all of these numbers. But the overarching point still stands.

Any concerns that anyone might share about the WNBA and its inability to make money are misguided. The league is commonly compared to the present day NBA, which has been around for half a century longer.

If you compare it to what the NBA used to be? You can clearly see that it’s right on schedule — maybe even a bit ahead.

And it’s only going up from here.

Watch our new sneaker unboxing video, Special Delivery

https://youtu.be/DFtlwTh8aXQ

Sports Business Journal names Warriors ‘Franchise of the Decade’

After 10-years of success, the Golden State Warriors were named “Franchise of the Decade” by the Sports Business Journal.

While the Golden State Warriors are struggling to cap off 2019, the organization owned the 2010 decade. Five consecutive NBA Final appearances, three championships, and one new arena all within 10-years earned Golden State the title of “Franchise of the Year” by the Sports Business Journal.

Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber’s group purchased the Warriors in 2010 and turned Golden State from lovable losers to perineal contenders. While the Warriors set a championship pace on the court, the Sports Business Journal praised what the Warriors were able to do off the court.

The brand new, privately funded, $1.4 billion arena known as Chase Center was the crown jewel to end the Warriors’ dominant decade. No other modern sports arena was privately financed and built on private property.

Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Golden State Warriors were touted for their technological innovation. Inclusion of social media, mobile pay and a new gigantic LED scoreboard were all steps towards a modern basketball watching experience at Chase Center.

The Warriors have led the NBA in revenue over the past three seasons and their new location in San Francisco’s Mission Bay, the money is expected to keep flowing into Golden State.

Having a bevy of All-Stars across your rosters like Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green help attract honors like “Franchise of the Decade.” Still, the Warriors ownership group and President Rick Welts deserve credit with this award.

The Warriors President and Chief Operating Officer, Welts called the award “Humbling,” in a Tweet celebrating the honor.

Golden State was named “Team of the Year” by the Sports Business Journal in 2014 and 2016; they were also finalists for the award five times during the decade.

Although the team only has five wins through the first quarter of the 2019-20 season, the Golden State Warriors are still as big of a name brand as there is in the NBA. Their next challenge will be to parlay the success of the recent past into the start of the 2020-21 season.