streaming – Syndication Server

The NBA’s next TV deal potentially including a major streaming service for its biggest games can go so wrong

The streaming wars are taking over sports, and that could include the NBA.

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! Happy Earth Day! I hope you’re well on this glorious Monday morning. Welcome back to the Morning Win.

There’s been a ton of NBA playoff action this weekend. Could you imagine having to go to, say, Amazon Prime to check it out? If the NBA has its way, that could potentially be in the cards moving forward.

ESPN and TNT’s exclusive negotiating window for the NBA’s television rights reportedly closes at midnight. If that does happen, a deal between the three sides can still be done. But it also opens the window for other partners to swoop in and woo the biggest basketball league in the world.

That’s what the NBA wants, according to the latest from The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand.

While the league seems interested in continuing its relationship with TNT and ESPN, it does not seem very interested in granting its two longtime broadcast partners the exclusive rights they had previously.

Particularly, Marchand says, the NBA is ready to get in bed with a streamer of some sort. While negotiations with TNT and ESPN are expected to continue, the league will also reportedly entertain overtures from Amazon, NBC, Netflix and more. The NBA is ready for a slice of that streaming pie, baby.

On one hand, you can’t blame the NBA here. Its contemporaries have all seemed to have varying levels of success playing the streaming game.

The NFL’s exclusive Thursday night window for Amazon has been a hit, with viewership reportedly increasing by 24 percent to almost 12 million viewers on average. The NFL also has the Peacock Playoff games that I thought we all hated. Yet, somehow, the NFL reportedly had 24 million viewers for those games on average.

When you view the NBA’s negotiating tactics here from that lens, it’s easy to see why the league is reportedly interested in streaming big games like conference title showdowns or even the NBA Finals on a streaming service. That’s a valuable platform.

But I think that could be a mistake — especially if those big games were exclusively paywalled like the NFL did with its games.

The NFL makes it look easy, man. It’s king in the sports world. No matter when the games are, where they are or how they’re broadcast, people will watch them. It’s a true “if you build it, they will come” situation.

The NBA doesn’t have that or anything close to that. This is a league that’s building gimmicky tournaments in the middle of its season to not only sell something new to streamers but also keep people interested and invigorated.

Sure, the stakes of, say, the NBA Finals would intrinsically build that interest. I’d buy a Peacock subscription for that in a heartbeat. So would a bunch of other nerds like me.

But what about the casuals who don’t already have one? Would they be as interested? The answer is probably not. It’s just not the same draw. Nobody but the NFL has that.

Streaming the NBA would be fine. In fact, I’d even call it a good thing. Cable isn’t dead, but there’s no question that it’s fading. Streaming options are required for big sports leagues in this day and age.

But access is important. Going streaming exclusive would be a huge mistake. Let’s hope the NBA doesn’t make it.

Golf legends are building at the same time

We had a special weekend in the golf world, folks.

First, Nelly Korda won a record-tying fifth straight tournament on the LPGA tour after winning the Chevron championship over the weekend. She finished two strokes under Maja Stark to win her second career major.

With that win, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2005) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events. That’s surreal. If you’d asked Korda if she’d be in this moment back in 2022 while recovering from a blood clot that required surgery, she’d probably have said no.

On the other side in the PGA, Scottie Scheffler is building out quite the resume himself.

Scheffler won the RBC Heritage tournament on Monday after a rain delay. His lead was so demonstrative that a bogey on the final hole of the tournament didn’t even matter — he still finished 3-under 68 and held a three-shot victory over the competition.

Scheffler has won four of his last five starts and has taken home a purse of a bit over $16 million in the last 42 days.

I won’t call him Tiger-esque. I refuse to call him Tiger-esque … but it does feel pretty close, doesn’t it?

Golf is in a great place, folks.

Playoff hockey is the most stressful thing ever

Case in point: This goal from the Jets on Sunday night. I still have no idea how this went in. Our Mary Clarke doesn’t, either:

“In the midst of a wild back-and-forth Game 1, Adam Lowry extended the Jets’ lead to 5-3 in the third period after an absolutely bonkers sequence. Lowry’s shot hit both posts and then somehow managed to streak across the goal line just barely as it was spinning wildly in the air.

Originally this sequence was called no-goal on the ice, before replays caught the puck spinning right over the line before pivoting back out again.”

Look at how close this is, y’all. Come on.

I’m sorry, Avalanche homies. That’s a tough one. Especially in a tight game like that one? There were 13 total goals scored last night. Every single one made a difference — maybe none more than that one right there that was just mere inches away from not being a goal at all.

Like I said. Playoff hockey. It’s the most stressful thing in sports.

Quick hits: The underdogs rise up … NFL draft dads … and more

— The underdogs ruled the weekend in the NBA playoffs. Our Prince Grimes has more on that for you.

— There are a ton of NFL draft dads this year that will make you feel old as dirt. Here’s Charles Curtis with more.

— Christian D’Andrea has seven slept-on NFL prospects you should definitely keep an eye on.

— Joe Mazzulla being excited about Jayson Tatum’s hard fall here is so weird...but I like it. Robert Zeglinski has more.

— Damian Lillard didn’t go to Coachella this year and he’s so happy about it. Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with more.

— There’s no way the White Sox should be this bad. This is wild. Andrew Joseph has more.

That’s a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for rocking with me today. Appreciate you. Have a fantastic Monday. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️

The new ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. sports app is a good idea, but it might create more streaming problems for you

I’m honestly not sure whether those changes are good or bad.

Goooood morning, folks! Welcome back to The Morning Win. Thank you so much for rocking with us this morning. We appreciate you. Hope you’re having a great week.

I’m sure you’ve seen the news about the new upcoming partnership between ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery. If you haven’t, the three companies are partnering together to launch a mega sports streaming app they’ll each own a third of.

The service is going to include the combined inventory of live sports they all have. Yes, that means every league and every sport you love will be on there. NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL. Whatever it is, it’s on this app.

We don’t know how much this will cost or what it’ll be. We just know it’ll be a monster of a sports streaming app. With all of these resources combined, it’s essentially a mini-version of cable.

Our Andrew Joesph summed it up pretty well here:

“So, basically viewers can pay for a subscription to this bundle and access the live sports that the companies are broadcasting. When streaming services started, it seemed inevitable that someone would eventually just make cable all over again and try to present it as something different. That’s what Disney, Fox and WBD appear to be doing here — but for sports only. On top of that, NBC Universal and CBS/Paramount were not included in this partnership of competing media giants.”

Andrew hits the nail on the head there. It’s always felt like, at some point, a cable-like package would come back around and reset things as everybody and their favorite cousin pulled out an individual streaming service. It’s unfeasible to think everyone would pay for each of them individually in perpetuity. We needed a reset. I think this is what that reset looks like.

But at the same time, I’m still concerned about the number of streamers people will be expected to pay for as the rights to live sports continue to get chopped up like a Thanksgiving turkey.

Just think about it. Sure, you’ll get your Monday Night Football fix on ESPN via this megastreamer. Your local Fox and CBS games should pop up there, too, considering that those networks are partnered there.

But guess what? You’ll still have to pay for Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football if you want that. And if the NFL leans and makes Peacock a thing like it wants to? That’s an additional two streamers you may need to watch the biggest NFL games of the week.

The NBA is flirting with Amazon for its TV rights, too. Obviously, the league is working with Turner and ESPN now. The presence of this new streamer makes that unlikely to change considering that the powers that be will want to retain it to keep people on their app. But what if Amazon buys the rights to, say, the Play-In Tournament or even the In-Season Tournament? That’s totally in the realm of possibility.

I say all of that to say that while this cable-like subscription package could be good, it doesn’t completely end the streaming wars. All of our favorite things are still fragmented and, as consumers, we’re still being jerked around in the end. And, don’t forget, the only thing we know about this new partnership is that it exists. We don’t know the cost or what subscription levels we’ll need to watch what.

The streaming era is coming to a close. Whatever it’s morphing into next is on its way. All we can do is hope it’s more consumer-friendly than what we’ve got here now.

DraftKings Drama

(Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images for DraftKings)

On the other side of the corporate world of sports, there’s quite a bit of drama going on on the betting side.

DraftKings is accusing its now former (???) head of VIP Michael Hermalyn of stealing employees and trade secrets as part of a year-long plot to leave the company for Fanatics.

Prince Grimes has more details here and, as he says, it sounds like something straight out of a movie plot. The company found out what Hermalyn was doing because it tracked him using geolocation data. Yes, it’s that serious.

Here are some of the juiciest details:

“It sounds like the company tracked Hermalyn’s location using the same technology online sportsbooks use to verify bettors are in legal betting territories (or to make sure NFL players aren’t betting at team facilities). And they pinpointed him at Fanatics’ offices during times he said he’d be somewhere else.

No, seriously. DraftKings actually tracked Hermalyn’s whereabouts on Jan. 29 and 30 using geolocation and access account records, after he emailed employees that a friend died and he had to deal with that.

“DraftKings has since learned, through geolocation data and access account records, Hermalyn had in fact traveled to California and visited Fanatics offices in Los Angeles on January 29 and 30,” the lawsuit says.”

You cannot make this up. In fact, I would love to actually see a movie plot based on this.

That’s only the tip of the iceberg. Hermalyn was also accused of using shady means to try and invalidate his non-compete agreement after leaving for Fanatics and working up millions of dollars from DraftKings in retention payments for him and his subordinates. It’s insane.

Keep in mind that all of this is going down just before the Super Bowl. That’s obviously the biggest day in sports betting and here DraftKings is dealing with this.

Yikes, guys. I don’t really know what else to say.

Changing names

Stadium rights mean absolutely nothing to FIFA if you’re not paying them. Some of the NFL’s teams are finding that out the hard way.

FIFA has changed the names of multiple stadiums around North America as we inch closer to the 2026 World Cup. It’s hilarious because the names are, well, remarkably bland.

Andrew Joesph has more:

“We’re still two years away from the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. But we’re already seeing the results of a grueling bidding process that cities and NFL owners were willing to go through in order to host these World Cup matches.

That apparently included the temporary changing of stadium names.

While we already knew that NFL owners agreed to install natural grass playing surfaces in time for 2026, they will also adhere to a FIFA policy about stadium branding. Basically, FIFA won’t let non-FIFA sponsors have their branding displayed during matches. And in the case of the U.S. — where corporate naming rights are the norm for stadiums — the venues we know are going to be called something entirely different for the World Cup.

And let me tell ya: FIFA did not put much thought into these temporary names.”

Man. Come on, FIFA. I feel like if you’re giving somebody else’s property a new name, you could at least be a bit more creative with it.

Peep the full names from Andrew here.

Quick hits: An updated NBA All-Star roster … Guests for the Usher Bowl … and more

— Here’s Bryan Kalbrosky with the updated All-Star rosters now that Trae Young and Scottie Barnes are in.

— Meghan Hall has 7 guests that Usher might bring out for the Super Bowl Halftime show. I kind of hope he just does it solo, though.

— Speaking of the halftime show, here are the best memes ever from it, by Michelle Martinelli and Charles Curtis.

— This Nikola Jokic profile in the New Yorker was so cool. Here’s more from Robert Zeglinski.

— Patrick Mahomes had the highest praise for Caitlin Clark. That’s pretty cool. Here’s Robert again.

— Kahleah Copper is headed to Phoenix! Meghan Hall has trade grades for you here.

That’s all, folks! Happy Wednesday. We’re almost to the Super Bowl. Let’s get it.

-Sykes ✌️

How to watch, wager, and stream Week 17’s Saints vs. Buccaneers showdown

Here’s the big one. The New Orleans Saints (7-8) could be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-7) on Sunday if a couple of other games don’t break their way — too many early-season defeats to rival teams in the wild-card race have set the Saints too far behind the eight ball.

The stakes couldn’t be higher, and we’ve got everything you need to know about the game. Here’s how you can watch, wager, stream, and listen in through the radio:

Colts vs. Falcons: How to watch, stream, listen in Week 16

Game information for the Week 16 matchup.

The Indianapolis Colts (8-6) and Atlanta Falcons (6-8) are ready to battle in a Week 16 matchup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.

While the Colts control their own destiny fighting simultaneously for a wild-card spot and the top spot in the division, the Falcons are doing everything they can to stay in the NFC playoff picture.

Here’s all the information you need heading into this Week 16 matchup:

Saints vs. Lions: How to watch, listen and stream Week 13 game

We’re in for a tough game between the New Orleans Saints (5-6) and Detroit Lions (8-3) on Sunday at the Caesars Superdome. The Lions are looking for something to hit after they got embarrassed by the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day last week; the Saints are just hoping to tread water and keep their position in the NFC South after falling into second-place with back-to-back losses on the road.

This is the first game of a three-week homestand for New Orleans. The Saints badly need a win, but it’ll take all they’ve got to take care of business with Detroit. Here’s how you can tune in:

Colts vs. Titans: How to watch, stream, listen in Week 13

Gameday information in Week 13.

The Indianapolis Colts (6-5) and Tennessee Titans (4-7) are set for a Week 13 matchup at Nissan Stadium on Sunday.

While the Titans are essentially fighting to play spoiler for the remainder of the season, the Colts are looking to stay in the AFC playoff picture. Indy is riding a three-game winning streak and even though they will be without Jonathan Taylor, they sit as slight road favorites in this matchup.

Here’s all the information you need heading into this Week 13 matchup:

Saints vs. Bears: How to watch, listen and stream Week 9 game

Week 9 is here, with the New Orleans Saints (4-4) looking to continue their yearslong win streak against the Chicago Bears (2-6) in front of a home crowd on Sunday afternoon. The Saints haven’t lost to the Bears since 2008, and they’re undefeated in New Orleans against Chicago dating back to 1991.

But this isn’t a matchup they can take lightly. The Saints have lost winnable games this season due to mental mistakes and playing too much poor football. Here’s everything you need to know so you can tune in for Sunday’s game:

TV coverage maps, how to stream Cowboys-Eagles, plus 10 top prop bets

Are you one of the few who will be screwed by the regional coverage rules? If you’re in red, you get to move ahead. If you’re in blue, here’s what you’ll need to do. | From @KDDrummondNFL

It’s time. A month after crossing paths with the team that was at the time regarded as the NFL’s best and failing, the Dallas Cowboys find themselves in a similar situation. A Week 5 loss, embarrassing in every sense of the word, to the San Francisco 49ers sent the Cowboys tumbling down the respect-o-meter.

But Sunday’s Week 9 matchup against the 7-1 Philadelphia Eagles offers a redemption arc of epic proportions. A victory places the Cowboys in control of the division at the midpoint of the campaign. A loss doesn’t ruin their chances, but it does make things more tenuous.

This game against Philly isn’t a must win. They don’t exist until late in the season, no matter what the media tells you. It will, however, say a lot about where Dallas is as a team right now.

Dallas losing this game doesn’t crush their division, or their No. 1 seed hopes. It does make them dependent on other things happening, but they could lose and realistically still be in position when they host the Eagles at AT&T Stadium in just over a month.

It will be much better to win, of course, and if you want to watch but aren’t sure how, or want some unsolicited advice on potential wagers for the game, you’ve come to the right place.

Colts vs. Saints: How to watch, stream and listen in Week 8

Here’s all the game information for the Week 8 matchup.

The Indianapolis Colts (3-4) are set to host the New Orleans Saints (3-4) on Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

This Week 8 matchup will be a crucial one for both sides. Both teams are currently looking to avoid a three-game losing streak. The Colts have lost three of their last four games while the Saints have lost four of their last five.

Here’s all the information you need heading into this Week 8 matchup:

Saints vs. Colts: How to watch, listen and stream Week 8 game

The New Orleans Saints are on their way to Indianapolis to take on the Colts in the Week 8 matchup. Both teams are 3-4 and desperately need to walk away from this weekend with a victory to set their season straight.

The Saints are still only a game back from first place in the division, while the Colts have some extra room to make up before catching the Jacksonville Jaguars. This is the Saints third straight game against the AFC South, coming off of two straight losses. The Colts have not yet faced an NFC South team this season.

Indianapolis coming off of a 39-38 loss, while the Saints offense is struggling to score at all.

Here’s how you can tune into the Week 3 matchup on Sunday: