Newsmakers: Free Streaming Of Tournament Games Leads The Way

THE DAILY each Friday offers our take on the performances over the past week of some people and entities in sports business. Here are this week’s newsmakers

WIN: MARCH MADNESS ON DEMAND — CBS’ first day streaming NCAA tournament games for free goes off without any major glitches and sets all-time record for simultaneous online views of a scheduled live event. CBS says ad sales for MMOD have already surpassed the subscription dollars taken for last year’s event, when about 25,000 consumers paid $19.95 each. More sports online for free? Bring it on.

LOSE: CRAIG LITTLEPAGE — NCAA selection committee chair displays clear lack of understanding for journalistic principals by his defensive posture after CBS’ JIM NANTZ and BILLY PACKER criticize his group’s work. CBS may be a key partner to the NCAA, but kudos to Packer & Co. for not letting that relationship create any bias. It’s Littlepage that deserves to be panned for suggesting the net’s analysts not be objective.

DRAW: DC BALLPARK — The design may not have been met with resounding reviews from sports columnists and architecture critics alike, but at least the process has moved beyond the bureaucratic quagmire it wallowed in for almost a year and a half. As the Washington Times’ Dick Heller puts it, “Who cares whether the place turns out to be esthetically excellent or merely serviceable? Let’s just get the place built.”