Panelists Discuss Sports Properties’ Move To Cable As SMT Begins

"Sports Properties Media Strategies" Kicks  Off SMT Conference Today In N.Y.

The 10th annual Fantasy Sports Associations Sports Media & Technology Conference kicked-off this morning at The Westin at Times Square in N.Y. with a panel entitled “Sports Properties Media Strategies.” Panelists included YES Network President & CEO Tracy Dolgin, NFL Senior VP/Broadcasting & Media Operations Howard Katz, PGA Tour Senior VP/Broadcasting, Programming & Productions Gil Kerr, Comcast Sports Group President John Litner and NBAE Exec VP/Business Affairs & General Counsel Bill Koenig.

The issue: In the news, we’ve got the BCS going from Fox to ESPN. What is the significance and what is your reaction to this deal?
The skinny: Katz: “Obviously there’s no recession, and all roads lead to Bristol…. I don’t think there’s any great surprise it returned to ESPN. I think the shock here is that Rose Bowl is going to end up on cable. It’ll be interesting to see the ramifications here. Fox has essentially been put out of the college football business. Come renewal time, these conference commissioners are going to have nowhere to turn but ESPN. We’ll see what the long-term effects will be.”
Litner: “My reaction was not so much over the money or that it ended up back on ESPN. It was about what took them so long. It was really about the Rose Bowl, because anyone who has dealt with the Rose Bowl knows it’s a slice of Americana, similar to The Masters. So a property like [the BCS] which would normally scratch and claw to stay on a network platform, the fact that they have agreed to do so upfront is an interesting development. The fallout of this in college football, with the exception of the Notre Dame package, the SEC and the Mountain West packages, is that every other major conference is now aligned with ESPN, including their bowls. What it’s going to do, if you’re a conference commissioner or the NFL or MLB or some other major property, is cause you to want to develop an alternative. Whether it’s a shout out to Jamie Davis at Versus, or USA or Turner or any other platform, the more ESPN gets, the more important it becomes, and the more important it becomes to develop an alternative." 

Dolgin Says ESPN Landing BCS Games Could Be Watershed Moment For TV

Dolgin: “It has everything to do with the recession. This isn’t so much the death of broadcast sports, but more of the trouble that broadcast is in. A single revenue source business model is broken and the recession has sped that up. It just happened to be that this deal came up at this time. I think broadcasters are in for a lot of trouble….This is maybe a watershed moment…. Maybe this doesn’t pay off for them, but they can afford to make this investment.”
Kerr: “One thing that wasn’t written about our deal a couple of years ago was that while we have our early rounds on the Golf Channel, along with some four-day events, we preserved our relationship with CBS and NBC for the weekends, and I don’t see that changing.”
Greatest hit: “This is going to force the market to create a competitor to ESPN” -- Kerr. 

The issue: Would NBA Commissioner David Stern be OK with Games One, Two and Three of the NBA Finals on ESPN?
The skinny: Koenig: "We want to make sure the finals are available to the widest audience, but the gap between the broadcast footprint and the cable footprint is narrowing. There could be a day when there is little difference, but right now we’re committed to keeping the Finals on broadcast." 

The issue: Most of the NFL deals are with broadcast networks. Does the league agree that this could be the death knell for broadcast sports?
The Skinny: Katz: “Well we have most our deals with broadcast networks, but our single biggest revenue deal is with ESPN for “Monday Night Football,” and we have the eight-game package on NFL Network. I’m not sure it’s going to all migrate to cable. Fortunately, the NFL is important programming for our broadcast partners, and we feel they will continue to pay rights fees. We don’t have plans right now to move any more programming to cable.” 

The issue: If FSN was starting all over again, would anything be done differently to create a nationally wired network?
The skinny: Dolgin: “I don’t know what we would have done differently. It certainly changed the way that sports was done. ...  I think it at the end of the day you’ll see one of these broadcast nets going to cable. Maybe it’ll be Fox.”

The issue: What sports business story will you be following over the next year?
The skinny: Katz: “Distribution of the NFL Network and the FCC with white space.”
Litner: “Getting the Portland Trail Blazers distributed on DirecTV. Also, Olympics TV rights -- whether ESPN gets into it.”
Dolgin: “Who Obama appoints to run the FCC.”
Kerr: “Where is ESPN going, and is there a competitor that will step up?”
Koenig: “The FCC and a la carte, as well as retransmission consents.”