In St. Louis, Derrick Goold notes the MLB Cardinals last night made their "second consecutive appearance" on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball," and have another appearance scheduled for May 25. All three games "are on the road," which has "complicated a rigorous schedule" for the Cardinals. Manager Mike Matheny said, "It is a compliment that they want to see us on the national scene. (But) I don’t think it’s taken into consideration at all that it makes it harder for us. You get back at 4 a.m. and have to play the next day? You’re telling me that’s not going to affect you? We’re not looking for excuses, but it’s happened to us" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 5/12).
OLYMPIC PROPORTIONS: The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Matthew Futterman writes as the "ink dries on NBCUniversal's latest Olympic media-rights deal, which stretches to 2032, it is becoming more clear just how much of a bargain the Comcast Corp. unit managed to get." The $7.65B price tag "might seem like a staggering amount for a property whose core content exists for 18 days every two years." However, compared with the "skyward direction the market for live-sports rights has followed in recent years, the many ways NBCUniversal makes money from its Olympic partnerships, " the net "made a bet that is likely to pay off substantially in the coming years" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 5/12).
NO LAUGHING MATTER: VARIETY's Brian Steinberg noted NBC, in a "competitive jab that has been largely absent from its positioning in recent years," used the unveiling of its '14-15 programming schedule to note that fans of CBS' Thursday-night comedies "may be up for grabs" as CBS schedules NFL games on Thursday in the early weeks of the season. The move will require that CBS "either launch some of its best-known sitcoms -- 'The Big Bang Theory' among them -- on a different night of the week or start them later in the season" (VARIETY.com, 5/11).
KICK IT UP A NOTCH: EPL CEO Richard Scudamore said that the league's clubs can "look forward to a bigger financial pot from the outcome of eagerly awaited television rights renegotiations." He added, "I sit here not complacent but optimistic that we've still got very significant growth potential yet to realise." Scudamore said he is "very encouraged" by the size of the league's overseas audience. He said the U.S. had "a breakthrough moment." Scudamore added that audiences in India -- a market "dominated by cricket -- are up almost a third" (FINANCIAL TIMES, 5/10).
