The migration of sports to cable isn’t likely to affect the biggest events on the sports calendar — like the Super Bowl, World Series and NBA Finals — for the foreseeable future, according to several network and league executives.
Still, even the biggest sports leagues have started dabbling with putting their top events on cable.
In its new TV contract negotiations, the NFL is considering putting one playoff game — a wild-card game — on ESPN starting in 2014. Both MLB and the NBA sold rights to their semifinal playoff series to cable channels. TNT splits MLB’s league championship series with Fox, and TNT and ESPN share the NBA conference finals.
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Broadcast executives believe their platform is better suited to keep the top sports events. |
But even ESPN’s top executives realize that the biggest events of these top leagues will stay on broadcast television in the near term.
“The NFL will tell you that they’re not going to move the Super Bowl to cable,” said John Skipper, ESPN’s executive vice president of content. “The World Series is probably the second-hardest thing to move to cable. The NBA Finals, too. Beyond that, I don’t think you’re going to see much fan reaction or rights-holder reaction to any properties being on cable anymore.”
While the NFL would not comment specifically on the likelihood of the Super Bowl and NFL playoffs moving to cable, the league has long embraced broadcast, and that’s not likely to change. In fact, the NFL’s embrace of broadcast is so secure, sources said the league is unlikely to do away with the rule requiring that cable telecasts also be shown on an over-the-air broadcaster in local markets — making the idea of moving the Super Bowl to cable unthinkable.
“The centerpiece of the NFL’s television policy is free, over-the-air broadcasting of NFL games,” a league spokesman said.
MLB’s television rights are up after the 2013 season. While the league sold a league championship series to Turner in its last negotiation, don’t expect the World Series to make the move this time.
“We think that the World Series at a minimum is a broadcast property,” said Tim Brosnan, MLB’s executive vice president of business. “There’s a handful of programs — people can guess what they are — and we think the World Series is among them. Our ownership, the commissioner, our industry believes that it’s a broadcast property.”
Still, the migration of sports to cable is undeniable. ESPN carried the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup. Versus has the rights to two Stanley Cup Final games every year. The Bowl Championship Series moved to ESPN this year.
But broadcast executives believe their platform is better suited to keep the biggest events.
“I’m a strong believer in network television,” said Sean McManus, chairman of CBS Sports. “I’m a strong believer that there are still now, and always will be, events that should be on network television, as in the Super Bowl and the Masters and the World Series.”
The main broadcast pitch is that it reaches up to 15 million more homes than the biggest cable channels, which provides a bigger platform for leagues to market their sport.
“The broadcast business is being revitalized,” said Randy Freer, co-president of Fox Sports. “We’re built for big events and create big events. Promotional platforms in this ever-scattered marketplace are important.”
