The NBA and MLB are seriously evaluating their regular-season schedule. While this may seem outside the zone of key sports business issues, they are extraordinarily complicated ideas that touch all stakeholders in both sports. The key element for both leagues is that it focuses on fewer games, something that runs counter to conventional growth ideas.
First, the NBA is looking at reducing the number of back-to-back games to loosen up its schedule to assist player health, injury recovery, and the overall quality of the game. The number of regular-season games (82) wouldn’t change, but the season would be extended to build in more breaks and it would likely mean cutting preseason games. Currently, teams play eight preseason games over three weeks, and the thinking is that teams and players would be fine with half of those.
But it’s not that simple. Some teams, think of the Los Angeles Lakers, wouldn’t want to lose any preseason games because of a significant financial loss at the gate. Also, it would mean starting the season earlier — in the teeth of the NFL and college football season — and possibly extending it into early July, which is a no-man’s land for sports viewing and attention.
The league would also have to convince its TV partners, fresh off new nine-year deals, to move its playoffs and Finals windows to late June and into July. The NBA draft would then likely be moved back into to mid-July.
On the MLB side, Commissioner Rob Manfred has boldly suggested the league could consider a 154-game schedule, taking out eight regular-season games and returning to the same schedule the league had up until the early 1960s. Cutting 5 percent of the schedule would mean starting the season later and ending it earlier, and it would help with player health and wellness. But the challenge comes back to gate and TV: That’s four fewer home games for teams and eight fewer local or nationally televised games for the partners. Maybe there is enough new money flowing into the game that any shortfall could be compensated for, or maybe there is a rights fee make-good or rebate. Perhaps instead of seeing a loss in revenue dates, MLB re-examines its scheduling of doubleheaders as a way to build in more schedule flexibility.
Both concepts are challenging, but the NBA plan seems more achievable.
> MY HEAD SOUNDS LIKE THAT: Virtual reality and its application to the gaming environment is full of promise and offers a compelling way for sports leagues to touch the billions of people who will never enter a sports facility. If you have never tried the technology, you have to get a demonstration. I was hooked after being transported to courtside of an NBA game, with pulsating sound and palpable energy, to front row of a Coldplay concert, to looking over a ledge at the Bay Bridge. It instantly transports your mind and provides a unique emotion.
Sports executives are convinced VR can be a significant platform for how fans may experience their product. “It’s not a substitute for the real, live communal experience of being in a building with thousands of people,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. “But I think it really has an ability to change what it means from a media standpoint for what we can provide to our fans.”
Look for more on VR in SportsBusiness Journal shortly.
> INPUT/OUTPUT: I sat in on a good discussion between Silver, New England Patriots President Jonathan Kraft and Marie Donoghue, ESPN executive vice president of global strategy and original content, at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston earlier this month. Much of the conversation focused on monetization of social, and both Silver and Kraft look to the day of instant commerce for their game action. Silver noted that the current League Pass offering is based on quantity, but he’s looking at something more instant and qualitative, envisioning transactions through Twitter to whatever the “hot” game is at the time. “We want to get to a point where highlights from a Twitter feed lead to the purchase of a live game,” Silver said, suggesting such revenue opportunities could be “transformational for sports.”
Kraft agreed, saying “The holy grail of social [media] is when you can make that click and have a seamless transaction to something deeper and further, and I don’t mean to buy a hat or buy a T-shirt.” Kraft broke down the Patriots’ fan base by social habits: Hard-core Pats fans are on Twitter; Facebook draws more of the lean-back, traditional audience; and younger fans are on Instagram because of the images.
Donoghue, who clearly has a great deal of influence in Bristol, generated buzz when talking about certain projects from the company’s Exit 31 unit, which includes Grantland and features long-form story telling. She pointed to a recent example of the 9,000-word piece by Jesse Washington on Charles Barkley. “I will give credit to millennials,” she said. “They will read a long, well-written piece. We have data that people in their 20s will read a 9,000-word piece if it’s in their language.” She later added, “They are also very open-minded about what you can talk about.”
> GIVE ME STEAM: One of the more entertaining panels I’ve seen recently featured a fun back-and-forth between Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé and U.S. Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati over the state of soccer in America. It was friendly banter, but it certainly had an edge, with NBA execs, Ranadivé and Boston Celtics managing partner Stephen Pagliuca poking subtle jabs on the state of the beautiful game in the U.S. The affable Gulati took it all in good humor, but he clearly noticed the steady barbs, and at one time he looked at Ranadivé and said, “I’m counting. That’s now three shots, my friend.” Later, when the panel talked about the success of soccer in the Northwest, Ranadivé claimed that was because “Seattle doesn’t have an NBA team.” He also said, “We all know that soccer players all go to acting schools.” To which Gulati quickly responded, “Well, you clearly didn’t go to diplomacy school!”
Too often, panels are dragged down by long-winded speakers afraid to move off talking points. It was refreshing to see such candor, and while Ranadivé’s style may be an acquired taste for some, he’s not afraid to publicly mix it up, as he also had a fun back-and-forth with Mark Cuban at this year’s NBA All-Star Technology Summit.
> WALKED RIGHT OUT OF THE MACHINERY: Turning back to baseball, I like how open Manfred has been in offering new ideas and possible changes to MLB over his 44 days in office. He’s positioned himself as willing to look at everything affecting the game. Now, he may be learning that what he says as an aside — his position on the defensive shift, for example, or even the 154-game schedule — can be elevated out of context and result in unexpected news cycles that cause him to further explain his positions, but I hope he doesn’t change his approach.
One area people are watching closely is with Manfred’s initial steps to speed up the game, something that will be phased in slowly this season. Hearing his remarks in Boston made me think he’s trying to damper expectations, saying a couple of times the aim is in wanting “to just take a little of the dead time out of the game.” He also said, “If you improve pace of play, you will see a downward trend in the length of the game.”
Another point that caught my attention was Manfred crediting Silver for changing the debate on U.S. sports’ approach to gambling. “I give Adam [Silver] a lot of credit for sort of starting the debate. … Uniformity at a federal level [regarding legalized gambling] seems like a good idea to me.” Also, it looks like Manfred believes the U.S. market is mature, as he surprisingly floated Canada and Mexico as possible expansion targets. “Canada is a big country, and we only have one team there. … Mexico is certainly close enough that it probably could work in terms of having a team there. Over the longer horizon, the idea of having maybe two more teams outside the United States is intriguing.”
I am looking forward to hearing more from Manfred on the first day of our World Congress of Sports at L.A. Live next month. I hope you can join us there.
Abraham D. Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
