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Leagues and Governing Bodies

MLS STARTS FOURTH -- AND MOST CRUCIAL? -- SEASON SATURDAY

          As MLS kicks off its fourth season this weekend,
     "perception -- not reality -- is why this year is critical
     for the league," according to ESPN.com's Jamie Trecker, who
     writes that the league "is actually resolutely solvent,
     energetic, and manages to put a professional and
     entertaining product on the field."  But one of MLS's "many
     problems" is that "despite outperfoming the NHL in many
     areas, the league gets 1/20th of the attention."  Trecker:
     "When MLS can't get 2 million people to tune in ... you've
     got problems, and it's not the fault of the networks."  The
     problem is "directly attributable to the front office's
     failure to adequately promote its own product," as the
     league "has yet to hire the high-powered professionals
     needed to truly market the game" (ESPN.com, 3/18).  ESPN
     MAGAZINE's Jeff Bradley writes that "if you were to take one
     positive" from the league, it would be that "young American
     players are improving in a way they couldn't" when playing
     at the NCAA level.  But Bradley adds that former MLS Deputy
     Commissioner Sunil Gulati "shouldn't have been expelled." 
     Bradley: "Some feel Gulati had become too powerful.  We feel
     the league will have trouble operating without its smartest,
     most passionate executive" (ESPN The Magazine, 3/15 issue). 
     In NJ, Ike Kuhn writes that while "nobody is calling this a
     make-or-break year," MLS Commissioner Doug Logan "admitted
     that his league needs to show at least some modest gains
     this season" (Newark STAR-LEDGER, 3/19).  ESPN.com's Phil
     Shoen writes that MLS's schedule adjustments and expanded
     season "should lead to better days ahead for soccer fans,
     both at the stadium and on the tube."  In addition, ABC and
     ESPN "plan to produce features highlighting various players"
     for MLS broadcasts this season (ESPN.com, 3/19).
          TEAM ROUND-UP: In N.Y., Alex Yannis writes that the
     MetroStars have "produced the largest revenue" for the
     league during the first three years, through their "higher
     ticket prices and popularity in merchandise sales" (N.Y.
     TIMES, 3/19)....In DC, Steven Goff writes that the United's
     season-ticket sales are up 13% -- the third highest increase
     in MLS -- to 3,803 from 3,364, which trails only the Crew
     and Revolution (WASHINGTON POST, 3/19).   

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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