In N.Y., Bob Raissman noted UFC President Dana White and his "troops must capture the hearts and minds of fans who know nothing about the mayhem of mixed martial arts and turn them into viewers before Fox airs its first UFC card in November." Raissman: "What better way to accomplish this task than spreading the word to a mass -- and massive -- audience?" Fox will have "plenty of captive eyeballs during its coverage of the American League Championship Series and World Series" in October. But one network exec said, "How far will Fox push the envelope with [MLB Commissioner] Bud (Selig) and his people?" Raissman noted there is "nothing more sacred to MLB than its postseason," but that has "never stopped Fox from promoting its fall lineup of entertainment programming." Raissman: "Going full throttle promoting the blood and guts, the punching and crunching of UFC is different. ... Even if Selig isn't down with Fox hyping UFC during the postseason there's not much he can do. The commish has no control over promos or commericals" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/28).
WINNERS & LOSERS: ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY's Hibberd, Maerz, Staskiewicz & Vilkomerson named the UFC among its summer "winners." The UFC "finally gets respect from a big-time network, inking a deal with Fox to air live fights in primetime. Bonus: Its reality show 'The Ultimate Fighter' is headed to FX." Meanwhile, Jim Miller and Tom Shales' book "Those Guys Have All The Fun" was deemed a "loser." While the behind-the-scenes history of ESPN "debuted at No. 1, it sank like a Dirk Nowitzki free throw" (ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY, 9/2 issue).
SPRINT TO THE FINISH: In St. Petersburg, Tom Jones writes NBC's "tape-delayed coverage of the track and field world championships from South Korea on Sunday was actually more enjoyable because it was on tape delay." It allowed NBC to "time travel and cut out all the waiting from one event to the next." Viewers were able to "watch the semifinals of the men's 100-meter dash and then, a few minutes later, watch the final," where Usain Bolt was disqualified for a false start. NBC also "reacted well to the stunning development." Jones: "You have to love announcer Tom Hammond, too, on track and field" (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 8/29).
NEW PLAYERS: The GLOBE & MAIL's Bruce Dowbiggin notes Rogers, following its new agreement with Quebec's TVA Sports, has plans to not only "unite for co-productions but also join as bidders against TSN and its French-language counterpart, RDS, for the broadcast rights to Canadian sports properies." RDS "has had the field virtually to itself" until the Rogers-TVA Sports deal. Rogers Broadcasting President Scott Moore said, "This agreement gives us the chance to sell ourselves in both official languages when we bid on programming." Dowbiggin notes Moore has "an eye toward possible NHL, Olympic and World Cup soccer rights in the future." While Moore "insists it's still early days to talk about the next round of bidding for national NHL rights in Canada in 2013-14, it's clear that the TVA symmetry shores up one of the weakest planks in Rogers's pitch, a viable platform for delivering the NHL in Quebec" (GLOBE & MAIL, 8/29).
TIME TO BUY OR SELL: The Eagles today launched a web site for fans to sell their personal seat licenses. STR Marketplace designed and operates the site, the ninth it has done for an NFL club. The site allows fans to buy and sell their PSLs, which the Eagles call Stadium Builder Licenses. Owners can post sales ads. It launcheed today at 10:00am ET (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal).
