Readers shared their views on the state of the industry, and there is a mix of conventional wisdom and refreshing surprises. The NBA remains the industry’s business and leadership bellwether, while NASCAR has clearly shifted the narrative around its sport.
Here’s what caught my eye:
The industry is smitten with the NBA. Commissioner Adam Silver ran away — again — with leadership honors. He was lauded for most effectively navigating the challenges of 2020, as well as being the most intriguing executive. NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts was overwhelmingly seen as the most effective union leader. The NBA had the most intriguing athlete (LeBron James), was voted the property most effective at responding to the COVID pandemic and most effective at producing live events. The sports business community’s respect for the NBA has been clear for years — ever since Silver became commissioner in 2014 — and the industry’s appreciation shows no sign of waning.
NASCAR had its strongest results ever in our reader survey, as the industry recognizes the changes and execution under Steve Phelps. Phelps ranked behind Silver as both the industry’s most intriguing executive and most effective, NASCAR scored well in responding to COVID and in producing live events, and Bubba Wallace was named the second most intriguing athlete behind James. These are very strong marks for a series that traditionally has scored poorly in this survey, and speaks to the effectiveness of its changes in management, alignment and communications strategy.
Not surprisingly, the NBA and WNBA were voted the properties most effective at responding to the social justice movement. Who would have predicted NASCAR registering a strong 31% at No. 3?
For properties voted least effective at responding to the COVID crisis, I believe there were a few factors at play. MLB was certainly affected by its rancorous return-to-play talks and an early virus outbreak. But let’s not forget it was the first team sport to both start and complete a season, and it conducted the longest season to date while also traveling across markets. The NCAA responded quickly to canceling March Madness, but its results were likely dragged down by conference policies on football’s return. It’s hard to see how the NFL could have done much better, while Minor League Baseball, so dependent on gate revenue, never really had a chance this year.
The NBA, NASCAR, NHL and MLB were the top four sports that respondents felt were helped by media coverage of their events during the pandemic. The NBA and NHL doesn’t surprise me, as many have marveled at the game presentations of those sports. NASCAR’s ranking was likely helped by its iRacing series. MLB coming in fourth surprised me, as the one league that many told me they had trouble engaging with was baseball, as the lack of fans sapped the broadcast of so much energy, atmosphere and visual appeal. This is supported by 42% who felt MLB was the league most hurt by the media coverage, while the NBA was second at 23% (not everyone loved the Microsoft virtual fan presentation). Others getting high marks for media coverage were the PGA Tour and WNBA, which didn’t surprise me, as many told me they watched more golf for its simplicity and the WNBA had nice wind at its back all season.
When it comes to college sports, SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has earned the industry’s respect in his five-year tenure, as he was tabbed the most effective college commissioner this year.
A whopping 94% of respondents said their company’s interest in esports is comparable or greater since the pandemic, which reflects the financial results in the gaming and video community over the last year. Finally, further indicating that 2021 will be a challenge, more than 40% of respondents said their budgets for next year will be down by 25% of more, showing that spending will remain slow.
WHAT FANS LIKED OR DIDN’T LIKE IN 2020: Please check out some of the noteworthy insights from the SBJ and rEvolution study of more than 2,000 sports fans on what long-term changes could result from the pandemic (see research). A couple of highlights:
Virtual drafts resonate, and viewers appreciate the compelling and almost more human-touch storytelling.
Increased advertising inventory hasn’t turned off fans — nearly 50% of baseball fans were fine with virtual ads on pitcher’s mounds, and nearly 60% of MLS fans felt the league should keep the virtual advertising it implemented — and we saw how prominent that inventory was at the MLS is Back Tournament in Florida.
Nearly 60% want the NFL to keep preseason games; 45% are interested in the NHL having neutral playoff sites, which flies in the face of the drama and excitement of home ice; and 47% would like to see NASCAR continue with weekday races, which is a feature many in the sport would like to continue.
What stood out to you in our surveys? Let me know, as I’d love to hear from you.
First Look podcast, with Abe's thoughts on our annual Reader Survey, at the 20:22 mark:
Abraham Madkour can be reached at amadkour@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
