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SBJ Media: All Eyes On NBA-China


One off-shoot of the NBA-China story: The Wizards are hosting the Guangzhou Loong-Lions tonight at Capital One Arena -- located right in the heart of DC’s Chinatown. I’m checking out the game on NBC Sports Washington tonight to see what kind of protesters show up.

MEDIA COVERAGE SHOWS NBA-CHINA SITUATION HAS LEGS

  • We’re five days in, and the NBA-China story still is dominating headlines. President Trump seemed to ensure the story would stay in the news cycle for at least one more day when, during an afternoon Q&A with reporters, he mocked the answers NBA coaches Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich gave when asked about China. None of tonight’s nightly news shows, though, addressed the story, or the President’s comments. 

  • On Tuesday night, NBC’s Lester Holt and ABC’s David Muir devoted significant time to the story, which is likely to pick up again tomorrow when the Nets and Lakers are scheduled to tip off for an exhibition in Shanghai. Other areas of the media have spent a lot of time on this story, notably CNBC. Kings co-owner Andy Miller appeared on the network’s “Squawk Alley” yesterday, and the first question dealt with -- you guessed it -- China. Miller: “It’s a pretty complicated political and business issue ... full faith in Adam [Silver], who’s done an amazing job in his tenure as commissioner to work through it.”

  • Because the NBA and China is such a big, national story, I tuned into ESPN periodically throughout the day to see how the network was treating it. Bristol insiders bristled at a Deadspin story from yesterday that cited a memo from a senior news director that “explicitly discouraged any political discussion about China and Hong Kong.” ESPNers say that the idea to address politics when it intersects with sports has been a focus for Jimmy Pitaro since he was named president in March 2018, and this would appear to be a textbook case of that intersection.

  • ESPN programming spent a lot of time on China today, particularly on “SportsCenter.” Its reports today did not focus on what has caused the people in Hong Kong to take to the streets in protest. Rather, ESPN had Rachel Nichols on the ground in Shanghai providing news of the situation for shows like “The Jump,” “Get Up” and “SportsCenter.” ESPN’s daily news show “OTL” led with the China story both Tuesday and today. Scott Van Pelt’s “One Big Thing” segment focused on the NBA and China last night. ESPN’s opinion shows like “First Take,” “PTI,” “High Noon” and “Around the Horn” also touched on it.

 

ESPN’s lower third graphic offers a glimpse at the reporting the net is doing in China

 

TAKEAWAYS FROM MLB RSN RATINGS

  • SBJ ran its annual MLB RSN ratings story this week, showing that FS Midwest posted the league’s highest local rating for the second straight season with the Cardinals (6.59 rating), narrowly edging out SportsTime Ohio and the Indians (6.55). The A’s (0.76 rating on NBC Sports California), the Marlins (0.83 on FS Florida) and the White Sox (0.95 rating on NBC Sports Chicago) were the only MLB teams to post a rating below a 1.0.

  • All told, local ratings were relatively flat this season, dropping 1%. Fourteen teams posted increases; 15 were down. (The Blue Jays’ ratings were not available). But here are some stats that show how powerful MLB programming is locally. Twelve RSNs were the top rated prime-time station in their market, including broadcast stations. Another seven teams ranked within the top three. RSNs were the top ranked cable channel in every MLB market this season except one: Miami.

  • Plenty of teams had good ratings stories this season, starting with the Padres (who posted a 76% increase from last season) and the Twins (up 63%). For me, one of the best stories comes out of Charm City where the Orioles had a forgettable season on the field, losing 108 games one year after they lost 115. Despite their record, the team’s ratings on MASN actually registered a 2% increase this year.

 

NFL AD PRICES HOLD STRONG

  • NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” and Fox’s “Thursday Night Football” occupied the top two spots in Ad Age’s annual list of primetime shows with the most expensive ads. The magazine said “Sunday Night Football” ads averaged $685,227 per 30-second spot (flat with last year) and “Thursday Night Football” ads average $540,078 (up 24%). NBC’s “This Is Us” placed a distant third, with ads averaging $359,413.

  • Ad Age: “It’s also worth noting that Fox’s nationally televised evening NFL games, which are not technically in primetime, cost about $689,988 for 30-seconds of commercial time, flat with last season.” The magazine noted that all six NFL TV windows are up 3% compared to last year, led by “Sunday Night Football’s” 6% jump. See today's story in SBJ Daily for more.

 



SPEED READS

  • Former SI media writer Richard Deitsch, now with The Athletic, hosted a good discussion with four former SI employees who were part of the magazine’s layoffs. The most poignant moment came when the group talked about how members of the edit staff that were retained, in a show of solidarity, sat in the meeting when others were told they were being fired. SI Producer Mary Agnant: "It was amazing how everybody was looking out for each other.”

  • Bruin Sports Capital Founder & CEO George Pyne, Jaguars Owner Shad Khan and ESPN's Jay Williams will participate in Yahoo Finance's 7th installment of the All Markets Summit tomorrow in NYC at 9:00am ET. Stream the event on finance.yahoo.com.

  • Steve Braband helped launch both "SportsNation" and "SportsCenter on Snapchat" during his decade-plus at ESPN. Now he's followed John Skipper and Jamie Horowitz to DAZN to help the outfit figure out platforms like TikTok. Braband: "There are a lot of fun young fighters at DAZN (like Ryan Garcia and Devin Haney) who will be able to do some cool stuff on TikTok as the platform is mainly 'personality' based right now." Check out the rest of Braband's interview with The Big Lead's Ryan Glasspiegel here.

  • Former Fox PR exec Lou D’Ermilio announced on Twitter this morning that he “may have played my last competitive hardball game, ending a career that began in 1970.” D’Ermilio, who has been consulting with the XFL for the past couple of years, went 1-for-2 with a single last night as his team lost in the playoffs of the Sayrewoods South Men’s Baseball League. Contacted by phone hours after his tweet, D’Ermilio’s retirement sounded a lot less certain. “I reserve the right to pull a Brett Favre in February if I feel physically up to it,” he said.

D'Ermilio went 1-for-2 with a single last night as his team lost in the playoffs
 

Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ College with Michael Smith on Tuesdays and Thursdays for insights into all the latest news around the world of college sports. Also check out SBJ Football with Ben Fischer on Friday afternoons.

Something on the Media beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).