SBJ Media: All In The Details For UFC

SBJ completed the fourth and final installment of its CAA World Congress Comes to You event today. Watch this video of my boss, Abe Madkour, as he wraps up the main themes he heard over those events. Trust me. This is worth six minutes of your time.

UFC HEAVY ON TESTING, DISTANCING FOR JACKSONVILLE

• UFC will rely on around 1,200 coronavirus tests to make sure its fighters and staff remain safe as the Endeavor-owned business tries to re-start its live events this weekend, UFC COO Lawrence Epstein said today. The amount of testing and social distancing guidelines underscores the difficulties all leagues will face as they look to return. UFC says it will have 600+ antibody tests and 600+ antigen tests on hand for its three events in Jacksonville starting Saturday. “In the early days of this epidemic, the testing capacity had to be focused exclusively on first responders, healthcare works and people who were sick,” Epstein said. “Now with testing capacity expanding, many of these tests that organizations like ours are getting access to don’t impact that testing.”
  
  
• UFC submitted a 25-page operational manual to the Florida State Athletic Commission detailing how it plans to host live events during the pandemic, Epstein said. UFC submitted the same plan in Nevada, where it still is awaiting approval, he said. That plan is big on testing, which already has started with antibody tests for anyone planning to attend; Epstein said that he’s already been tested several times. “When they arrive in Jacksonville, everyone is immediately screened again,” he said. “This process continues throughout the athletes’ and staff members’ entire journey. There will be additional testing.”
  
  
• Other changes: Less than half of the 300 staffers that typically attend an event will be in Jacksonville. UFC will use CDC recommendations on social distancing, including a plan where specific zones in the arena are available to certain people at certain times. It secured a hotel where it can more easily control athletes’ and staffers’ movements and created private rooms for training. “We’ve thought this through with health and safety being our No. 1 priority,” Epstein said. “We put together a plan that we think makes a lot of sense.”
  
  
• As for the TV production, expect more ambient sound microphones to pick up more audio from the fighters. Announcers will sit at least six feet away from each other, with Jon Anik, Daniel Cormier and Joe Rogan sitting at separate tables around the octagon. Less production staff will be on hand, but Epstein says, “I don’t think the fan will really notice any difference.” Saturday’s event will be a pay-per-view, with ESPN and ESPN+ carrying the prelims. Upcoming events are slated for ESPN+, but there’s been talk that they could be simulcast on ESPN.

QUARTERLY EARNINGS FOR MEDIA OUTLETS NOT PRETTY

• Quarterly earnings for media companies were not expected to be pretty. They weren’t. Though the sports shutdown only affected one month of the first quarter, advertising dropped while cord cutting increased. Those are trends that are certain to be much worse next quarter. You can read about the carnage from Disney, Discovery and Sinclair.
  
  
• It’s the Fox numbers, though, that could be the scariest of the bunch. I’ll let MoffettNathanson’s Michael Nathanson break it down: “The value of live sports to the media ecosystem can be seen in the extraordinary results at Fox which grew TV advertising 56% thanks to the airing of Super Bowl LIV. At the same time, the rate of cord-cutting has increased to -5% when sports were on air. Can you imagine what will happen now that there is an absence of live sports? We fear the rate of cord-cutting will reach new heights over the summer if live, premium sports content does not return soon.”

SHUTDOWN CREATES UNIQUE RANKING OF TOP SPORTS TELECASTS

• The most-viewed sports telecasts since the shutdown of games in the U.S. have been an interesting mix of live broadcasts, new and old documentaries, virtual telecasts and some repeats of marquis events from recent years, according to SBJ’s Austin Karp. A look at the top 25 sports broadcasts since March 16 through the first weekend in May shows the NFL Draft and “Last Dance” have easily led way, occupying the first nine spots. “SportsCenter” also rode the coattails of those telecasts to put five telecasts in the top 25 (before Round 1 of the draft, just after Round 1 and then three episodes airing just after each “Last Dance” on Sunday nights).
  
  
• Fox and FS1 put three NASCAR iRacing events in the top 25, led by the Texas Motor Speedway version on March 29. Outside of “Last Dance,” ESPN also saw two other “30 for 30” documentaries crack the top 25 (both in late March on ABC). Among repeat events, CBS' telecast of the 2019 final round at The Masters – won by Tiger Woods – was the best. Woods’ second-place finish at the 2018 Valspar Championship also helped that NBC repeat crack the top 25.
  
  
• The first round of the NFL Draft has easily been the most-viewed sports telecast during the shutdown (15.3 million viewers). But during the same period in 2019, that would have only ranked No. 5. That 2019 ranking during the same time frame was dominated by March Madness and NBA Playoff games, as well as The Masters and Kentucky Derby. Eleven sports telecasts drew over 10 million viewers last year in the time frame. This year, Round 1 was the only telecast to do so.
  
  
• The live/fresh element of telecasts is evident beyond sports as well. Without live sports, President Trump’s daily press briefings and nightly news telecasts gave networks a major boost in ratings. Looking at just early evening news during the shutdown across ABC, NBC and CBS, the average combined viewership for those shows has been rising well north of 20% each week. Early in the shutdown, the shows were seeing close to a 47% jump.

Download the Top Sports Telecasts

SPEED READS

• The "E:60" special on QB Alex Smith and his recovery from a gruesome injury did not do well on TV, averaging just 517,000 viewers for its premiere. But it is performing well on demand via the ESPN app, SBJ's Austin Karp reports. The feature now ranks No. 3 overall for 2020 in terms of replays on the app, behind only two "30 for 30" documentaries -- "The Last Dance" and "Vick."
  
  
• Cox Media blocked a local TV spot critical of labor practices by Sinclair, which owns the FS Arizona regional sports network, the Phoenix Business Journal reports. Sinclair "offered camera operators, replay operators, audio mixers, and other technical workers only a $2,500 loan rather than pay them for the work they would have done," as opposed to others, like AT&T SportsNet, ESPN and CBS, that are paying production staff during the shutdown for games they were booked to work. The Int'l Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees produced the ad.
  
  
• Peloton sales jumped 66% in the quarter and the company, using a free trial promo, added some 1.1 million users to its digital fitness platform from March 16 to April 30. Peloton averaged 17.7 monthly workouts per subscriber, up from 13.9 in the same quarter in 2019.
  
  
• David Beckham will read a chapter from “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” as part of an audio recording from J.K. Rowling and Spotify. Each week, a different person will read a chapter in the book.
  
  
• I was one of the viewers tuned to NBCSN for the Arkansas Derby on Saturday (I won $68, if you’re asking). The race was part of TVG's "Trackside Live," which NBCSN has been simulcasting during the pandemic. This past weekend -- the Kentucky Derby’s traditional first Saturday in May brought the top "Trackside Live" audience (168,000 viewers) since the sports shutdown began, thanks largely to promotion from the Kentucky Derby special on NBC earlier in the day.

SIGN UP NOW FOR LEADERS WEEK DIRECT: MAY 18-21

• Across the week, you’ll hear from some of the biggest names in sports, including NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, Cubs Chair Tom Ricketts and Amazon VP/Global Sports Marie Donoghue. Each day offers two hours of streamed content, where industry leaders will examine how the future of sport will change. In addition to the main content stream, there will be in-depth breakout sessions that will address specific challenges, plus networking with industry peers.
• You can’t afford to miss this opportunity. For more details, click here.

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 Unpacks on weeknights, as we look at the day's events surrounding sports and COVID-19.

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).