SBJ Media: CBS Wants Right "Tone" With PGA Tour Return

I don’t know if it will translate to viewers, but today’s CBS Sports press call shows that there’s a pent-up demand among sports writers to cover sports again. The call lasted much longer than usual -- about 90 minutes -- and it had a “Super Bowl-level” number of reporters on the line, I’m told

CBS TAKING CARE WITH PGA TOUR TELECAST LOGISTICS

• When CBS comes on air with the Charles Schwab Challenge on Saturday -- the first PGA Tour event in more than three months -- Jim Nantz will voice an intro that will try to lend perspective to the COVID-19 pandemic, the George Floyd murder and the global Black Lives Matter protests. CBS hopes that Nantz’ open, which usually is a couple of minutes long, will set the right tone for the rest of the tournament. “We have to get on the air and have the appropriate tone at the top about where golf fits at this moment in time,” Nantz said. “Then we’re there to cover a golf tournament. This is not going to be a three-hour news program.”
  
  
• CBS Sports execs have spent the past two months planning how they will produce a golf event during a pandemic, using social distancing norms, Chair Sean McManus said. CBS, which will produce the rounds that Golf Channel carries Thursday and Friday, will bring half of the number of people to the course that it typically does. For example, there are usually 22 people on site for a main production unit; this weekend, nine people will make up that unit. “We reconfigured our trucks so that we have more trucks,” McManus said. “More mobile units and more social distancing will really help.”
  
  
• Other changes: Nantz typically is in the tower at the 18th hole with five other people. This weekend, he will be alone, with just a robotic camera to keep him company. His broadcast partners Nick Faldo, Ian Baker Finch and Frank Nobilo will be calling the action from Golf Channel’s Orlando studios. CBS will keep one production contingent in New York and another in Stamford, Conn. The graphics and video tape replay teams will be based in Los Angeles.
  
  
• CBS plans to use drone coverage (it still hasn’t decided whether to make it live), and it will mic up more players than usual. It will debut a feature called “Inside the Ropes,” where golfers will walk into a small tent during their round and answer a question that has been written down. It plans to use “Eye on the Course” tech that lets viewers see golf action in one on-screen box as ads run in another on-screen box. “It’s a complicated production,” McManus said. "It’s different than any one we’ve ever done."

HANDICAPPING THE TOP JOB FOR SINCLAIR RSNs

• One truism of journalism is that people love reading about people. That’s why it came as no surprise that I received a ton of feedback from today’s column, where I handicapped the people most likely to replace Jeff Krolik at the head of Sinclair’s regional sports networks. Most of the people who reached out agreed with my prediction that Sinclair would hire from within: three of my top four candidates already work for Sinclair.
  
  
• I’m still convinced that Chief Development Officer Scott Shapiro is the favorite, though one source cautioned that his bosses love him in his current role and may not want to move him out of it, where he oversees M&A. I caught some flack for giving YES Network President Jon Litner 25-1 odds. Several sources said that he’s more likely to be considered for the job than those middle-of-the-road odds suggest.
  
  
• The most grief was reserved for execs who readers felt should be included on the list. Here are the five names that I heard most frequently today:
  
  
  • Tracy Dolgin (Raine Group): How could I have left Dolgin off the list? He oversaw the launch of the RSNs at Fox before going to YES Network. In his role as an advisor at Raine, he is often sought out for his expertise on RSNs.
    
    
  • David Nathanson (Mapleton Investments): Like so many others on my list, Nathanson knows distribution and sports rights. His ace in hole is sports gaming -- a huge initiative for Sinclair. Nathanson is on FanDuel’s board of directors.
    
    
  • Bob Thompson (formerly of Fox Sports): Thompson has been retired (and loving it!) for the last decade, which is why I kept him off my list. But his stature still is so big in these circles that several argued that he should be considered.
    
    
  • Dan Finnerty (Spectrum Network): Finnerty is one of the few execs in the business that has handled distribution jobs, negotiated sports rights deals and managed RSNs. He checks all of the boxes.
    
    
  • Ryan O’Hara (most recently at Shutterfly): O’Hara used to be in the sports world, with stops at Topps, Gemstar-TV Guide and Fox Sports. O’Hara understands digital and streaming probably better than anyone on my list, and has deep relationships in the business.

SPEED READS

• More evidence of sports viewers’ pent-up demand: The delayed start to the IndyCar season averaged 1.29 million viewers Saturday night from Texas. That’s NBC Sports’ second-best IndyCar figure yet (behind only the 2019 Indianapolis 500) and the biggest audience for an IndyCar opener in four years, when ABC averaged 1.39 million viewers for St. Pete.
  
  
• Comcast today rolled out a three-year plan to invest $100 million on efforts to advance social justice and equality. Craig Robinson, Exec VP & Chief Diversity Officer for NBCUniversal, will be spearheading efforts alongside Comcast CEO Brian Roberts at the corporate level and will coordinate with business leaders across Comcast, NBCU and Sky.
  
  
• Welcome back “Packer & Durham.” The ACC Network’s signature morning show today had its first live episode in 87 days. Mark Packer was still in his basement from Charlotte, where the show typically airs from, while Wes Durham was at his home in Cartersville, Ga.

FSU lineman Marvin Wilson (r) talked with Packer and Durham about how the Seminoles are moving forward with change

• The biggest media story over the weekend dealt with James Bennet’s resignation as the N.Y. Times’ opinion editor. The way he resigned -- after a staff revolt -- leads to this question from the Washington Post's Margaret Sullivan: “In this polarized, dangerous moment, what are journalists supposed to be?"
  
  
• I will cede the last word tonight to CBS' Jim Nantz: “I consider this to be, perhaps, the most important moment in this country in my lifetime. We just have to get this moment in history right. We can’t let this opportunity pass without real and meaningful progress when it comes to equally, diversity, justice, love and empathy.”

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR SBJ GAME CHANGERS!

• Online nominations for Game Changers have opened. We’ll be accepting nominations through midnight June 21. The Game Changers event will be Oct. 27-28, and a special section will run in SBJ in the Oct. 19 issue.

Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ College with Michael Smith and SBJ Esports with Adam Stern and Trent Murray. 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).