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SBJ Media: NFL Sees Midwestern Value With Bears, Steelers


This East Coaster is loving the NFL’s 5:00pm tonight. The Chiefs just beat the Bills 26-17. Now, it's time for Cards-Cowboys on ESPN.

    

CHICAGO, PITTSBURGH, NASHVILLE HIGHLIGHT WEEK 6 MARKETS

  • NFL broadcasters saw several positive ratings developments from Week 6, with several important markets posting season high ratings, according to local numbers.

  • The best story for Fox came in Chicago, where the 5-1 Bears posted a 28.9 local rating for its win over the Panthers -- a season high for the market. The NFL has viewed Chicago as a sleeping ratings giant. When the Bears are good, Chicago ratings lift the rest of the Midwest. If the NFC North remains competitive between the Bears and Packers, it would offset weakness in the NFC East this season.

  • CBS execs have to be relieved by the numbers in Pittsburgh, where the 5-0 Steelers drew a season-high 36.6 local rating for its blowout win over the Browns. Coming into this season with a Patriots team that did not have Tom Brady anymore, CBS’ schedule of AFC games was reliant on good results in Pittsburgh and Kansas City. Both teams, and their local TV ratings, have started the season strong.

  • Other notes:

    • The Titans' OT win over the Texans brought a season-high 25.6 rating in Nashville.

    • Most of the teams that played Sunday showed local ratings increases over the previous week for the second time this season. Twelve were up; nine were down and one was even. The other teams were either on bye or playing today.

    • The Jets' loss to the Dolphins rated just a 5.5 in New York City, flat with the previous week. The Giants' first victory over Washington brought a 9.8 rating in the Big Apple, on par with the G-Men’s local TV performance all season.

    • Going against the Dodgers' win in Game 7 of the NLCS, the Rams posted a 7.6 rating in L.A., which was up from the previous week.

 

GOODBYE TO A LEGEND: DOC EMRICK ANNOUNCES HIS RETIREMENT

  • My first thought when I saw the news that Doc Emrick was retiring from NBC was that a media rights deal is closer than I’ve been led to believe. The NHL’s deal with NBC ends after next season, and the league has been talking with several networks (NBC, ESPN, Fox) about a new deal. Several sources told me that there is no fresh news on the rights front. While all sides are talking, nothing is imminent.

  • The NHL’s rights talks have not moved much in the past several months. The NHL has made it clear that it wants to spread its rights across at least two TV networks. Commissioner Gary Bettman has been on record saying that the NHL could be interested in a deal with a streaming company. I expect the league to see a healthy increase in its rights fees.

  • You’ve got to hand it to NBC Sports, which gave Emrick a proper send-off this afternoon with a press call that included several unannounced guests, including Bettman, Al Michaels, Eddie Olczyk and Lou Lamoriello. Bettman: “There’s nobody who does a play-by-play as well as you do, and I just want to thank you for all of the incredible energy and effort you’ve given us and our fans, in particular the insights you give them to the game.”

  • Don’t expect NBC to name a replacement too long before NHL starts its season around January. The two most likely replacements would seem to be Kenny Albert or John Forslund. Hockey blogger Gershon Rabinowitz also suggested Gord Miller, Brendan Burke and Alex Faust. I’d like to put a plug in for Joe Beninati, a fan favorite as the voice of the Caps here in D.C.

 

The NHL On NBC Sports Twitter account has changed to #ThankYouDoc

 

JOE BUCK LOOKS BACK ON FIRST WORLD SERIES CALL

  • It was 24 years ago that a 27-year-old Joe Buck called his first World Series. NBC's Bob Costas said of Buck just after that Braves-Yankees matchup in 1996: "In terms of play-by-play craftmanship, he's better than I was at that age." I asked Buck how his broadcasting style has changed since then. Here is his edited response.

  • Buck: "At the beginning of this pandemic, I put that World Series on to surprise my mom and try to impress my wife. I sat there listening to it like, ‘Man, I can't believe I was 27 doing that.’ In some ways I sounded confident. I was just doing a game, and I'm proud of myself for that. At the time, it seemed natural and normal. I almost felt apologetic for being there at such a young age.

  • Sometimes it's like the proverbial duck with the feet going 1,000 miles an hour under the water. There's a lot of anxiety in there. There's a lot of insecurity in there. There's a lot of things that drive me to really work hard in my prep time. I try not to show all that. I end games with 75% of the stuff that I've prepared just sitting there unused. I just don't want to fill it up with constant talk. That's what drives me nuts when I'm at home watching games.

  • I don't think my style has really changed. I really don't. I think the game has certainly changed. And sometimes I wonder if I'm not old school now. And I don't want to be the ‘get off my lawn’ guy, but the game is really different. We're talking about launch angle and infield shifts, and the lack of a running game, and the inability to get runners over.

  • I mean, you could do a whole game talking about those issues, and people would just say, 'Shut up. This is the game. This is how it is.' I'm not saying it's better or worse. It's just different."

 

NBC SPORTS' GREG HUGHES READY TO UNVEIL NEXT BAR

  • NBC Sports Group’s Greg Hughes received some good press in his hometown of Janesville, Wisc., last week for his decision to open an Italian wine bar in the town. Renovations to the 155-year-old building that sits on the bank of Rock River will start next month, Hughes says.

  • The wine bar will be called Genisa, after Hughes’ late mother Genisa Cucchiella Hughes, who died in 2009. A cigar deck overlooking the river will be named after Hughes’ late father, Jack, who died in 1999. Hughes plans to have the bar’s Grand Opening on May 15, on what would have been his mom’s 87th birthday.

  • I already am making plans to be in Janesville for the Grand Opening party. Hughes took me through his hometown last September, and I got to see first-hand the aura of celebrity he carries in his hometown. Hughes already owns three other bars: Game Day Sports Bar & Grill, Bazinga Classic Pub & Grille and Barkley’s Burgers, Brews & Dawgs.

 

Greg Hughes and his brother hosted my brother and me at Barkley’s Burgers, Brews & Dawgs in Janesville last September

 

SPEED READS

  • The NBA this week will have meetings with its TV partners to decide on the start date for next season, with the consensus leaning towards "sooner rather than later" in order to keep the 2021-22 season on track, according to sources cited on "The Bill Simmons Podcast." Simmons: "Next season is screwed now. ... You start it sooner than later. You go like 70 games, get rid of the All-Star Break. … You try to get it done by mid-July."

  • The Rays are back in the World Series for the first time since 2008, when the team's five-game loss to the Phillies delivered what was then the least-watched Fall Classic on record (13.6 million viewers per game), SBJ's Austin Karp notes. One caveat from that series was that Game 5 was played over two nights due to weather. The current all-time World Series low is 12.7 million viewers for the Giants' sweep of the Tigers in 2012 on Fox.

  • Pac-12 Networks will bring back 46 of the 66 staffers who were notified they would be placed on furlough, per the San Jose Mercury News. The decision comes "in time for the start of the seven-week football season on Nov. 7, but many are being brought back to focus on basketball, which begins the week of Thanksgiving."  Pac-12 Networks are "expected to broadcast a full load of men’s and women’s games this season -- more than 100 for each sport."

  • A couple of sources emailed me this "Marty & McGee" clip of Tom Rinaldi bemoaning Coca-Cola's decision to kill the Tab brand. It made me laugh. Rinaldi: “More than a taste, it transported us back to a simpler time when we didn’t wear seatbelts, or no one wore helmets as they rode their bicycles. It seemed to have some competition from beverages like Fresca. But no. Tab stood alone, as more than a sweet treat. As something that could deliver the very best in us; allow us to do what we wanted, when we wanted, whether it was chemically dangerous to us or not.”

  • SEC Network worked with creative firm McKinney for its new spot rolled out over the weekend, dubbed "We Love it Here." The band Cordovas does the soundtrack for the spot, and SBJ's Austin Karp tells me that lead singer Joe Firstman was a hell of a baseball and basketball player when the two of them were growing up in Charlotte.

 

 

THE LAST WORD

  • I was impressed with the number of heartfelt tributes written to legendary Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman. The one piece, in particular, you should read about Hartman comes from ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, who wrote  about the day Hartman met Prince.

  • Other tributes: Twins President Dave St. Peter: "There will NEVER be another Sid Hartman. The man defined MN sports. I so admired his work ethic, competitiveness & resilience. Forever grateful for his trust and friendship." The Minnesota Wild: "No one worked harder and loved his job the way Sid did." The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski: "They will never make another one like Sid." U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.): "Sid Hartman was a friend of my dad’s and an icon in Minnesota sports journalism. He never missed a scoop and had so much fun doing it." Twins manager Rocco Baldelli: "We’re just thankful we had a chance to work with him. No way to capsulize him, but did love the way he could dominate a scrum." 

  • T'Wolves C Karl-Anthony Towns: "RIP to the legend." Keith Olbermann: "Hartman created the Lakers. And he moved on when the owners vetoed the trade he had arranged to get them the rights to a rookie center named...Bill Russell." USA Today's Bob Nightengale: "Hartman was baseball's longest-tenured active writer, issued the No. 1 BBWAA card this year." Ball State AD Beth Goetz: "Sid gave voice to all things Minnesota sports, a true legend. A life well-lived." Winnipeg Jets RW Blake Wheeler: "I’ll never forget when Sid Hartman gave my mom a talking to because I was contemplating going to school out of state. No one loved Minnesota sports more." 

  • Also check out Sports Business Daily's roundup of Hartman tributes.

 

 

 

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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).