SBJ Unpacks: NFL Moving Forward ... On & Off The Field

Tonight in SBJ Unpacks: The NFL lays out specifics for the upcoming regular season, including how it will support players' social justice initiatives.

Also:

• Big Ten confirms Warren, Trump spoke
• USTA committed to social messaging at U.S. Open
• MLB postpones another series in truncated season
• Data from NHL clubs on Instagram's new TikTok-like feature
• New agency aims to be third party for NIL deals

GOODELL: TEAMS WITH FANS WILL NOT HAVE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

• NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell this afternoon in a conference call said that the league does not view certain teams hosting fans this season as a competitive advantage over those who cannot. Goodell: "We do not believe it's a competitive advantage. We discussed it very early on with our Competition Committee and with our clubs. We do not see that." He added that it is possible that some teams who open the season without fans in the stands will eventually be able to open up their stadiums sometime this season.
  
  
• NFL Chief Medical Officer Allen Sills confirmed that coaches and others on the sideline "will be required to wear masks during games." Previous guidance was to "strongly encourage but not require." Sills also said that updates to gameday protocols require team owners to be tested more frequently if they "wish to go to the locker room or stand on the field." 
  
  
• Meanwhile, NFL Exec VP/Football Operations Troy Vincent supported players' individual right to sit out or protest during the season. Vincent: "The players want to see us leveraging our influence to make sure that officers who are bad officers be held accountable. ... We keep seeing this same image on television of unarmed black men being shot down." Vincent confirmed the "area of police accountability" is where players want the league to focus their efforts.

BIG TEN CONFIRMS TRUMP, WARREN HAD "PRODUCTIVE" CONVERSATION

• The Big Ten in a statement said a White House rep reached out to Commissioner Kevin Warren yesterday to "facilitate a phone call" with President Trump, and the two had a "productive conversation" today. This comes after Trump earlier tweeted about a conversation on "immediately starting up Big Ten football." The Big Ten in the statement added its "Return to Competition Task Force, on behalf of the Big Ten Council of Presidents and Chancellors (COP/C), are exhausting every resource to help student-athletes get back to playing the sports they love, at the appropriate time, in the safest and healthiest way possible."
  
  
• Trump echoed his tweet when speaking to media today: "It was very productive about getting (the) Big Ten playing again and immediately. Let's see what happens. ... We're pushing very hard. ... They want to play, and the fans want to see it, and the players have a lot at stake." Trump added, "We had a very good conversation, very productive, and maybe we'll be very nicely surprised."
  
  
• Meanwhile, radio host Dan Patrick this afternoon cited a source as saying, "If conference can pass updated safety measures and procedures, Big Ten targeting Oct. 10 to start football season."
  
  
• For more on the Big Ten's situation, see SBJ College later tonight.

USTA COMMITTED TO SOCIAL MESSAGING AT U.S. OPEN

• In a year where U.S. Open organizers have said that revenues from the tournament will be down 80%, many might have assumed that the USTA would have put some of its 12 official sponsors’ logos and names on scrims (fabric seat coverings) that are covering the lower areas of the Arthur Ashe and Louis Armstrong stadium courts, writes SBJ's Bret McCormick. Instead, the blue scrims say either “New York Tough” with a background of the Old Manhattan skyline, or “2020 US Open.” 
  
  
• In one section close to the Arthur Ashe stadium court, artwork celebrating black culture is positioned around the words “Moving Black Lives To The Front.” And black-colored scrims are positioned in the four corners of Arthur Ashe, with “Black Lives Matter” written in white lettering. Nine screens surround both stadium courts, showing either fans or players’ family and friends.
  
  
• USTA CRO Lew Sherr said they "did not want to create clutter and place logos on the scrims gratuitously." Sherr: "We also did not want to take attention away from our social impact messaging on the scrims or the fan engagement on the video boards."
  
  
• Sponsors’ names and logos are positioned around the walls of the court like normal, with JPMorgan Chase, IBM and Emirates in TV-friendly locations.  A source told SBJ that U.S. Open signage positions are usually part of partnerships valued at mid-seven-to-eight-figures. But where other sports properties have covered empty stadium seats and put sponsors’ names and logos over them since March, the USTA did not. 

Blue scrims at the U.S. Open say either “New York Tough” with a background of the Manhattan skyline, or “2020 US Open”

USTA DEFENDS PROTOCOLS AFTER PLAYER CRITICISM

• German doubles player Tim Puetz said that one of the two hotels for U.S. Open competitors, located in Garden City on Long Island, had several wedding parties staying there over the weekend and that players and the wedding parties were frequenting many of the same areas.
  
  
• Puetz, on the Advantage Podcast, said that players were not aware that non-U.S. Open guests would be at their hotel. Puetz also told the German podcast that not all players were aware that their badges contained GPS devices that were used for contact tracing in Benoit Paire’s situation. “Many players are angry,” Puetz said. “The staff just all the time said ‘Please wear it.'”
  
  
• The USTA responded in the London Telegraph that they “have consistently communicated all aspects of the U.S. Open health and safety protocols and guidelines with both tours and often with players directly." The statement continued, "Within the USTA's overall controlled environment is a dedicated environment for the Garden City Hotel. We are comfortable with the protocols we have in place as long as all Tier One individuals strictly adhere to those protocols,” with Tier One referring to the biosecurity level for U.S. Open players.

MLB ENTERS STRETCH RUN OF TRUNCATED SEASON

• MLB now finds itself in a balancing act with four weeks remaining in its truncated regular season, writes SBJ's Eric Prisbell. 
  
  
• The league is postponing a full series out of an abundance of caution despite just one positive case, while also trying to have teams play as close to the full 60 games as possible by the end of the month to maintain the integrity of the season. Caution will win out, of course, as it should. 
  
  
• But it's interesting to see the difference in how MLB is handling positive cases now versus at the season's start. On July 26, the Marlins went ahead and played the Phillies even though multiple Marlins players tested positive before the game. Contrast that with today's announcement: The entire three-game series between the Mariners and A's, including the additional postponement of Thursday afternoon's game, is postponed and will be made up later this month as part of doubleheaders. There have been no additional positive cases within Oakland's organization after a positive test Sunday forced the postponement of Sunday's game at Houston.
  
  
• MLB sources say because an anticipated multi-city bubble construct for the postseason should minimize travel, the league has a little more leeway, if needed, to stage any makeup regular season games before the postseason begins. 

NHL CLUBS LEAN INTO INSTAGRAM'S NEW TIKTOK-LIKE FEATURE

• Instagram launched its Reels product -- 15-second-or-less clips -- on Aug. 5, and so far, the Coyotes, Blackhawks and Lightning are among the most active NHL clubs, according to data provided to SBJ by social insights and intelligence platform Conviva. The Coyotes posted 14 Reels between Aug. 5-31, while the Blackhawks and Lightning each posted seven during the same period. 
  
  
• To date, 40% of NHL clubs (13) have posted at least one Instagram Reel over nearly the past month compared to 70% of NBA teams (21 out of 30), writes SBJ’s Mark J. Burns.
  
  
• Conviva VP/Strategy Nick Cicero spoke on how the new content product compares to a similar one in TikTok: “You’ll see a lot of NHL teams probably create more Reels because they might have a wider group of people that they could try to reach on Instagram, but then I can also imagine they’ll look to reach somewhat of a new type audience on TikTok that might not be on Instagram or Facebook.”
  
  
• A few other data points:
  
  
  • The Capitals, Blackhawks and Avalanche have the highest average engagements per Reel -- 18,224, 16,637 and 10,391, respectively -- among those NHL clubs who’ve posted at least two Reels. 
    
    
  • Reels for NHL franchises had 50% more engagement versus traditional Instagram videos during the measured period. 
    
    
  • At 2.26 million plays across seven Reels, the Blackhawks held the No. 1 spot for NHL clubs, followed by the Capitals (1.07 million), Coyotes (841,900), Lightning (836,200) and Avalanche (533,000). The Blackhawks also had the No. 1 most-viewed Reel at 686,000 plays.

NEW AGENCY AIMS TO BE THIRD PARTY FOR NIL DEALS

• The name, image and likeness movement has slipped under the radar because of football season, but behind the scenes, ADs are scrambling to keep up with the latest legislation that’s expected to take effect in 2021, writes SBJ's Michael Smith.
  
  
• Now is the time to be having conversations about managing NIL before it becomes part of college athletics. That’s what Doug Fillis is counting on. Fillis has worked on both sides of the desk, as a regional exec at IMG College and as an administrator at Rutgers. He’s putting those experiences together to form Accelerate Sports Ventures, a new agency focused on NIL. 
  
  
• For more on Fillis, check out tonight's issue of SBJ College.

SPEED READS

• Notre Dame will make its first ever appearance on USA Network this football season, as the Fighting Irish’s game against South Florida on Sept. 19 will air on the cable channel. The reason is due to a pile-up of prestigious sports properties on the NBCUniversal family of networks caused by the pandemic. SBJ's Austin Karp notes while USA is "one of the most-distributed cable networks," the Irish are "coming off the least-watched season yet on NBC Sports." A game on USA "may not help out a needed rebound."
  
  
• The Ringer's Ben Lindbergh writes under the header, "The GM Never Sleeps: A.J. Preller Just Had an Unprecedented Trade Deadline." The Padres GM "just exchanged 26 players, breaking his own record for a three-day span." It is the "latest example of how he’s become one of the most aggressive decision-makers in MLB." Meanwhile, an ESPN roundtable asks what will be the one thing fans remember most about yesterday's unique trade deadline? Sam Miller writes, "The complex logic puzzle that was required to figure out which teams were 'in it.'" More Miller: "Not that easy to compare records when one team has played 11 more games than another team."
  
  

• LA28 launched its official logos for the 2028 Summer Games, per SBJ's Chris Smith. Organizers have innovated upon the traditional approach by rolling out a wide-ranging series of unique logos; the "L," "2" and "8" are static across all versions, but various iterations of the "A" are intended to reflect the city’s diversity and allow for dynamism over the eight-year run-up to the Games. The initial round of 26 logos were designed in concert with athletes, artists and activists. Creators include current and former Olympians Allyson Felix, Chloe Kim, Alex Morgan, Adam Rippon, Ibtihaj Muhammad, Gabby Douglas, Simone Manuel and Michael Johnson, among others. Below is a sample of the logos.

NEWS YOU NEED FROM SPORTS BUSINESS DAILY

• During this crisis impacting the sports business, we want everyone to be up-to-date on the latest news and information. Select stories from Sports Business Daily are free, outside the paywall, for the foreseeable future. Below are today's headlines:
  
  
  • Documents Reveal Details Of Big Ten's Vote To Postpone Fall Sports
  • Jaguars' Recent Moves Bring More Criticism Of Ownership, Front Office
  • Sources: NBA Puts Media Account Into Review, Issues RFPs
  • Bucks Personnel Detail What Went Into Boycott, What's Coming From It
    

SBJ UNPACKS -- THE ROAD AHEAD

• Check out the most recent editions of our SBJ Unpacks podcasts:
  
  
  • Karn Dhingra joins Bill King to discuss the future of the last-minute ticket sales market during and after the pandemic.
    
    
  • Producer Ross Greenburg on the all-access pass into the NHL’s life in the bubble that his group is producing through the popular "Quest for the Stanley Cup."
    
    
  • IBM VP/Sports & Entertainment Marketing Noah Syken discusses the company’s longtime partnership with the USTA and U.S. Open.
    
    
    

--- AXS SPORTS FACILITIES & FRANCHISES & TICKETING SYMPOSIUM ---

Sept. 22-23, 2020

Virtual Program

Announcing the 2020 AXS Sports Facilities & Franchises & Ticketing Symposium agenda.  To view the agenda or to learn more, visit www.SportsFacilitiesandFranchises.com.

Something related to coronavirus and sports business catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it.