SBJ Media: ESPN Stable Amid Disney Leadership Change

In yesterday’s SBJ College, Michael Smith wrote about someone he coached in youth baseball who just got his first collegiate win. Well, I have to one-up him. The star catcher from the Little League championship team I coached in 2012 was just named Tennessee Tech’s Athlete of the Week. Sydney Love-Baker batted .385 with 2 homers and 4 RBIs for the Golden Eagles softball team. 

ESPN SOURCES COMFORTABLE WITH CHAPEK'S ASCENSION 

• Don’t expect to see significant changes in ESPN’s relationship with Burbank with Bob Chapek in charge as Disney’s CEO -- especially not in the short term. Bob Iger will stay on as Disney’s exec chair through the end of next year overseeing Disney’s creative businesses (which includes ESPN). In other words: any NFL deal will be completed under Iger’s watch.

• To outside observers, the fact that Disney picked Chapek, rather than Kevin Mayer, was greeted with some skepticism. Mayer, after all, oversees ESPN’s direct-to-consumer business jointly with ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro, and was considered in some circles as a likely successor, given the company’s focus on Disney+ and ESPN+. That collaboration between Mayer and Pitaro will continue. Chapek has strong relationships with both execs.

• It's Pitaro’s established relationship with Chapek that has some in Bristol feeling reassured. Chapek and Pitaro have sat side-by-side at Iger’s management meetings for years. When Chapek took over parks in 2015, Pitaro took over Chapek’s former businesses: consumer products and interactive. Chapek worked with Pitaro on the transition. When Pitaro became ESPN president in 2018, the products division went back to Chapek.

• As far as Chapek’s sports bonafides, there’s not a lot to go on. An ESPN source described him as a big sports fan who was involved with opening the NBA Experience in Orlando last year. He graduated from Indiana back when Bobby Knight was the king of Bloomington. He also went to grad school at Michigan State. Of note: ESPN’s Big Ten deal ends in 2023.

• A lot of good media reporters have smart stories on how a Chapek-run Disney will differ from an Iger-run one. I’ll point you to Recode’s Peter Kafka and the NYT’s Brooks Barnes. The WSJ’s Joe Flint and R.T. Watson have a good story on Chapek that’s worth a click.

SINCLAIR HOPEFUL COMCAST WILL CARRY CUBS' RSN

• Four days after the launch of the Cubs’ Marquee Sports Network in Chicago, Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley sounded optimistic that Comcast will carry the RSN at some point this year. The reason? Sinclair’s Comcast deal -- for both its broadcast channel and RSNs -- is up for renewal later this year. “Typically these are wide ranging negotiations that include all of our assets,” Ripley said during Sinclair’s Q4 earnings call. 

• The other big distributor without a Marquee deal is Dish Network, which dropped all of Sinclair’s RSNs last July. Dish’s deal for Sinclair’s broadcast stations is up in 2021, which is when most observers believe Sinclair will be able to work out a deal. Ripley said he did not believe Dish’s move to drop the RSNs was “permanent.” Ripley: “Ninety percent of the revenue is distribution, so in near to medium term, it’s going to be highly influenced by subscriber trends, but that will be offset by mid-single digit escalators.”

• Comcast and Dish are the only two distributors of any significance that are left for Marquee Sports Network to sign. “One hundred percent of the Cubs geographic footprint are able to watch Marquee,” Ripley said on the call.

• Other notes: the long-awaited rebrand for the Fox Sports-branded RSNs will be in the “coming months.” Ripley also mentioned the RSNs will be getting a new digital platform.

FORMER ESPN EXEC READY FOR ON-CAMERA ROLE

• Former ESPN producer Kevin Wildes will debut as co-host of the FS1 show “First Things First” tomorrow morning (6:30am ET). Wildes will co-anchor alongside Nick Wright and Jenna Wolfe. The move to hire Wildes as an on-air anchor is surprising, considering that he formerly was a vice president of original content for ESPN’s studio production and a senior coordinating producer for its original programming and production unit. How did a behind-the-scenes producer end up with a plum on-air role?

• Fox Sports’ Charlie Dixon: “Kevin and I have developed shows for about a decade. Every time we were in the midst of development, Kevin always acted as our talent. Every single time, I’d look at Whit Albohm and say, ‘This guy is a great producer, but he is Grade A talent.'”

• I asked Wildes how a producer ended up with an on-air role. “My job for the last 20 years has been to sit around a table, kick around some sports ideas, try to come up with some elements that can support those ideas and have interesting conversations. That’s really the exact same thing that I’m doing now, but I’m going to wear a tie.”

• Kudos to The Big Lead, which broke the story of FS1 hiring Wildes two weeks ago.
  

NFL TURNS FOCUS TO MEDIA RIGHTS

• The message coming out of the Super Bowl was clear: first the NFL was going to finalize its labor deal. Then it would focus on media. So far, every broadcast channel already has talked to the NFL about the upcoming deals -- giving wish lists for the types of packages they want. But the league has not communicated how those packages will look. There's a possibility, for example, that the Sunday packages will not be split as an AFC package and an NFC package. But those ideas have not been finalized. The interest in the NFL is so high that most observers expect that media deals will be finalized this year.

• As the highest rated programming on television, the NFL was staring at huge rights fee increases even before the plan to add a 17th regular and two playoff games. Sources have said that the networks are bracing for a 50% hike in rights fees that already are the biggest in sports by far. Some of my better sources expect an increase more along the lines of 60-70%. Every broadcast network, including ABC, has said that it wants to have an NFL package after the new round of rights fees.

• The big question is with the tech companies. I interviewed Amazon VP/Global Sports Video Marie Donoghue in this week’s SBJ about her company’s sports strategy. Donoghue, who attended the Super Bowl and NBA All-Star Game, will not comment about specific rights that interest Amazon. “We are not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to sports,” she said. The implication was clear: anyone who thinks that Amazon would approach the sports rights marketplace the same way that a traditional media company would doesn’t understand how the tech giant looks at the business.

SPEED READS

• MLS already started negotiations for its next media deal, even though the current ones it has with ESPN, Fox Sports and Univision end in 2022, reports SBJ’s Mark J. Burns. The trio currently pay MLS a combined $90 million annually. MLS Business Ventures' Gary Stevenson is leading the process for the league, Commissioner Don Garber said at today’s MLS Media Day. Garber: “We’re meeting with potential media partners. ... I do believe in the new world, the streaming over-the-top world. Media companies are going to need Major League Soccer and sports content more in the future than they had in the past. ... We have an audience that most other properties don’t. It’s young, it’s very diverse.” 

• NBC on Saturday will carry the U.S. Marathon Trials live from Atlanta, and the network is rolling out some new graphics to help viewers understand what’s going on from a timing and ranking perspective. Given the implications for the Tokyo Games, the most important vertical graphic will be which athletes are running in 1st-3rd (qualifying positions), and who is on the bubble.

NBC's new vertical graphic will show which athletes are running in 1st-3rd (qualifying positions), and who is on the bubble

• The Rocky Balboa universe is still going strong, and MGM has "begun development on a third installment" in the latest franchise. “Creed” (2015) took in $173.6 million at the worldwide box office, and “Creed II” (2018) did even better ($214.2 million). The plot is still in development, but Zach Baylin, who wrote the upcoming "King Richard" film based on the father of Venus and Serena Williams, will pen the third “Creed” installment.

• I’d be remiss if we didn’t get some Orioles news in this newsletter. Melanie Newman is getting a call to the bigs, joining MASN as an analyst. During a Single-A Salem Red Sox game last year, Newman joined Suzie Cool to make history as the first all-female booth at any level of organized baseball. Newman, on Sarah Spain's podcast, said of her 10+ years in the minors: "It hasn’t been an easy path. … For Baltimore to call and tell me that they’ve been watching how I’ve worked and they want me to be a part of that system, it was an unbelievable experience."

• I am sorry to say that the father of SBJ’s Executive Editor & Publisher Abe Madkour died last Tuesday in Vermont. I instantly took a liking to Abe’s dad the first time I met him. I saw him as a kind man with a quiet dignity. This obit has a nice write-up of his life. 

Abraham Joseph Madkour passed away last Tuesday at the age of 89

------- CAA World Congress of Sports Update -------

• ESPN President and Disney Media Networks co-Chair Jimmy Pitaro is set for a one-on-one interview on March 25. Don’t miss out on the two biggest days in sports business with thought-provoking content, relationship building and deal making from start to finish. To view the agenda and to register, go to www.WorldCongressofSports.com.

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).