SBJ Media: The Path Of Khan

A special shoutout to Melanie Newman, who last night became the first female broadcaster in Orioles history to call play-by-play for a regular season game via the Orioles Radio Network. The list of female broadcasters currently in MLB is not long, but it is impressive: the Yankees’ Suzyn Waldman, ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza and the Rockies’ Jenny Cavnar.

NICK KHAN READIES TO PIVOT TOWARD NEXT CHALLENGE

• When Nick Khan joined CAA Sports in 2012, NBC had just rebranded Versus to NBC Sports Network and was prepared to invest to build it up; Fox was a year away from launching FS1; and ESPN dug deep into its pockets to keep its rivals from poaching its talent. The market for on-air voices had never been better, positioning Khan as one of the most influential agents in the space.
  
  
• That on-air market looks a lot different today, as Khan leaves to take the president & chief revenue officer title at WWE. The market for elite TV talent still is frothy -- look no further than Tony Romo’s deal for $17 million annually as evidence of that. But the bottom has dropped out of the market for mid-level talent, typified by the number of layoffs among NBC’s RSN commentators this week. All network execs believe they overpaid in 2012 and 2013. The market has been correcting itself. The pandemic accelerated that trend.
  
  
• In a phone interview, Khan said that his decision to leave the agent business was based solely on his desire to make a life change. He recalled a story from when he joined CAA Sports in 2012 and asked the agency's Howie Nuchow, Michael Levine, Richard Lovett and Bryan Lourd whey they got into sports. “Bryan and Richard said that they were around 50 years old and thought it was one of the last great business pivot moments in life,” Khan said. “That was something that I’ve always kept in the back of my mind. I wanted to try it while I was still young enough to do it. The WWE seemed like a natural fit.”
  
  
• In his eight years with CAA Sports, Khan was a big presence in the business. But he was never quoted. Today, in fact, is the first time one of my stories involved a direct quote from him. I asked him why. “When I was a young agent working for Bob Broder and Ted Chervin, they taught me that the best agents’ names only appear after the words, ‘Pay to the Order of,’” Khan said. “In this new front-facing position, it’s all about the company. If doing an interview like this from time to time helps my new colleagues and business partners get to know me, I’m happy to do it now.”
  
  
• Khan will have to be more visible and vocal as the face of a public company like WWE. Meanwhile, the market for on-air talent remains fraught with challenges. I expect that a lot of Khan’s former clients received calls today questioning what his move means for them.

LAYOFFS CONTINUE TO HIT STAFF AT NBC RSNs

• The headlines coming out of NBC Sports’ regional sports networks this week are not good.
  
  
• At least 15 staffers were let go from NBC Sports Philadelphia, including Phillies reporter Gregg Murphy, who had been with Comcast for 20 years, according to the Inquirer’s Rob Tornoe. Maureen Quilter also was included in the layoffs, having worked in the communications department for 24 years.
  
  
• NBC Sports Boston laid off nearly 20 staffers, according to the Globe’s Chad Finn, including anchor Gary Tanguay and Celtics reporters Abby Chin and A. Sherrod Blakely. Bruins reporter Joe Haggerty and host Danielle Trotta also were let go, Finn reported.
  
  
• NBC Sports Bay Area laid off at least 17 staffers, according to The Athletic’s Steve Berman. Layoffs include communications director Jay dela Cruz, who had spent 25 years with the RSN. Editorial manager Brian Chen and social media exec Danny Pedroza also were laid off, as was on-air host Kelli Johnson.
  
  
• NBC Sports Chicago laid off a number of staffers, including host Leila Rahimi and “at least one producer, a video editor, two camera people and some marketing people,” according to the Tribune’s Phil Rosenthal.
  
  
• In my hometown, NBC Sports Washington has had an undetermined number of cuts (in the double digits, I’m told) in front of and behind the camera, including on-air host Rob Carlin, who has been with the RSN since 2011. Carlin said he would continue to cover the Capitals for the RSN through the NHL Playoffs. Earlier this week, hosts Michael Jenkins and Sara Perlman announced that they were being laid off via social media.

Download the Select NBC Sports Layoffs

INSTAGRAM MAKING SPORTS PUSH FOR NEW REELS VIDEO PLATFORM

• Instagram is pushing sports leagues, teams and media companies to use its Reels short-form video platform that launched today. Described as Instagram’s version of TikTok, Instagram said that soccer teams like Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich created athlete-focused content in the past few months during Reels’ launch in France and Germany. “Being able to make their content personality-centric are trends that we have seen with team and league partners in those test markets,” said Instagram Head of Sports Dev Sethi.
  
  
• In the past week, Instagram has seen the sports community dabble with Reels, from the NBA posting a video on the restart of the season to the Heat showing what life is like inside the NBA’s Orlando bubble. Other examples: the Univ. of Texas women’s soccer team created a video of team members practicing during the pandemic; Dude Perfect posted a video of a trick shots; and Chelsea posted a video from one of its practice sessions.
  
  
• The Coyotes were among the first batch teams to receive early access to Reels. Coyotes Senior Director of Social Media & Brand Strategy Marissa Mast tells SBJ’s Mark J. Burns that the NHL club is exploring more ways to use Reels as a storytelling vehicle vs. offering straight highlights packages to fans. For example, the club shared an update about one of its fans, Leighton, who’s been battling cancer, but her recent scans came back clean. Mast: “One of the biggest opportunities as a sports brand is you’re always looking for ways to be part of bigger cultural moments. Reels presents that opportunity.”

SPEED READS 

• A gaming/esports-focused TV network called Venn launched today, SBJ's Adam Stern writes. Venn will initially be on digital media platforms including Twitch, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and its own site, Venn.TV. It also has plans to soon be on OTT platforms like Vizio, Xumo and Stirr. Venn co-founder & co-CEO Ben Kusin told Stern that the network is talking with traditional cable companies, but has no carriage deals to report.
  
  
• Univision and TUDN are set to air the return of the UEFA Champions League this month without any English-language competition on broadcast TV, with CBS putting three games on CBS Sports Network and streaming the rest on CBS All Access. TUDN Senior VP/Marketing & Business Development Marco Liceaga told SBJ's Andrew Levin that, on today's SBJ Unpacks podcast, that he wouldn't speculate on a potential viewership bump for Univision/TUDN, but noted: “I don’t know how much. ... But my answer would be yes.”
  
  
• CNBC focused on Disney’s earnings for much of the day, with former NBC Cable Networks president Tom Rogers saying on “Fast Money” that the company's stock will continue to be hurt by cord cutting. “There’s nobody that’s got more at stake there than ESPN.” Reporter Julia Boorstin on "Closing Bell" pointed to the “fact that they give an aggregate number for the streaming subscribers -- that really indicates their focus on being able to go direct-to-consumer. ... Those numbers are really pointing to where Disney sees the future.”
  
  
• Fresh off the conclusion of AVP’s three-event return series in Long Beach, series owner Donald Sun told SBJ's Chris Smith that the women’s final match broadcast on NBC on July 19 averaged 731,000 viewers, which tops typical TV viewership for the series. Check out more from Sun on the AVP's return in SBD tomorrow.
  
  
• Golf Channel will mic up LPGA players for the second time in as many weeks, as Christina Kim and Jillian Hollis (same group) will wear microphones during tomorrow's opening round coverage of the Marathon LPGA Classic from Sylvania, Ohio. 

THE LAST WORD

• Tonight’s last word goes to SBJ research director David Broughton, who let us know about some info from the ad market that’s really, really interesting.
  
  
• Bud Light spent more on advertising during MLB games ($1.6 million) in less than two weeks than it did all last season ($1.2 million), according to data provided by iSpot.tv. Since the July 23 Opening Day, GEICO has spent more than all other advertisers on national MLB games ($2.4 million), followed by T-Mobile ($2.3 million), Bud Light ($1.6 million), Toyota ($1.5 million) and Hankook Tire ($1.4 million).
  
  
• More than 95% of the $5.7 million that Bud Light has spent TV advertising so far this year has gone to sports, with MLB commanding the biggest piece of the pie, followed by the NHL ($947,000) and NBA ($623,000).

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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).