Chris “Mad Dog” Russo was a guest of Grant & Danny on 106.7 The Fan in Washington yesterday afternoon. Hosts Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier introduced Russo as one of the legends of sports talk radio.
Paulsen then said, “But now you’re a big TV star as well.” Russo was quick to cut him off and said, “Let’s not go crazy, radio is the love. It starts with the radio.”
Paulsen then asked Russo directly, “Right now doing both [radio and television] is it still for you heavily skewed towards radio in terms of enjoyment?” “Yes,” he replied. “TV is much more powerful. You say things on TV that get a lot more traction. I said a lot of the things on TV that I said on radio for fifteen years and nobody heard it on the radio. You say it on TV and all of a sudden people get excited about it.”
Russo, who has his own Mad Dog Sports Radio channel on SiriusXM and hosts Mad Dog Unleashed at 2 p.m. ET each weekday, is also a frequent guest of ESPN’s First Take. He talked about the differences in the two formats. “The personality, the way you put together a radio show, the guests, calls, rants, figuring out the hour, I enjoy that more. TV is very producer oriented. You have seven segments, each segment is a certain amount of time, you have to pass it to the next guy, it’s a little different, its a very regimented thing.
“Radio, you can do whatever you want, get the breaks in when you want to get the breaks in, you have fun, you can be goofy, put anybody on you want. TV its more of a director’s medium, radio is more of a personality medium.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has enjoyed his time with NBC but revealed on his podcast that he’s not currently under contract to call NASCAR races this season. On the Feb. 6 edition of The Dale Jr. Download, Earnhardt Jr. said his contract with NBC expired at the end of last season and is still being negotiated.
“My contract with NBC is up,” Earnhardt said on the Dale Jr Download via Sportsnaut. “It was up at the end of last year. I’m currently working through what that looks like for me. I definitely love being in the broadcast booth and want to continue doing that.”
Last season, Earnhardt Jr. called both NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series races for NBC, but the latter isn’t long for NBC’s channels. Starting in 2025, The CW will exclusively air NASCAR Xfinity Series races, meaning Earnhardt would only have NBC’s Cup Series races to call.
A return to FOX isn’t out of the question, as it currently owns the exclusive rights to the NASCAR Truck Series as well as many major Cup Series races. However, FOX recently added former NASCAR Cup winner Kevin Harvick to its broadcast team, so Earnhardt may have to join a panel or be relegated to a secondary team.
There’s also the prospect of Earnhardt heading to Prime Video, which will also begin broadcasting NASCAR races in 2025. Prime Video often looks for major talent for its in-game analysis, as evidenced by bringing on Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit for Thursday Night Football, and Earnhardt would be a similar level splash should Prime decide to go that route.
“We’ve had some great conversations with all of NASCAR’s TV partners. My home and my love is at NBC and I’d love to be back with them so we’ll see where it goes. But right now, I really don’t have a job in terms of broadcasting.”
NBCUniversal’s NASCAR season begins on June 30 with the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway.
Super Bowl advertising remains the single most expensive ad spend in American television, with a 30-second commercial in this year’s CBS broadcasting costing an average of $7 million. While that price point may be steep, a prominent advertising agency believes radio needs to pony up to be seen in TV’s biggest audience.
DMR/Interactive has recently examined what a Super Bowl ad promoting AM/FM radio would entail, and argued the benefits outweigh the costs associated with placing such a buy.
“If radio pulled this ad off, imagine the buzz and media coverage that would be generated throughout the advertising community leading up to the game,” said President and CEO of DMR/Interactive Andrew Curran. “Some online trolls might have a snarky response about radio, but the message would resonate with the 150 million working Americans who listen to their favorite radio station during their daily commute and while at work. They are the backbone of our country with disposable income and money to spend.”
“These are proven messages that would connect with both radio audiences: listeners and advertisers,” added DMR/Interactive Vice President of Marketing Strategy Tony Bannon. “As a former programmer and morning jock, it’s nice to see air talent receiving the top response.”
Some individual responses included ideas of thanking prominent AM/FM advertisers like Home Depot and Amazon, showcasing the immediacy of discussing top moments, and showcasing the history of the medium.
45% of those surveyed by the agency said an ad should showcase the fun and companionship local personalities provide. Another 41% said the medium’s reach should be the highlight. Finally, 14% voted for a message showcasing that stations are accessible for free as the biggest selling point for a Super Bowl commercial.
Netflix announced today that for the first time, they will follow a Major League Baseball team over the course of a full season. The Boston Red Sox, who have finished in last place three of the last four seasons, will be featured. Netflix says it will have unprecedented access to players, coaches and executives throughout the season.
The access given to Netflix, in conjunction with MLB studios, will be turned in to a docuseries which will debut in 2025. This is actually one of two projects Netflix is working on involving the Red Sox as the announcement also says the streaming company is working on a docuseries on the 2004 Red Sox team, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. According to the press release, the series will debut “later in 2024.”
“Our fans love that our sports series focus on the drama of sport and nothing was more dramatic than the 2004 Red Sox season, especially having witnessed their comeback from the bleachers during Game 7 against the Yankees,” said Gabe Spitzer, Vice President, Nonfiction Sports, Netflix. “We’re thrilled to partner with this iconic franchise to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the greatest sports comeback ever, while also looking forward to the team’s future with inside access to their 2024 campaign.”
“Baseball is driven by the incredible stories of our athletes,” said Noah Garden, Deputy Commissioner, Business & Media, Major League Baseball. “Teaming up with Netflix for these two exciting projects is a tremendous opportunity to not only bring our avid fans closer to the game they love, but also introduce new audiences to the undeniable emotion that baseball evokes.”
“The partnership between MLB, Netflix and the Red Sox will have a significant impact on growing the game of baseball,” said Red Sox Chairman Tom Werner. “The reach of Netflix is profound and these docuseries are ambitious. One will relive one of the most magical stories that forever changed this franchise, and the other is a truly groundbreaking endeavor that will provide an inside look at the lives and personalities of today’s Red Sox players.”
John Fredericks is bringing his conservative talk radio network to a trio of stations in West Virginia.
According to a report from Radio Insight, Fredericks has struck a deal with LHTC Media to air his conservative talk radio lineup on stations in Fairmont, Morgantown, and Salem.
The conservative talk network will be heard on 920 AM (Fairmont)/95.7 FM (Morgantown), 102.7 FM (Mannington), and 105.7 FM (Salem). The three new stations now brings The John Fredericks Media Network to eight total stations. Existing markets include Richmond, Norfolk, Nashville, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, among others.
The lineup on the three stations will consist of: 6-10 am: John Fredericks 10 AM-12 PM: Steve Bannon 12-3 PM: Rob Carson 3-5 PM: Del Walmsley 5-6 PM: Steve Bannon 6-7 PM: John Fredericks 7-8 PM: Lou Dobbs Tonight 8-9 PM: The Royce White Show 9-10 PM: Free Talk Live 10 PM-12 AM: The Rita Cosby Show 12-1 AM: Cats & Cosby 1-6 AM: Red Eye Radio
Longtime WBT News Director Jim Barroll has died after a short bout with cancer.
Barroll joined the Charlotte news/talk station in 1985 after stops in Columbia, South Carolina and Orlando.
He joined the station as a reporter before ascending to the role of afternoon news anchor and eventually becoming the outlet’s news director. Baroll spent more than 30 years in the WBT newsroom before anchoring his final newscast in 2016.
“I will miss this man so, so much. He passed away this morning from an exceedingly aggressive mantle cell lymphoma. He was a completely healthy man a month ago,” his daughter, Amy, revealed in a post to social media. “I am the luckiest person in the world to have called him my father.”
Pete Kaliner called Barroll “a mentor and a friend… I’m picturing him talking baseball, aviation, and philosophy with God.”
“He had a warmth and inviting delivery that was unmistakable and highly respected. He was loved by listeners and colleagues alike… a rock in our newsroom for so many years,” added the station’s Bo Thompson.
The 9th annual BSM Top 20 series rolls on with our next category, the Top 20 Major Market Sports Radio Midday Shows of 2023. If you missed this year’s morning shows and national shows results, click here to get caught up.
As you review these selections, please remember that the results represent the collective opinions of fifty eight (58) industry executives. I’d like to thank Alex Reynolds and Stephanie Eads for helping with the Top 20 creative process. A special thank you to Steve Stone Voiceovers for being our exclusive sponsor of the Top 20 series. If you’re unfamiliar with Steve’s work, be sure to click here to listen.
Regarding the voting, here are the key things to be aware of.
– These results are based on 2023’s performance. 2024 changes have no effect on the voting. Some shows went through change in 2023. We promote them based on how they ended the year, not how they started it. An example of this is WFAN’s midday show which started with Tiki and Tierney and ended with BT and Sal.
– Our executive panel consists of fifty eight (58) program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Beasley, Hubbard, Good Karma Brands, ESPN Radio, FOX Sports Radio, SiriusXM, Spotify, and a number of independently owned and operated radio stations. We involve a large group in this process in order to include feedback from all parts of the country, as well as to prevent the results from heavily favoring one company.
– A total of 40 shows were eligible for voting consideration in the Major Market Midday Shows category.
– Voters are asked to consider a bunch of factors when making their selections. Among the criteria taken into account included the ear test, originality, ability to entertain, multi-platform impact, on-air chemistry, and ratings success. Keep in mind that voters live in different cities, work for different companies, have different tastes, and value certain factors higher than others. This is not a perfect science, but it’s the best system we’ve come up with to showcase how sports radio’s brain trust view the best in the format.
And that brings us to the rankings for this year’s Major Market Midday Shows. Once again, the winner is Zolak and Bertrand of 98.5 The Sports Hub. The Boston tandem have now won this award four times including each of the past three years. WFAN’s Brandon Tierney and Sal Licata finished second in their first year together as a show. We congratulate Marc, Scott, Hardy, and all involved with 98.5 on the well deserved recognition, as well as all the other midday shows which earned a Top 20 spot.
Now, here are the full results of “BSM’s Top 20 Major Market Midday Shows of 2023!”
Additional Notes:
Zolak and Bertrand finished first with a sixty three (63) point advantage over WFAN’s BT & Sal. Both shows though were tied for the most first place votes with eight (8).
21-25 belonged to The Sweet Spot, Bart and Hahn, In The Loop, Josh and Stokley and Matt Thomas.
The closest contests saw BMitch and Finlay slide by Steiny and Guru by one (1) point. Mason and Ireland were only two (2) points in front of Bernstein and Holmes.
Of the 40 eligible shows, ten (10) received at least one 1st place vote.
Here is the remaining schedule for the BSM Top 20 of 2023.
Wednesday February 7 = Top 20 Local Major/Mid Market Sports Radio Midday Shows of 2023
Thursday February 8 = Top 20 Local Major/Mid Market Sports Radio Afternoon Shows of 2023
Friday February 9 = Top 20 Local Major/Mid Market Sports Radio Program Directors of 2023
Monday February 12 = Top 20 Local Major/Mid Market Sports Radio Stations of 2023
To view prior years of BSM’s Top 20 results, click here.
The 9th annual BSM Top 20 series rolls on with our next category, the Top 20 Mid Market Sports Radio Midday Shows of 2023. If you missed this year’s morning shows and national shows results, click here to get caught up.
As you review these selections, please remember that the results represent the collective opinions of fifty eight (58) industry executives. I’d like to thank Alex Reynolds and Stephanie Eads for helping with the Top 20 creative process. A special thank you to Steve Stone Voiceovers for being our exclusive sponsor of the Top 20 series. If you’re unfamiliar with Steve’s work, be sure to click here to listen.
Regarding the voting, here are the key things to be aware of.
– These results are based on 2023’s performance. 2024 changes have no effect on the voting. A few shows went through change in 2023. We promote them based on how they ended the year, not how they started it. An example of this is 107.5/93.5 The Fan’s midday slot which featured a rotation of hosts during the first half of the year and ended 2023 with Query and Company.
– Our executive panel consists of fifty eight (58) program directors and corporate executives from a number of top broadcasting companies including Audacy, iHeart, Cumulus, Beasley, Hubbard, Good Karma Brands, ESPN Radio, FOX Sports Radio, SiriusXM, Spotify, and a number of independently owned and operated radio stations. We involve a large group in this process in order to include feedback from all parts of the country, as well as to prevent the results from heavily favoring one company.
– A total of 65 shows were eligible for voting consideration in the Mid Market Midday Shows category.
– Voters are asked to consider a bunch of factors when making their selections. Among the criteria taken into account included the ear test, originality, ability to entertain, multi-platform impact, on-air chemistry, and ratings success. Keep in mind that voters live in different cities, work for different companies, have different tastes, and value certain factors higher than others. This is not a perfect science. However, it’s the best system we’ve come up with to showcase how sports radio’s brain trust view the best in the format.
And that brings us to the rankings for this year’s Mid Market Midday Shows. For the second year in a row, the winner of this category is Matt Jones of Kentucky Sports Radio. Jones held off 104.5 The Zone’s Buck Reising to claim the top prize. We congratulate Matt and all involved with his program on the well deserved recognition, as well as all the other midday shows which earned a Top 20 spot.
Now, here are the full results of “BSM’s Top 20 Mid Market Midday Shows of 2023!”
Additional Notes:
Matt Jones finished first with a twenty six (26) point victory over 104.5 The Zone’s Buck Reising. Jones also recorded the the most first place votes in the category, five (5).
21-25 belonged to JT The Brick, Josh and Swain, Tim McKernan, Charlotte Sports Today w/ Jeff Rickard and Danny and Dusty.
The closest contests saw Blaine and Mickey slide by The Really Big Show by one (1) point. Cook and Joe were just two (2) points ahead of BK and Ferrario.
Of the sixty five (65) eligible shows, fifteen (15) received at least one 1st place vote.
Here is the remaining schedule for the BSM Top 20 of 2023.
Thursday February 8 = Top 20 Local Major/Mid Market Sports Radio Afternoon Shows of 2023
Friday February 9 = Top 20 Local Major/Mid Market Sports Radio Program Directors of 2023
Monday February 12 = Top 20 Local Major/Mid Market Sports Radio Stations of 2023
When Steve Cohen stepped aside as the senior vice president of sports programming at SiriusXM, he was able to consider the accomplishments that he and his team garnered during his tenure with the outlet. Cohen helped launch a preponderance of sports content at SiriusXM, spearheading the creation of dedicated channels to appeal to different consumers and sectors of the industry. SiriusXM continues to offer a variety of sports talk programming in addition to live game broadcasts of marquee matchups across a variety of different leagues.
Barrett Sports Media will honor Cohen with the Jeff Smulyan Award at the 2024 BSM Summit in New York City, presented to an executive within sports radio who has made significant contributions to the format. Tickets are on sale for the premier sports media conference, a two-day event taking place on Wednesday, March 13 and Thursday, March 14. Cohen recently participated in an extended interview from Media Row in Las Vegas, Nev. to reflect on his time at SiriusXM, provide his thoughts on the future of the industry and convey his appreciation and gratitude for the forthcoming industry accolade.
What does it mean for you to receive the Jeff Smulyan Award at the 2024 BSM Summit?
“It’s an amazing honor for me because Jeff signed my first full-time radio check, and he created the concept of sports talk radio [and] I was right there, ground floor [and] ready to help build out his vision. And so to think 37 years later that I’m getting an award named after Jeff, a visionary, for a concept he came up with that has been a huge part of my life is rewarding. It’s an amazing honor that absolutely humbles me because we do these things — our goal as content creators is just to create content that people are going to love; to feed into their passions and to draw in the audience that will support our programming to keep us on the air, and so this is just an amazing honor for me that is still hard for me to fully embrace, but I’m sure on March 14 it’ll become a lot easier.
“In programming, when you give your people skin in the game to offer up ideas and concepts, whether I approve of them or disapprove of them, they’re not afraid to come to me with these ideas because I may have ideas that aren’t very good that they’ll be like, ‘Well Steve, I don’t know if that’s going to work for this audience or that audience,’ and it’s like, ‘Okay.’ I think collaboration makes us all better…. What makes me most proud of my accomplishments is the programming ideas that I’ve come up with; that I’ve collaborated with my people about that have come to fruition because of all of our team efforts. When I accept this award, in my heart I’m not accepting this as an individual. I’m accepting this for all the people who worked so hard alongside me; worked with me — not for me, with me — to come up with the ideas that we’re so proud of that we take so much pride in.”
From working at SiriusXM over many years, what is it like listening the subscription-based satellite radio outlet today?
“I think it would have been weird going back into my old office to visit the guy who took over for me if that guy’s name wasn’t Eric Spitz. And so now, I’m so happy for Eric, but I go in that office with a big smile on my face with my feet kicked up looking at my friend Eric and saying, ‘It’s all yours now, baby,’ and with that, I can exhale. When you work 37 years full time at this and then you finally take that step back, you get to smell the roses a bit, but you also get to take pride in what you’ve accomplished while also continuing to collaborate with the team on things that you hear because now when I hear things I have more time to listen intently to them and offer thoughts and ideas and constructive criticism. When you’re in the fast-paced world of daily sports talk programming, sometimes you miss that and/or you don’t have the time to be as thoughtful about things as you’d like.
“We’ve been doing live sports talk radio now for 37 years, and with that you become a bit scarred by the fact that everything that you do is about the here and now, and the immediacy of it all to stay on top of everything; to report on everything; to advance stories as they come up. And then I take a step back and think about doing some things that are very thoughtful that I can massage over time and it’s a hard adjustment to not react immediately to things because in sports talk radio, what we do today is outdated by tomorrow. But things that we worked on — winning sports podcast series of the year for 9/11 in sports 20 years later — that’s when we were able to take the time [with] very meaningful things and put a lot into it and do it the right way.”
Throughout your tenure, what do you feel made SiriusXM different from other audio outlets?
“We went deep on so many sports that the majority of sports talk radio stations around the country couldn’t do. They couldn’t dedicate that time to the various sports like NASCAR, the NHL, the NBA, the PGA TOUR, wrestling; so many things that only we could do because you really have to play the hits, especially in terrestrial radio, and those hits are decided on the market that you’re in. You really need to please the market you’re in; you can’t lose sight of that.”
When you look back, what is the one channel that you are most proud of among SiriusXM’s sports offerings?
“I think building the NFL channel was first and foremost because it was my first opportunity to put my stamp on something; to take the philosophy I had [and] put it to work in the form of a radio station. I was really proud of building out the NASCAR platform with the help of people like Daniel Norwood because I grew up a NASCAR fan…. Then I went on to produce NFL games for 13 years at stadiums, so I wasn’t watching NASCAR races anymore. When NASCAR came to SiriusXM — they came to Sirius; at the time they were with XM — and Brian France said, ‘We like the NFL channel that you’ve built so much. We want you to take our NASCAR channel — we want to bring NASCAR to Sirius, and we want you to build out the NASCAR channel in a similar fashion.’
“Well, it’s a little different. You can’t build it out the same way, so we went to races; we talked to the people who were part of the fabric of NASCAR, and we built it out accordingly because you couldn’t have hosts that weren’t at the races and stuff. They needed to be there, and so the fact that we became in the NASCAR world going from a small fish in a big bowl to one of their most trusted partners if not the most trusted partner because when the TV channels like Speed went away, we were the only 24/7 place to have NASCAR, and I’m very proud of that. Working with the people of NASCAR top to bottom has been an absolute pleasure — from the drivers to the pit crew people to the owners to the executives at NASCAR — so I’m really proud of that one.”
What was the challenge in balancing funds for play-by-play rights and sports talk programming?
“When you’re spending so much money on play-by-play rights, how much can you really spend on sports talk? Nothing beats the play-by-play — that’s the most important thing that we can bring is the games; the races [and] the matches live — so I’m not disappointed with the sports talk budgets I’ve been given because it’s really easy to basically go to the people you want to hire and say, ‘Look, will you do this for this amount of money?’ I’m not saying we were cheap in any aspect, but again as a fiscally-responsible company, how much can you spend on talk, especially if you’re going to build out more than a dozen sports talk platforms?”
How essential is it for SiriusXM to have a presence at Media Row alongside other media companies?
“I’m very grateful to SiriusXM for providing us the budget to do things the right way. Whether it’s coming out to Radio Row at the Super Bowl; whether it’s giving us remote budget to be at every major sporting event in this country, covering it the way you should cover it and meeting the expectation of both listeners and subscribers. I’m really grateful for that, and I think from our first Super Bowl in Jacksonville, we’ve proved to management that if you spend the money on these remotes, we’re going to deliver programming that’s absolutely unmatched in our industry, and they’ve supported us.
“With the NFL — whether it’s the Combine; whether it’s the Draft; whether it’s the Senior Bowl [or] the owner’s meetings; all these things, we’re getting content nobody else is getting. When you pay for radio, you’ve got to get your money’s worth, right? It was a free medium. Look, it’s no different than television. You want more than your 10 free channels; 11 free channels? Well, you’ve got to subscribe to cable. You want movies? Then you’ve got Netflix and all those things, but I think what I’m most proud of is from a sports standpoint, we absolutely exceeded expectations and delivered on the value [proposition] that subscribers expect.”
How has the style of sports talk programming changed over the years in the format as a whole?
“At SiriusXM with all these league [partnerships], we have to be critical yet fair in our criticisms. That’s what we told all our league partners. We can’t be pom-pom waivers for you. Yes, we’re fans of your sport; that’s why we have a channel, but we have to be critical yet we’ll be fair in our criticisms, so that philosophy has really worked because if fans are upset, they pick up the phone [and] they want to talk to people about what they’re upset about. We’re not there to poo-poo their feelings, right? We’re there to listen to what they say and offer thoughts and opinions about what they’re saying to us, and again, that’s sports talk, right? We don’t have to agree, but when we do disagree, let’s do it respectfully.”
With the BSM Summit nearly one month away, what are you looking forward to in attending the two-day sports media conference?
“This will be the first time I can actually stay for a bit and not have to run back to our Sixth Avenue offices. That’s what the SiriusXM job had become — there’s no time in the day. Early on when we were building on NFL Radio, Nick Pavlatos was our program director, and we had to literally pull ourselves away from the studio to go get lunch; to refresh; to resharpen the blade so to speak, and then come back and work. The amount of content we created at SiriusXM is just amazing, and it hasn’t been until this year that I can kind of look back at all the accomplishments that we’ve had in creating dozens of sports talk radio channels and with that, during the most difficult parts of our lives, coming up with new concepts to keep the audience. What happened when the games stopped playing because of COVID? Well, those were some of the most rewarding times for us as programmers because we collaborated and came up with concepts that really worked, and it wasn’t as difficult as you might think because a lot of it was based on common sense.
“We’re all living the same life now, so what can we do to take our listeners and make them understand that we’re all in this together now and to band together and talk about our challenges; our struggles; our triumphs. And so that was very meaningful for us to be able to accomplish those things and create programs that we won awards for and were very, very well received.”
Last year, I wrote that the Super Bowl will never be a pay-per-view event. And while forever feels like a long time, I still stand firm in that comment. Roger Goodell fielded similar questions in his recent State of the League address, and I think it’s time to shift the narrative a bit.
The NFL will never put the Super Bowl strictly on a streaming service.
Never is a long time. But unless over-the-air television goes the way of the dodo, I feel confident in saying the Super Bowl will never be solely on Amazon Prime Video, ESPN+, Peacock, Netflix, AppleTV, or whatever streaming service you can dream up.
When asked if that was the future of the league’s biggest event, Roger Goodell — famously cryptic and vague — didn’t mince any words.
“Certainly not in my time,” said Goodell. “One of the secrets of our success is we are really committed to broadcast television. 90% of our games are on broadcast television. I think it’s the reason why you will see over 200 million people watch this game here in the United States, because it’s on broadcast television and the broadest possible platform.
“We’ll see the Super Bowl continue to be on the broadest possible platform, and I think we’ll continue to see the NFL on the broadest possible platform. 23 million people watched that NFL wild-card game,” he concluded.
Generally, my advice to you would be not to trust a word that comes out of the mouth of the NFL Commissioner. He has one goal and one goal only — find ways to make more money for the NFL owners.
But that’s why you can trust what he says in this instance. The best way for the NFL to continue to make billions of dollars if by keeping the Super Bowl on broadcast television.
You can pretend like Thursday Night Football, games in London, or even a Wild Card Game are remotely close to the same level as the Super Bowl. They aren’t. It’s the single biggest event in American television and isn’t likely to relinquish that spot anytime soon.
Former ESPN President John Skipper reiterated his belief that the Super Bowl will be on a streaming-only platform or a pay-per-view event “in the next eight years” last week, and I simply disagree. While I recognize how asinine it is for someone of my stature to question someone of Skipper’s, I just believe it’s shortsighted.
Part of my apprehension is I don’t know that companies will have found a way to monetize streaming like they did linear television in the next eight years. And maybe not just find profitability, but enough widespread profitability it can throw a sack of cash on Roger Goodell’s desk that sways him from his current position. Because while he — like most leaders who pretend to be principled — can be bought, I truly believe it would take an astronomical, jaw-dropping figure to move the Super Bowl away from broadcast TV. We’re talking like $1 billion strictly for that game. And even then, I don’t know that it’s enough.
The quest for finding more dollars for the NFL doesn’t come from limiting eyeballs on its marquee event. In theory, it sounds like an easy way to capitalize on a captive market. Everyone watches the Super Bowl, right? That’s because everyone has access to it. If you put it on a streaming service, even if it was Netflix — the most used streaming service by a wide margin — you’re still severely limiting your audience size. And while the NFL enjoys the billions it brings in every year, it also enjoys beating its chest that year-after-year, it’s the most dominant monster in the sports TV landscape.
