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Mike Tirico: I Thought LIV vs PGA Would be Bigger Part of Masters Coverage

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Mike Tirico: I Thought LIV vs PGA Would be Bigger Part of Masters Coverage

Golf’s first major, The Masters, tees off Thursday morning at Augusta National, and in addition to the field of PGA Tour players who qualified, a group of LIV Golf players will also be taking part in the tournament.

The whole LIV against PGA debate has raged on for more than a year, and while a back-and-forth akin to AEW vs. WWE has gone on in the media from players on both circuits, NBC’s Mike Tirico told Dan Patrick on Wednesday that it’s been business as usual otherwise ahead of the weekend.

“I thought it would be more from just the field for the week, and I think it’s been diffused pretty quickly,” said Tirico, who is leading SiriusXM’s coverage from Augusta National. “I think the guys got here, and it feels different.”

Tirico noted that LIV players were not treated as second-class citizens at the annual champions dinner on Tuesday night, and so far all reports indicated the six LIV players who attended the dinner got along with their PGA counterparts.

Tirico seemed to think The Masters being the first major has helped set a different tone.

“Maybe if the U.S. Open or the PGA was first, it might be a little more knife’s edge and a little more tension,” he said. “But I think nobody wants to be the guy who is at The Masters and made it about LIV versus the PGA Tour and not The Masters tournament. It just doesn’t feel like the place to do it.”

Mike also mentioned that LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman has been absent from Augusta this week. With Norman not being a former tournament champion, he wasn’t invited to the champions dinner, and it sounded like there was no real reason for Norman to even be at the tournament at all, even if it was to support the LIV contingent.

WWE Should Expect ‘Robust Interest’ In Next Rights Deal, CNBC Reporter Says

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With the merger of WWE and UFC into a brand new company, the media rights contracts for both entities have gone under the microscope. Both WWE and UFC are scheduled to begin talks for television rights in the coming months, and with a joint effort, one CNBC reporter claims the offers could be “robust”.

“It will be a publicly traded company that is about to embark on a very lucrative media rights deal,” CNBC’s Alex Sherman said of the new company during an appearance on the Sports Media with Richard Deitsch podcast. “The media rights for both WWE and UFC are coming up for renewal, and Endeavor will basically try to put its money where its mouth is. They said yesterday in the press conference that they are great at doing media rights deals. So we’ll see. They’ll have the chance to prove this. In the coming months, they may show the investment world that they are great at doing this, and that will prove their valuation correct.”

When asked about potentially interested parties, Sherman agreed with the insinuation from Deitsch that it would be helpful for WWE and UFC for tech companies like Amazon and Apple to be interested in the rights to drive the price higher, with companies like FOX and NBC remaining committed to continuing their deals.

“I don’t know exactly who’s interested in this…I do think you’re on solid ground by saying that FOX and NBC Universal are both interested. It’s been a good partnership with particularly NBC because NBC also owns the streaming rights to WWE…Ari Emanuel — who’s going to be the CEO of the new company — alluded to the fact that they want to explore a direct-to-consumer thing also.

“So maybe they will slice-and-dice the rights where there’s some exclusive content that’s also on this new direct-to-consumer thing that they embed in addition to the broadcast cable rights…If they’re really going to maximize the value, the more bidders there are, the more they can maximize it, so maybe they feel like this will be another robust auction.”

The “robust auction” is a nod to phrasing utilized by WWE CEO Nick Khan, who uttered the comments while discussing interest in the company from potential buyers.

Inside the NFL Looking For New Home

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Inside the NFL Looking For New Home

CBS Sports is ending its relationship with Inside the NFL. John Ourand of Sports Business Journal reports that network executives told the show’s staff that it will not be returning to Paramount+ in the fall.

Inside the NFL has been on the air since 1977. While it started out on HBO, it moved to Showtime in 2008. In 2021, CBS moved it from the premium cable channel to Paramount+.

The show will be on the move again. The NFL is already looking for a new home.

“As one of the longest-running sports shows on TV, we thank HBO and Showtime/CBS for providing a home for Inside the NFL for more than 40 years,” a spokesperson for the league told Ourand. “We’re excited for the continued evolution of this iconic program with a new partner as we look ahead to the 2023 NFL season.”

For Paramount+, the move does not signal anything other than wanting to move on from the show. The streamer remains committed to live sports including the NFL, college football, and the UEFA Champions League.

Dorin Dickerson: I’ve Never Seen One Shining Moment

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“One Shining Moment” is widely considered the culmination of the college basketball season, with many fans reminiscent of their team’s glory days. 93.7 The Fan’s Dorin Dickerson is not in that camp.

During a discussion about the longstanding video package on The Fan Morning Show, host Colin Dunlap shared his admiration for the usual close of the NCAA Tournament, and remembered the importance it played in his fandom growing up.

“You don’t even have to search for it,” Dunlap said. “It’s on social media. Someone retweeted it, someone reappropriated it, it’s right there. Somebody already had it there for you. Maybe you did a search and it took you five seconds…I did see a lot of people who said they have to stay up and watch One Shining Moment.

“If you just checked it out on the internet, and this is an ‘Old Man Yells at Cloud‘ stuff, the only was no other choice to stay up and see it live, and that was it. That’s what’s in your memory. I don’t wanna say it’s fallen off, but it has. You always have a way to see it. You can go to YouTube and just check it out. When I was coming up, it was after the game, you heard the music, and that was it.”

“I’ve never watched it,” Dickerson admitted. “I would probably watch it now because I’m more in tune to things outside the game, but growing up, I just wanted to watch the game. I didn’t pay attention to anything else. Not the announcers, never really paid attention to that. I pay attention to all of that now more, but I’ve never seen it because I never really cared.”

Dickerson continued by questioning why it was so important to Dunalp and co-host Chris Mack.

“They’re able to encapsulate what you just saw in the last month in two and a half minutes, and you can walk away and never say that they missed something,” Dunlap added. “You’re bleary-eyed…and you’re like ‘Oh that’s right, that kid from some obscure school, Southwest Missouri State, hit that shot that won the game’, and you think ‘Wow. That happened this tournament. I forgot. That feels like so long ago.'”

Mack simply said “It’s a time capsule”, adding that while the song is “corny”, it’s a strong tradition.

The 2023 version of One Shining Moment has garnered nearly 1 million views on Twitter from CBS Sports.

Richard Deitsch: NCAA Championship Ratings ‘Should Not be a Surprise’

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Many have written about the dichotomy of the NCAA’s two Division I basketball tournaments this year. The women’s tournament set viewership records, while the men’s tournament concluded with the least-watched championship game in history.

Given the Final Four field for the men, Richard Deitsch says that even if the network isn’t happy, CBS probably was not surprised.

“The CBS Sports television executives charged with broadcasting the men’s NCAA basketball tournament have always been honest about the television realities of the tournament,” he wrote for The Athletic. “What makes the opening rounds great is when Cinderella advances. But at a certain point in the tournament, when it comes to historical television viewership, you want teams that are proven TV draws.”

Brand power rules the day, but some star power could have helped.

“Along with major upsets and one very unlikely finalist, the title game lacked any player projected in the lottery of this year’s NBA Draft,” Deitsch added. The combination of no team like Kentucky, North Carolina or Duke and no player basketball fans felt like they needed to see was a perfect storm. It may not be a sign of the NCAA Tournament’s overall popularity and value declining.

Deitsch noted that there is one bright spot for CBS.

“Look for CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery Sports to put out a big press release in April 2024 when the viewership numbers jump big from this year.”

Eli Manning Wants to Stay ‘Pretty True To What the Original Plan Was’ For ManningCast

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Eli Manning Wants to Stay ‘Pretty True To What the Original Plan Was’ For ManningCast

The ManningCast will be entering its third season when the NFL starts up again in September. The alternate broadcast of Monday Night Football with Peyton and Eli Manning has been a hit for ESPN so far, but in year three, it could be time for a refresh.

Eli Manning was on with Pat McAfee on Wednesday and said that the brothers don’t want to stray too far from their original vision.

“We’ve stayed pretty true to what the original plan was,” Manning said. “We wanted to make it feel like what it’s like to sit on the couch with Peyton and I and watch a football game. That’s still the idea. We’re gonna talk some Xs and Os, we’re gonna make fun of each other, and every now and then, Pat McAfee pops in in the living room and we start talking with him or we’re talking with Snoop Dogg.”

He added that the two still do game prep. It just looks considerably different than it used to. It is something the younger Manning has had an easier time with.

“I always tell Peyton ‘Hey, I’ll watch these games. You watch those and we can trade notes.’ I’ll leave Peyton like an eight-minute voice memo out of the notes, what I saw, ‘Hey if you want to watch it, here are four or five plays that are interesting.’ Peyton leaves me a 45-minute voice memo with the breakdown of the plays.”

While the ManningCast airs on ESPN, the show is produced by Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, which provides a lot of programming to ESPN+. With creative control, Manning has insisted on limiting the number of games he and his brother do each season in order to keep their passion for the project high.

Evan Roberts Tells Craig Carton ‘You’re Being Used’ By NFL Teams After Floating Aaron Rodgers Rumors

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Evan Roberts Tells Craig Carton ‘You’re Being Used’ By NFL Teams After Floating Aaron Rodgers Rumors

The ongoing saga of where Aaron Rodgers will play during the 2023 season took a somewhat unexpected turn earlier this week, with WFAN and FS1 host Craig Carton saying the San Francisco 49ers could be a potential landing spot. Co-host Evan Roberts told Carton he was being used by teams in the NFL to get their message out there.

Carton’s claim that the 49ers were potentially making a run at the Green Bay quarterback created an NFL media firestorm. Roberts argued that Carton was told something by a source to try to force someone else’s hand.

“Craig, you’re just being used,” Roberts said.

“Why would anyone use me?” rebuffed Carton.

“To get the message out there to scare the Jets. It’s obvious. That’s ok,” Roberts said. “You don’t have to see it, I’ll see it for you.”

Carton then asked why if the Packers and Jets are only negotiating with each other it has taken so long to get a deal done. That’s when Roberts revealed a similar situation happened last year in his contract negotiations with WFAN.

“Let me take you back to last October. I’m gonna walk you through something,” began Roberts. “I had a contract that was running out, and me and the company negotiated. I never wanted to leave. They knew to replace me — to get someone you’d be happy with — it would cost them a hell of a lot more money. They didn’t wanna do that, so it was kind of like this inevitable ‘We’re gonna re-sign him, I’m gonna re-sign’. Yet it took a few weeks.”

“We did have a replacement for you, and he costs a lot less. He also lives in my house. ‘Minimum Wage Sonny’, we’d call him,” Carton said, alluding to his son who has sporadically guest-hosted shows at WFAN.

Roberts continued by saying the Green Bay Packers needed a “lemon” to share a story that the 49ers were interested in Rodgers to “scare” the New York Jets.

“You happened to be that lemon,” Roberts said. “This is all an attempt — and I give the Packers credit, it’s creative — to scare the Jets…they’re going to make the deal, and it’s going to happen soon.”

“I didn’t put it out there to get attention. You saw the correspondence I got,” Carton said. “I’m not a click-bait guy. People that don’t know me — nationally — can say whatever they want, I don’t care.”

“Craig, you’re doing nothing wrong, you’re just being used,” concluded Roberts.

Danny Parkins: Jim Nantz Is ‘A Cornball in An Endearing Sort of Way’

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Jim Nantz has concluded his tenure announcing the NCAA Tournament with CBS Sports and departed the assignment with much fanfare. 670 The Score’s Danny Parkins wondered what Nantz is really giving up.

While Nantz is leaving the Tournament coverage, he admitted recently that he is only reducing his commitments to a “40-week a year travel schedule”.

“He’s literally giving up three weeks a year of broadcasting, but one of those three weeks, he’s still gonna go to the Final Four because he’s not turning over the trophy presentation duties to Ian Eagle,” Parkins said during Parkins & Spiegel Tuesday. “I love Nantz, and I would say this to him if he were on the show: what an ego move.”

“What a weirdo,” joked Matt Spiegel. “He stood there and he watched ‘One Shining Moment’ on the jumbo screen.”

“Sure, he’s a little corny. He scripts his final calls. But that guy…he was able to pick anywhere in the country that he wanted to live because he was doing national (games),” Parkins continued. “He almost picked Chicago…but then he realized ‘Wait, I love golf and good weather’. So he picked Pebble Beach. He is a sports dork. I think he’s great. I think Jim Nantz is a cornball, but in an endearing sort of way.”

Parkins continued by mentioning that the final moments of the National Championship Game were slightly awkward because of the give-and-take with Nantz and his analysts.

“It was weird because (Bill) Raftery and Grant Hill kept wanting to make it about Nantz and then Nantz was like ‘It’s their moment, not mine‘, but then he couldn’t help but talk about it at the end,” said Parkins. “As CBS was going to break, he was getting played off by his own network. The whole scene was very bizarre. He’s giving up literally three weekends of broadcasting and two weekends of travel. Nothing is really changing in Jim Nantz’s world, and frankly, Ian Eagle will probably do a better job.”

MSNBC Announces New Midday Show For Ana Cabrera

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MSNBC Announces New Midday Show For Ana Cabrera

After leaving CNN for MSNBC at the end of last year, Ana Cabrera now has her biggest assignment for the network: a new midday show.

Ana Cabrera Reports will debut on Monday, April 10th. The program will air at 10:00 AM ET.

“The launch of Ana Cabrera Reports comes as MSNBC continues to invest in new programming and across streaming, audio, newsletters; and builds on the six-year winning streak of MSNBC over CNN in total day and prime time,” the statement continues. “Cabrera will join the MSNBC Reports lineup of breaking news anchors including José Díaz-Balart, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Jansing, Katy Tur, Alex Witt, and Yasmin Vossoughian.”

In a tweet announcing the move, Cabrera said “I just stepped into my new home away from home. Thrilled to join the team and hope you will join us at 10 am ET every day!”

Texas Sports Betting Bill Unlikely To Get a Vote

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Texas Sports Betting Bill Unlikely To Get a Vote

Residents of the Lone Star State that like to place bets on games will likely have to continue to utilize offshore books. Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick is not optimistic that the state will legalize sports gambling anytime soon.

He said that he is not even going to bring a bill to the State Senate floor if he does not know for sure that his party will support it.

“Unless I have 15 to 16 Republicans, meaning it’s a Republican-driven bill because we’re a Republican-driven state, I’m not bringing a bill to the floor,” he told KXAN in Austin. “I need Republican consensus otherwise, it’s a Democrat bill.”

Republicans in the State House voted to advance bills that would legalize mobile betting in the state. The effort is backed by a coalition of sportsbooks and professional teams in Texas. Still, Patrick doesn’t see the Senate getting on board.

“Our members have been clear: they’re not in support today. We don’t have any votes in the Senate.”

It may be a political issue for Patrick, but sports gambling has support amongst Texans. According to Texas Sports Betting Alliance, GeoComply, a technology that identifies users where sports betting is illegal, blocked more than 73,000 betting attempts from Texas during the opening week of March Madness.

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