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John Skipper: NFL Could Make Billions On Super Bowl Pay-Per-View

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113 million people watched Super Bowl LVII according to early estimates from Nielsen, and while that number is staggering, former ESPN chairman John Skipper believes the NFL could someday do away with the free broadcast and move to a pay-per-view model.

“I assume that there are some number of people that’s the only game they watch the entire year, and they don’t want to be left out. That’s a pretty great place to be for a live event,” Skipper said on The Big Suey Podcast from The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Wednesday.

“50% of the country does not want to be left out. It leads me to a slightly different discussion: if half the country is watching your game for free, how many of those people would pay a big sum of money to watch the game?”

When asked by Chris Whittingham if the NFL would ever just simply look at the financials and realize they could make much more money, Skipper said he believed the money could be too good to pass up.

“If you just assume half of the people (that) watched would still watch if it cost $250 for a household, you’re just gonna have bigger parties,” Skipper continued.

“I don’t know how many households — I assume its half the households who watched — if only a quarter of them are willing to pay $250 to have a party at their house, it would still get you into the billions of dollars for a single game, and that is the single best way I can think of for the NFL to increase their annual revenue stake for their clubs, is to make the Super Bowl a pay-per-view event.”

Kyle Long: My Dad is the Same Man on FOX NFL Sunday as He Is In Real Life

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Kyle Long: My Dad is the Same Man on FOX NFL Sunday as He Is In Real Life

The Long family has become one of the more synonymous families when it comes to former football players in the media. Howie has been on FOX NFL Sunday as an analyst since 1994, Chris has been the host of the Green Light Podcast, and Kyle Long has been on That Other Pregame Show on CBS Sports Network for the last three seasons as well as being a co-host on Chris’s podcast. 

All three of them have had strong success on-the-field and in sports media and Chris and Kyle learned a lot from being around their dad. This week, Kyle Long was a guest on The Adam Schein Podcast and Kyle mentioned how his dad has always been the same as a broadcaster as he was at home when they were growing up.

“The thing that stood out to me from a very young age about my dad’s work is that he was the same guy at the kitchen table before school that he was on the set on Sunday. The level of passion that he has for the game of football is unmatched. He loves to study. He is such a student of the game. It drives me crazy how passionate he is about football and his family…He’s even-keeled, consistent and I think that’s what made him great in TV is because people feel like he’s not dressing himself up to talk football. People get what they get.”

One thing that has stuck with Kyle about the way his dad was on television was that he would never railroad any player and that there was a proper way to be critical of an athlete.

“One thing I respected about my dad from a very young age in the media is he never railroaded guys. He’s never done that. You can be critical while being macro. You don’t have to get into the micro all the time particularly as it pertains to the negative. You can laud guys all day and you should pump guys up that don’t get recognition, but we’ve all been the guy that needs some support in the media and that’s a crappy feeling.”

When Kyle is looking for advice from Howie, the main thing his dad tells him is just be yourself.

“As it pertains to TV, he just always tells me to be yourself, man. Just be yourself. That’s all you have to be. Have good energy. Say what you mean. Say what you feel.”

Peter Rosenberg: Aaron Rodgers Coming to New York Would Force Michael Kay to Remain on Radio

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Aaron Rodgers is quite the opinionated public figure. He took shots at both NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport and ESPN’s Adam Schefter for their reporting surrounding him, and 98.7 ESPN New York’s Peter Rosenberg didn’t like what he heard.

Rodgers told Pat McAfee that NFL insiders “don’t know shit about me” after it was reported he was beginning his four-day “darkness retreat” calling it “fake news”.

“I hope he comes here, he’s a phenomenal player, (but) I hate him,” Rosenberg said during The Michael Kay Show Tuesday. “Is that too strong a word? Should I not use hate? It’s an ugly word, it’s Valentine’s Day, but the overuse of ‘fake news’ is really bothering me.”

Co-host Don La Greca then pondered if it was simply a misunderstanding more than it was a “fake news” report from the NFL insiders.

“Does he really think that everybody is out to get him?” La Greca questioned. “Is it that really big of a deal if he goes in Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday? Is it that big a difference? The question is when is he coming out and when is he making a decision? That’s all anyone cares about.”

“I’ll tell you one thing, he’s gonna be a joy here,” Kay said. “I say that both facetiously and literally. It will be every day. Because he’s the type of guy — and he’s almost on the level of Kyrie — but the difference is Kyrie doesn’t play all the time. Rodgers answers the bell every time, and talks all the time, but he’s just as annoying, just as ‘I’m smarter than you’, than Kyrie has ever been.”

“Kyrie doesn’t have a weekly spot on a radio show where he waxes poetic,” Rosenberg said. “I would go so far to say that if he were to come here, I think it will provide so much content that it might force Michael’s hand to stay on the show. You couldn’t walk away form this. You can’t leave if Aaron Rodgers comes to New York.”

Rosenberg’s statement alludes to rumors that Kay is strongly considering stepping away from his radio program when his contract ends in September. An early January report from The New York Post claims Kay has already informed ESPN New York executives he expects to walk away at the conclusion of the contract.

After his comments about Kay’s future, Rosenberg detailed that “fake news” actually existed and people were duped leading into the 2016 election, and isn’t a catch-all word for things you don’t like.

“It was a real thing that happened. It’s not Ian Rapoport reporting something early that he got from someone. There are times when things are wrong, and when someone got information that turned out to be incorrect, it’s not fake news,” Rosenberg concluded.

ESPN Sees Largest Women’s Basketball Audience Since 2010 For LSU/South Carolina

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ESPN Sees Largest Women’s Basketball Audience Since 2010 For LSU/South Carolina

A clash between two of the best women’s basketball teams in the nation led to the largest ESPN audience for the sport since 2010.

#1 South Carolina beat #3 LSU 88-64 on Sunday. It was LSU’s first loss of the year.

The game saw an average of 1.4 million viewers, making it the most-watched regular season game in more than a decade.

The broadcast — which aired in the 1:00 PM window before the Super Bowl pregame show on FOX began — peaked with 1.6 million viewers. That number makes it the third most-viewed college basketball game — both men’s and women’s — of the weekend.

It is a second consecutive weekend South Carolina has hit a ratings benchmark, after beating UConn in front of just over 1 million viewers on FOX, which was the most-watched women’s game in that network’s history.

Katie Nolan, Melanie Newman Won’t Return to Apple’s Friday Night Baseball

BSM Staff
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Apple’s Friday Night Baseball franchise is slated to return in 2023, but Katie Nolan and Melanie Newman won’t be members of the broadcast crews.

Nolan was an analyst on the “West” broadcast team in 2022, while Newman worked primarily as the play-by-play announcer for the “East” crew.

A former ESPN and FS1 host, Nolan told Mike Golic Jr. last spring she brought a unique perspective to the broadcast.

“What I bring to the table is ‘Hey, ump’s pants are really big. Are we ever going to talk about why they don’t know how to hem their pants properly?'”Nolan said. “I’ve been thinking it, so I’m going to say it.”

Newman will continue her work with the Baltimore Orioles and MLB Network after her one season calling games for Apple.

Wayne Randazzo is expected to become the play-by-play announcer for one of the network’s two crews, and Dontrelle Willis is expected to join the network as a game analyst, according to a report from Andrew Marchand of The New York Post.

Randazzo — who called select games for Apple in 2022 — left the New York Mets radio network for a position with the Los Angeles Angels television booth for the upcoming season.

The return of Stephen Nelson to the Apple broadcast teams also remains in flux. Nelson signed to serve as an understudy to Joe Davis with the Los Angeles Dodgers television crew, where he’ll call at least 50 games on Spectrum SportsNet LA in 2023.

Bill O’Reilly: Fox News Executives Wouldn’t Let Me Host Saturday Night Live

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Saturday Night Live has often been the subject of criticism in conservative media circles for a perceived bias against Republicans, especially in the age of Donald Trump. Bill O’Reilly agrees that the show is biased, but admitted he was invited to host the show but was unable to make it work.

During his No Spin News and Analysis podcast Tuesday, O’Reilly mentioned the situation while describing President Joe Biden’s reasoning for not accepting an interview with Fox News for the Super Bowl pregame show.

“Biden blew off Fox for two reasons,” said O’Reilly. “One, he doesn’t like to do any interviews. He just doesn’t like to do ’em. Two, his far-left donors — (George) Soros and people — hate Fox and told him not to do it. Nothing anybody can do about it. However, in 2011, Saturday Night Live spoofed my Super Bowl interview with Barack Obama.”

O’Reilly then played a portion of the skit from SNL where he was portrayed by Jason Sudeikis.

“That was genuinely humorous,” chuckled O’Reilly. “There wasn’t a nasty edge to it. I remember back then, they invited me to host the show. I wanted to do it, but I would have had to rehearse the whole week and I couldn’t have done The O’Reilly Factor. So the Fox News people — the brass — said ‘We can’t do that. You’re over at NBC rehearsing all week for Saturday Night Live‘. My argument was it would reach so many people that it would be worth it to get that kind of publicity.”

“Anyway, I decided not to do it. I could have pushed it, but I didn’t. I get their point. They’re paying me, I’m supposed to be working for them, not running across the street working for NBC.”

O’Reilly added that while he would have enjoyed the opportunity in 2011, the offer wouldn’t be extended to him today, and he wouldn’t be inclined to accept it even if it was.

“When I told them I couldn’t do it, it wasn’t because of the material,” O’Reilly concluded. “Now? Saturday Night Live would never invite a person like me to host the show. Never.”

DirecTV: Newsmax ‘Obscuring Facts’ During Dispute

BNM Staff
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DirecTV: Newsmax ‘Obscuring Facts’ During Dispute

The ongoing dispute between DirecTV and Newsmax sees no end in sight after the cable channel has enlisted the power of its reach with Congressional Republicans to threaten hearings on the matter.

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) told the cable outlet earlier this week that Republicans were serious about holding hearings after the channel was dropped from the DirecTV lineup.

“We obviously have an issue with a lot of media companies silencing conservative thought and conservative speech,” Donalds said, “and the one thing we’re committed to is doing everything we can to put an end to it.”

Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy claims that the decision to remove the channel was intended so it could not reach liberal and independent voters and that the move was purposeful censorship.

DirecTV has contended the decision was strictly business related, and in what CNN’s Oliver Darcy described as a letter to “prominent Jewish Newsmax supporters” the satellite provider continued to defend itself.

“Put simply, this is a typical business dispute that has nothing to do with ideology, politics or censorship – despite unfounded accusations to the contrary by Newsmax, its CEO, its commentators, and others,” DirecTV said.

Ruddy previously said the cable channel asked DirecTV for a “tiny license fee” of “about a dollar per year” per subscriber. Estimates put that number at $13 million in licensing fees for the outlet.

The satellite provider says those facts get in the way of the argument presented by Newsmax.

“In our view, these efforts are obscuring facts in pursuit of Newsmax’s own commercial interests,” DirecTV said, “not elucidating the news.”

After it removed Newsmax from its channel offerings, DirecTV replaced it with The First, another conservative video outlet that featured the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Dana Loesch, and Jesse Kelly, among others.

Brian Stelter: Joe Rogan ‘Got It All Wrong, Again’ After Davos Criticism

BNM Staff
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Criticism from Joe Rogan against former CNN Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter was rebutted by the cable news host Tuesday.

During a discussion with journalist Matt Taibbi on The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan claimed Stelter looked “comfortable” at The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“He’s with evil lizard people that are trying to control the world,” Rogan said. “That’s his bosses. He knows how to handle that kind of situation.”

Rogan then said Stelter is “basically a prostitute” for his attendance at the event.

“He’s supposed to be a journalist, but he’s not even good at that. So what he’s doing now is holding water for the evil leaders of the world who want to institute hate speech policies nationwide and centralized digital currency.”

In a series of tweets, Stelter defended himself against the criticism from the podcast host.

“Joe Rogan got it all wrong, again. The World Economic Forum did not ‘hire’ me to ‘work’ in Davos. I went there on my own dime to write about the conference,” Stelter tweeted.

“I normally ignore Rogan’s rants. But the @nypost wrote a story and asked for comment, so I said, if Rogan wants to tell his listeners the truth, he can call me,” Stelter later clarified on Twitter.

Diamond Sports Group Skips Debt Payment As Expected

BSM Staff
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Diamond Sports Group Skips Debt Payment As Expected

Diamond Sports Group — owner of the Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks — has officially skipped its scheduled $140 million debt payment that will start a 30-day grace period that many believe will lead to a bankruptcy filing.

“The company intends to use the 30-day grace period to continue progressing its ongoing discussions with creditors and other key stakeholders regarding potential strategic alternatives and deleveraging transactions to best position Diamond Sports Group for the future,” a press release from the company stated.

“Diamond Sports Group expects that its business will continue as usual, and it will keep broadcasting quality live sports productions for fans while it addresses its balance sheet.”

The insinuation that Diamond Sports Group will continue operating as usual could be seen as a relief to professional sports teams, as the regional sports networks own the television rights to 42 teams across the NBA, NHL, and MLB.

A report from Bloomberg late last month claimed a bankruptcy filing would trigger clauses in contracts with the franchises that could cancel contracts held by the television network.

The potential bankruptcy has the biggest chance of effecting Major League Baseball, as the network is to pay $1 billion in rights fees to 14 MLB franchises. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has remained optimistic that games will continue to be offered to fans one way or another.

“Our goal would be to make games available not only within the traditional cable bundle but on the digital side, as well,” Manfred said last week. “What we do is largely dependent on how Diamond and the creditors play their cards, what they decide to do.”

Prudential Investments is the network’s largest creditor a report from Sportico claims.

Charlie Kirk Refutes NBC News Report About Frustration From Trump Towards Turning Point USA

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An NBC News report claims former President Donald Trump has grown frustrated with Charlie Kirk and his Turning Point USA organization for its outreach to Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL). On Tuesday, Kirk refuted that report.

The report from Allan Smith and Vaughn Hillyard claimed an advisor to Trump told them the former President had been monitoring the organization’s relationship with DeSantis and was not happy with the conservative pundit for it, saying “there would be no Charlie Kirk without Donald Trump”.

“Trump feels like he has made Charlie and Charlie’s ungrateful and [Trump’s] not been happy for a while,” the adviser told NBC News. “He’s like, ‘You call him and you tell him he’d be nothing without my son.’”

The advisor went on to say that it appeared Kirk was attempting to “cover his bases” and that DeSantis “may not care, but Trump notices”.

During The Charlie Kirk Show Tuesday, Kirk welcomed Donald Trump Jr. to the program to discuss the report.

“I hope you can clear something up for me,” Kirk said. “There’s this NBC News piece, and I have to learn about my relationship with you and (former President Trump) via NBC News. NBC News is telling me publicly that somehow my relationship with you is not good. Maybe you can walk me through this because NBC obviously knows us more than we know ourselves.”

“I was unaware that there was any rift between you and I, Charlie,” Trump Jr. said with a chuckle.

“It’s complete nonsense,” claimed Kirk. “Leave it to NBC News to try to divide us as we head into 2024, despite me being repeatedly clear: I’m backing Trump”.

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