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Wayne Randazzo Leaving Mets Radio Booth

BSM Staff
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According to a report from Neil Best of Newsday, multiple sources have confirmed Wayne Randazzo will not return to the New York Mets radio booth in 2023.

Randazzo joined the booth in 2019 after working as the pre and postgame host for the broadcasts when WOR served as the flagship station. He worked alongside Howie Rose as the two partnered to call games for the Mets on WCBS Newsradio 880.

According to Best, Randazzo is “in the mix” to work as the play-by-play announcer for the Los Angeles Angels games on Bally Sports West. Matt Vasgersian handles the majority of television broadcasts for the Angels, but has also called national games for YouTube, ESPN, MLB Network, and more during his tenure with the club.

In addition to his work with the Mets, Randazzo called games AppleTV+’s Friday Night Baseball series last season.

The 36-year-old told BSM’s Derek Futterman earlier this year he knows there are “sacrifices” being made by moving to television from radio.

“When you’re making that leap to television, you know it comes with sacrifices; you know it going in,” Randazzo said. “If your team is good, you’re going to lose games because they’ll be on national TV. If they get to the playoffs, you’re not doing them because the playoffs are on national TV…. It’s a sacrifice that I think you make for all the good things that come with doing TV.”

Angelo Cataldi: FOX Sports Avoided Disaster With World Cup Nearly Lasting to Kickoff of NFL Games

BSM Staff
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The 2022 World Cup Final proved to be one of the greatest soccer matches of all-time, and yet many wondered what would have happened if the match overran into the 1:00 PM ET window for the NFL on FOX. 94WIP morning host Angelo Cataldi said the network should thank their lucky stars the match ended when it did.

“Here’s the thing. While I’m watching this, and I’m going ‘What happens if this World Cup game goes past 1:00 PM?’,” Cataldi said.

“Chaos,” replied co-host Rhea Hughes.

“For sure, because FOX has got both the World Cup and the NFL,” Catladi said. “Secondly, they paid a ton of money for both. Third, the World Cup is getting the best numbers they’ve ever got in their history in America. The NFL is their bread and butter. What do you do at 1:00 PM? They don’t know how long the penalty kicks are going to take. It could be 20 kicks, who knows?”

When told they could have moved the penalty kicks of the World Cup to FS1, Cataldi scoffed at the idea.

“Big mistake. FS1 has about a third of the people. It is not widely distributed. You’re gonna take two-thirds of an audience that watched the greatest World Cup game ever and send them somewhere else where they may not be able to go to see the end of that event?”

Hughes then asked if they would send the NFL to FS1.

“No, not a chance,” countered Cataldi. “Then I started to wonder about the world. This was a big thought. The truth is, if you missed the first five plays of the Eagles game, would the Eagle fans have gone bezerk if FOX said ‘we’re just gonna get through the penalty kicks and see who wins’? They would have went nuts, right? So you’re gonna lose no matter what! They made it by minutes!”

Co-host Al Morganti told Cataldi that it was eight minutes between the end of the World Cup Final and the beginning of the 1:00 PM window. Cataldi concluded he would have complained but joked he didn’t have to watch the “forced laughter” between Terry Bradshaw and Michael Strahan.

“Now I want a soccer game at 11:00 AM every Sunday,” the venerable host joked.

Keith Olbermann: Chris Licht Should Tweet Same Poll Elon Musk Used

BNM Staff
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Keith Olbermann: Chris Licht Should Tweet Same Poll Elon Musk Used

In a Sunday feature story on new CNN CEO Chris Licht in The New York Times, Licht responded to a question about the animosity he receives from those critical of the direction he has steered CNN, with Keith Olbermann being the loudest of the nay-sayers. Monday, Olbermann responded to Licht with what he joked was “helpful vitriol”.

“Big New York Times feature yesterday in which Licht spent about 20 paragraphs emphasizing that he’s the real victim here and insisting that when Stephen Colbert tried to talk him out of taking the CNN job he told Colbert ‘No, this is a calling’,” Olbermann said.

In the feature, written by James B. Stewart, the author tabs Olberman as Licht’s loudest critic, quoting the former cable news hosts characterization that Licht is a “TV Fascist”. Licht responded by saying “The uninformed vitriol, especially from the left, has been stunning.”

“Dude, we worked in adjoining offices together for like four years. Mine is thoroughly informed vitriol,” Olbermann sarcastically said.

“But seriously…for the sake of the fact that I used to work at CNN and someday — very soon — you too will also be able to say that you used to work at CNN, may I offer helpful vitriol, Chris Licht? Maybe — just hear me out — maybe you should post a Twitter poll that reads ‘Should I step down as head of CNN? I will abide by the results of this poll’.”

Olbermann has continued to be Licht’s loudest and harshest critic. Every time he discusses the CNN CEO, Olbermann refers to him by his title before adding “and when we worked together at MSNBC I thought he ate paste”.

ESPN Unveils First 2023 Sunday Night Baseball Schedule

BSM Staff
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ESPN Unveils First 2023 Sunday Night Baseball Schedule

ESPN has released the first portion of the 2023 Sunday Night Baseball schedule, as well as the 2023 Little League Classic.

The 2023 slate of Sunday Night Baseball will mark the 34th consecutive season MLB will broadcast the package. Karl Ravech, David Cone, and Eduardo Perez will return as the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast crew. Buster Olney will return as the broadcast’s report for the 13th season.

ESPN also announced it will exclusively televise the MLB Opening Night contest on Thursday, March 30th between the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox.

The dates confirmed for ESPN‘s 2023 Sunday Night Baseball schedule includes:
-Sunday April 2nd: Philadelphia at Texas
-Sunday April 9th: San Diego at Atlanta
-Sunday April 16th: Texas at Houston
-Sunday April 23rd: New York Mets at San Francisco
-Sunday April 30th: Philadelphia at Houston
-Sunday May 28th: Philadelphia at Atlanta
-Sunday June 4th: New York Yankees at Los Angeles Dodgers
-Sunday June 18th: New York Yankees at Boston
-Sunday August 20th: Philadelphia vs Washington (in Williamsport, PA for the Little League Classic)

ESPN also confirmed the KayRod Cast will be seen on the April 2nd and April 23rd broadcasts.

Brad Kelly Exiting Nielsen Audio Amid Executive Reshuffle

BNM Staff
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Brad Kelly Exiting Nielsen Audio Amid Executive Reshuffle

Nielsen Audio managing partner Brad Kelly is departing the company in early January.

According to a report from Inside Radio, Kelly is among several executives leaving the company as new ownership restructures the audio division.

Kelly took the managing partner role in 2016, ascending from the role of Senior Vice President of Sales, marking the organization’s first ever radio-focused executive after Nielsen purchased Arbitron in 2013.

After joining Arbitron in 1998, Kelly oversaw several expansions and policy changes during his tenure rising through the organization.

The report from Inside Radio also claims Chief Financial Officer Linda Zukauckas, Chief Data and Research Officer Mainak Mazumbar, Chief Product Officer Eric Bosco, Chief Human Resources Officer Laurie Lovett, and Chief Growth Officer Sean Cohen will all be leaving the company, in addition to Chief Commercial Officer Peter Bradbury, who previously announced he’d depart the company at the end of 22 after 26 years in the organization.

Tomi Lahren: Elon Musk Justified In Twitter Suspensions

BNM Staff
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Elon Musk made the decision to suspend the Twitter accounts if several prominent journalists last week, which was not well received by many in news media. Tomi Lahren, however, was in support of the move.

During her Fox News Commentary Monday, Lahren shared she was in agreement with Musk on the decision, claiming it was a safety issue.

“He had a reason, though. These writers from The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and others were involved in sharing his real-time location- something he says will not fly on the platform,” Lahren said.

Lahren then chastised the media members who had their accounts reinstated for not being grateful.

“But even though Elon reinstated these accounts, the liberal media is still going bananas he dared to punish them in the first place. It took the 7-day suspension of these liberal journalists from these liberal outlets to get these liberal journalists and their liberal outlets to cover censorship in any way, shape, or form?”

David Pollack: College GameDay Takes More Prep Than People Know

BSM Staff
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David Pollack has been a part of College GameDay since 2011 and there is a lot of prep he has to do in order to help make the show the success that it still is today.

Pollack was a guest on The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz last week and said that during the season, he has to make sure he knows everything that’s going on, which does cost him some time with his wife and two kids.

“You’ve got to just be dialed in. The weekends in college football season, I feel like a horrible dad and a horrible parent sometimes but I’m like I got to be dialed in. I’ve got to watch games. I’ve got to make sure I know what’s going on.”

Pollack did detail that the GameDay crew has the privilege to watch a lot of tape and they get the same perspective that the coaches do.

“During the weekdays, you have to watch a lot of tape. We are very fortunate. We have access to every single game in college football. We get to watch it from the coach’s copy and study and do our takes.”

Going forward, College Gameday is not going to have Chris “The Bear” Fallica on the broadcast anymore after Fallica decided to go to FOX Sports. Pollack told the show that Fallica was a big help to him from the minute he joined Gameday.

“Ever since I’ve been on the show, there’s always been the Bear. Before he was the Bear, Fallica was unreal. He brought me in and helped me look at things in different ways. He’s got that massive huge rolodex of sports information, I’ve never seen anything like that…He’s an amazing resource for us and he has been an amazing friend to me. Helped me along the way with everything I needws. We’ll definitely miss the big fella. His presence every week, he’s fun, he’s cantankerous, which makes it fun. It’s like losing a teammate from the locker room.”

Apple Could Return to NFL Sunday Ticket Talks

BSM Staff
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A report that surfaced late Friday from Puck News claimed Apple had walked away from negotiations for the NFL Sunday Ticket package.

However, Front Office Sports reports a source with knowledge on the negotiations says not to count out the tech giant just yet.

While the NFL is still reportedly seeking to double it’s annual rights fee for the service to $3 billion, Apple continues to be the frontrunner and logical choice to serve as the home for the NFL’s out-of-market contests.

Apple has already signed a contract with the NFL to be the presenting sponsor of the league’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, and is one of the few companies that can afford a loss-leader as large as NFL Sunday Ticket.

Another point that could compel Apple back into negotiations with the league is the fact that Sunday Ticket is the league’s final media package available for purchase until 2033. The league inked 10-year contracts FOX, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and Amazon Prime Video for its television packages. If Apple would like to get into the NFL broadcasting space, this is the last opportunity for the long-term.

MLB, NHL, NBA Unlikely to Buy Bally Sports RSNs

BSM Staff
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MLB, NHL, NBA Unlikely to Buy Bally Sports RSNs

A last ditch hope that the MLB, NHL, and NBA would buy the failing Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks is unlikely to happen, according to a report from The New York Post.

The Diamond Sports Group — which operates the channels owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group — had been in discussions with the leagues to purchase the portfolio of channels for $3 billion, including the current debt. The Post claims that the company’s profitability forecast being slashed in half at the end of November made the leagues hesitant about paying a premium for the networks.

The report from the Post also claims the local streaming rights for the 14 MLB, 16 NBA, and 12 NHL teams are likely to eventually land with Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, according to sources.

“Right now, there is chaos. But we’ll be able to look back and say this is when a large tech company really entered the regional sports market,” an anonymous MLB team owner told The Post. “Right now, there is a large amount of people who don’t see games in their home markets. That’s not good for the sports leagues.”

The leagues are content to let the channels file for bankruptcy protection and see how those proceedings unfold rather than pay the $3 billion Diamond Sports Group has asked for in negotiations.

Joe Rose: Networks Don’t Have ‘Stupid Money’ To Compete With Streamers

BSM Staff
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The bidding for the NFL’s Sunday Ticket package continues after news came over the weekend that the presumed favorite, Apple, was bowing out. Joe Rose and crew discussed the recent developments Monday morning on WQAM in Miami.

Not only is Apple out, but so is ESPN+. That leaves Google and Amazon as the likely landing spots for the league’s out-of-market TV package.

“Did you ever think we’d be talking about Apple, Amazon and Google jumping into sports with the networks?” Rose asked. 

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced earlier this year that Sunday Ticket would become a streaming product. It is the first time since its inception in 1994 that it is hitting the open market and will not be a DirecTV exclusive.

Any network that has done business with the NFL is used to price tags in the billions of dollars. With tech companies involved though, the playing field for some products has narrowed. Joe Rose said the “blank check” Apple reportedly has to acquire sports rights is going to make it hard for traditional TV to make competitive offers.

“The networks go ‘We’re out! We don’t have money like those guys. Those guys have stupid money!’”

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