NBA, MLB ready for battle. Jeter weighs in on key issue. And changes for Le Batard, Costas
We’re about to see sports like we’ve never seen them, with cardboard cutouts of fans at some baseball games, virtual fans at games (on Fox), no fans at NBA games, piped-in crowd noise and 27 robotic cameras on basketball telecasts.
We’re also about to get more clarity on whether the NBA has really surpassed MLB as America’s most second-most popular professional sport behind the NFL.
We’ll get to how MLB and NBA coverage will look on television, during a pandemic, in this space in the coming days.
But as the NBA and MLB compete for America’s attention, it’s notable that MLB rights holders Fox and ESPN and the NBA’s national rights-holders (ABC/ESPN/TNT) aren’t making any efforts to avoid national TV conflicts when both sports resume their seasons in the coming days, even in a few instances where they were avoidable.
Three examples:
▪ ABC will allocate two hours of prime-time programming to an NBA preview studio show on Saturday night, an unprecedented move. Fox will counter with a Yankees-Nationals game. It’s the only night this week when either network is airing live sports, and they’re choosing to do it the same night.
▪ Fox, curiously, has decided to air coverage of two baseball games (Mets-Red Sox and Indians-Twins) on Thursday night, July 30, while TNT is airing the NBA’s first seeding games (Jazz-Pelicans and Lakers-Clippers).
Fox could have opted to carry prime time baseball any of the three previous nights but instead decided to oppose the NBA’s first night back. Odd.
▪ ABC is taking the unusual step of airing a Sunday night NBA game Aug. 2 (Milwaukee-Houston) opposite a Red Sox-Yankees game on ESPN. (ABC and ESPN are both owned by Disney.)
And this is unavoidable, but for the first time, NBA Finals games will compete with MLB playoff games during the first two weeks of October.
So we’ll get a sense about which sport Americans are more eager to watch after four months without any pro team sports. As for which is more popular, it’s a close call, but the NBA has a stronger case.
The six-game Toronto-Golden State NBA Finals last June averaged an 8.8 rating and drew 15.1 million total viewers, compared with an 8.1 and just under 14 million total viewers for the seven-game Washington-Houston World Series.
The NBA Finals has outdrawn the World Series nationally four of the past five years, by anywhere from 0.6 to 3.0 ratings points, with one ratings point equaling more than a million homes. The one exception: The seven-game Cubs-Indians World Series in 2016 outdrew the seven-game Cavs-Warriors NBA Finals.
The MLB still beats the NBA in total revenue and attendance (largely from playing twice as many games) but the NBA has far more followers and mentions on social media.
Last year, NBA teams passed MLB teams in total average value ($1.9 billion to $1.7 billion), per Forbes.
In a December 2017 Gallup poll, 11 percent of fans said the NBA was their favorite sport and 9 percent said MLB was, with football first at 37 percent. But Scarborough research that year had MLB ahead of the NBA in popularity.
Atlanta Hawks CEO Steve Koonin has proposed moving the start of the NBA season from from mid-October to mid-December, allowing the NBA to avoid competing much with the NFL’s regular season and instead compete more with MLB. The NBA hasn’t broadly supported that proposal, but the 2020-21 season will be delayed because of the pandemic.
The sense here is (and one shared by many) is that the NBA has surpassed MLB as America’s second-most-popular pro sport, but MLB can still make a case, especially because NBA ratings have dropped in recent years. A lot of NBA fans seem to have interest in talking about the NBA - especially on social media - and following personnel moves but less interest in actually watching the games, particularly in the regular season.
So the direct NBA/MLB competition in coming weeks - particularly early October - should be interesting.
MEDIA NOTES
▪ ESPN is again shifting Dan Le Batard’s TV show to a new timeslot. Highly Questionable is being moved earlier in the afternoon, to 2:30 p.m. on ESPN, beginning Aug. 17, following Jalen and Jacoby and preceding The Jump.
NFL Live will move from 2 to 4 p.m., with Laura Rutledge replacing Wendi Nix as primary host; Nix reportedly will remain at ESPN for an undisclosed role.
Le Batard’s ESPN radio show also loses an hour beginning that day and will run from 10 a.m. to noon.
▪ The most important financial variable for the Marlins this year is how much they can extract from Fox/Sinclair in a new TV deal. The current one, which expires after this season, pays the Marlins an MLB-low $18 million annually.
Asked if the pandemic has affected what Fox/Sinclair have offered in a new deal, Marlins CEO Derek Jeter declined to answer directly but said: “The pandemic set a lot of people back. We’ve been focused on getting back on the field, getting our season underway. Sinclair has been doing the same thing. We continue to have discussions.
“Everyone knows the deal we have is well below market and we want a partner that looks at this organization and they see the bright future that’s on the horizon. I’m not going to give you any specifics right now but everyone knows this is last year of our TV deal and we’ll have another going into next season.”
▪ Fox Sports Florida will carry every Panthers’ Stanley Cup qualifying game against the New York Islanders (beginning at 4 p.m. Aug. 1) and a Panthers’ exhibition against Tampa at noon July 29.
▪ Bob Costas, the voice of NBC Sports for four decades before they mutually parted ways in 2019, has joined CNN as a contributor, offering perspective on various sports issues. WarnerMedia News & Sports Chair Jeff Zucker, who runs CNN, and Costas worked together when Zucker was an executive at NBC.
Costas left NBC because the network lacked rights to enough events that interested him. He will continue as a play-by-player and occasional host on MLB Network.
Here’s my Wednesday Dolphins piece.
Here’s my Wednesday Miami Hurricanes six-pack.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 5:41 PM.
