Well, that was quick.
For the past few years, cord-cutting has been at the center of discussions about how fans will watch live sports in the future. But strangely enough, 2023 is already seeing a resurgence of “old” customs.
Major sports leagues are beginning to find a new home on free wireless networks that have traditionally been untouched by live sports coverage, two of which are The CW and Scripps Sports.
The CW is backed by publicly traded Nexstar Media Group, has a market capitalization of $5 billion, and claims to be available in 100% of U.S. TV homes. This year it will start broadcasting the LIV golf tournament and ACC football games, followed by basketball next month.
LIV’s first 2023 tournament drew fewer than 300,000 viewers, with the league ultimately reporting viewership through the lesser-known iSpot service rather than the Nielsen service most leagues use chose to do so. Through 10 weeks of the college football season, The CW’s most-watched game was Virginia vs. North Carolina on Oct. 21, which drew 788,000 viewers.
Going forward, The CW will reportedly pay $800 million to broadcast the NASCAR Xfinity Series starting in 2025. This season’s second-tier circuit has averaged about 1 million viewers per race, primarily available on FS1 and USA Network, both of which have just 1 million household viewers. Over 71 million. And just this week, he announced a five-year contract with WWE NXT worth up to $200 million.
Scripps Sports, a new division of the 145-year-old EW Scripps Company (also publicly traded), acquired the rights to the NWSL as part of a record $240 million deal, making it the largest company to date. It just hit the headlines. Earlier this year, Aeon began broadcasting her WNBA games on Friday nights on his network, which enjoys viewership of about 60% nationwide. Thanks to this package of games, the WNBA’s total viewership this season increased by 24% to 39 million unique viewers.
Additionally, Scripps has signed new deals with the Arizona Coyotes and Vegas Golden Knights to broadcast NHL games for free on local stations in those markets. In Scripps’ recent earnings call, President and CEO Adam Simson said the Coyotes have already seen a 900% increase in viewership compared to last season’s Bally Sports Arizona games. , said the Golden Knights have more than doubled their local viewership. Scripps also owns the rights to some Big Sky Conference sports, including football.
Currently, with different strategies and a lack of top-level sports rights like the NFL or NBA, The CW and Scripps have no chance of becoming leaders in a new era of live sports.
Just getting started
The two companies told Front Office Sports that they are in talks for further sports deals.
Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment, said The CW’s budget is “whatever makes sense” as long as it makes a profit. “There’s nothing we can’t do, but we’re going to be smart about it.” Schwartz also sees long-term opportunities to add sports programming on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.
All of Scripps’ regional transactions are market dependent, and its national strategy is still being developed. “We have no intention of turning Aeon into a sports channel,” said Brian Lawler, president of Scripps Sports. “We think of it like TBS. [or] TNT has very consistent regular programming that defines its brand, but it also has sports rights. ”
Look for Scripps to continue its commitment to sports. However, don’t overdo it. “We’re not going to be 10 sports teams or leagues deep,” Lawler said.
“There is no better programming format for a terrestrial television network than sports,” said Ed Desser, a sports media expert and former NBA executive.
These new sports deals not only help attract more viewers and increase advertising dollars, but also make The CW and Aeon more viable for upstart leagues looking to buy time on networks with wide distribution. Desser suspects it could help be seen as an option.
Not only that
Beyond The CW and Scripps Sports, local sports rights are also experiencing major changes following the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports Group (a subsidiary of Sinclair Broadcast Group), with dozens of companies affiliated with the company It has influenced NBA, NHL, and MLB teams. I own the rights.
Another player in this new era is Gray TV, which has a new deal to broadcast Phoenix Suns and Mercury games on local stations. The Suns even gave fans free antennas to ease the transition. Gray said he is considering other sports contracts, but has not made any further announcements.
The Utah Jazz have chosen to partner with local station KJZZ-TV, owned by Sinclair, to broadcast games for free and launch a paid streaming service. “Everyone is coming knocking on the broadcast door,” Schwartz said.
Meanwhile, after DSG’s bankruptcy, MLB took over the rights to the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, broadcasting those games through a combination of broadcast, cable, and streaming options.
Still, the proliferation of digital content cannot be ignored as the live sports landscape changes.
What about streaming?
While more local and second-tier national sports programming is moving to alternative networks, deep-pocketed streamers continue to go after premium sports live rights.
Amazon and Apple are considering acquiring rights to the College Football Playoff, and Amazon and Apple have expressed interest in the NBA. NASCAR announced its next media rights deal will include a streaming package. Apple made a favorable bid for Pac-12 rights before the conference finally concluded this summer.
In the NFL, Google pays $2 billion a year for YouTube’s NFL Sunday Ticket. Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” has seen strong year-over-year growth as fans become more familiar with the exclusively streamed game.
NFL+, the league’s streaming service, is in its second season and could soon be home to exclusive game coverage. “When the time is right, I think we’ll be really excited to bring one of our behind-the-paywall games to NFL+,” Aaron Perez, the league’s senior director of strategy and business management, told FOS. Ta.
However, the evolution of streaming is not limited to major national assets. Lawler said a key element of Scripps’ local market strategy is the ability to build direct-to-consumer products and monetize each team, as was the case with the Golden Knights. “It’s all about access,” he said.
As 2024 approaches, the sports media market will continue to be a mix of different broadcast services.
channel surfing
Diamond Sports Group will retain all rights to its existing NBA and NHL teams through at least this season, putting 10 of its 12 contracts with MLB teams on hold and working to finalize plans with two others. He said he was. So after a turbulent summer, 2024 could be a calmer year.
But DSG’s precarious future could eventually allow the likes of The CW and Scripps to snap up a ton of local rights. “For individual local stations, there’s nothing better than home team rights in terms of generating interest and enthusiasm, advertiser interest and viewership,” Desser said.
The CW remains active in its national approach. “The other four stations don’t have a lot of shelf space left,” Schwartz said of ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC. “They’ve signed huge rights deals with all the major leagues. And here’s The CW, which has shelf space and investment money.”
And don’t expect its ambitious strategy to trouble potential competitors like Scripps. “We are all moving the needle and establishing a new landscape for the future of the sport,” Lawler said.
As top leagues and broadcasters continue to embrace advances in technology, it seems inevitable that streaming will eventually win. But for now, what was thought to be a dying medium has opened up and sports are capitalizing on it.