SBJ Media: SCOTUS Decision Not Likely To Impact Sunday Ticket

This may be the only publication in the country that will not wade into the presidential election today. #VOTE

DON'T EXPECT SUPREME COURT DECISION TO HAVE IMPACT FOR SUNDAY TICKET

• Today’s headline deals with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to allow an antitrust case against the NFL and DirecTV to move forward. The reality is that the decision will have no tangible impact on how the NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market package is delivered.
  
  
• Here’s why: The lawsuit was filed primarily by bar and restaurant owners who objected to the high price of Sunday Ticket. The SCOTUS decision essentially sends the suit back down to where it all started three years ago -- District Court in California. Unless the sides reach a settlement, it will take many years before the case returns to the top court in the land.
  
  
• By that time, it’s likely that NFL Sunday Ticket will be on an entirely new platform. DirecTV pays an average of $1.5 billion per year for an exclusive deal that ends after the 2022 regular season. The NFL currently is negotiating a new deal, and sources say that DirecTV has showed tepid interest, at best. Right now, it seems virtually certain that DirecTV will not have the out-of-market package exclusively. Sources say it is likely that DirecTV will take a pass on the package altogether.
  
  
• The league has had talks with media companies about streaming Sunday Ticket, with Amazon, ESPN and NBC showing interest for the Prime, ESPN+ and Peacock platforms, respectively. CBS could be a dark horse with its All Access platform (which is set to be renamed Paramount+ early next year).
  
  
• Last year, though, these companies had an opportunity to pick up the package’s rights for this year and next, as part of an out that the NFL could exercise in its DirecTV contract. The companies balked at the price DirecTV was paying.

FREER: BIG TECH NEEDS TO SEE SPORTS RIGHTS' PATH FOR PROFITABILITY 

• For much of the last decade, leagues and teams have tried to engage Big Tech companies to bid on their media rights. So far, their interest has been muted. Instead, traditional media companies have launched their own streaming services, like ESPN (ESPN+), NBC (Peacock) and CBS (All Access).
  
  
• I asked former Hulu CEO Randy Freer when Big Tech would get serious with sports rights. He said it will happen when these companies see a path for profitability. “I'm not even sure they're technology companies anymore,” he said. “Does it make sense for a consumer facing company to put resources against sports rights?”
  
  
• Freer: “Amazon, Facebook, Apple -- they’re all driven by their technology, certainly. But their interface with the universe is their consumer interaction. And whether that's hardware for Apple or shopping for Amazon, as they then spread out, they will have aspects of media companies inside of them. Ultimately, they will make a decision that they believe will serve their ability to create more fans, more consumers, more interaction with their products.”
  
  
• Freer still believes that these companies will collect sports rights at some point. But, he warned, they will run into some of the same challenges that bedevil traditional media companies as they deal with ever-increasing rights fees. “Amazon, Apple, Facebook -- they don't necessarily need to do this. They're looking at the investment and the resources they have to put against this content against their normal businesses. What makes sense for that? It's a different conversation and different math, but ultimately, you get to the same place.”

TRIBUTES POUR IN FOR LONGTIME HBO PR EXEC RAY STALLONE

• On Friday, I wrote a piece about longtime HBO Sports exec Ray Stallone, who left the company earlier this month after 25 years. Stallone had run the HBO Sports communications department and left a huge imprint on the sports business. Want proof? Check out all of the Twitter messages people posted after the story published:
  
  
• TV journalist Armen Keteyian: “Ray was a stalwart, a pro’s pro on everything from boxing to NFL to Real Sports to docs.”
  
  
• Newsday’s Neil Best: “One of the all-time greats.”
  
  
• Awful Announcing’s Ben Koo: “Ray is by far one of the best in the business. Always responsive, truthful and helpful in an industry rife with people who don’t strive to be any of these things.”
  
  
• Former L.A. Times sports editor Angel Rodriguez: “Ray is one of the best people in the business.”
  
  
• The Athletic’s Mike Coppinger: “One of the good guys in boxing.”
  
  
• MLB Network’s Jon Heyman: “Ray Stallone is a world-class mensch.”

SPEED READS

• Upheaval at Netflix. Why Quibi failed. Streaming companies did not see much positive news this morning.
  
  
• FanDuel Sportsbook’s ads on local TV, VOD and OTT are earning more media impressions than competitors in Chicago, Denver, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the five largest media markets in states that have opened up to sports betting, according to an SBJ analysis of 2020 iSpot.tv data through Oct. 25 where betting is legal. 
  
  
• Halfway through the NFL regular season, Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has been the most-discussed player on Twitter, while the Steelers have been the top team, SBJ's Austin Karp reports. The top five players on Twitter have all been QBs, with Tom Brady, Cam Newton, Russell Wilson and Patrick Mahomes filling out the top five. The Steelers' #HereWeGo has been the top NFL-related hashtag this season to date, followed by #Browns, #DallasCowboys, #GoPackGo and #BillsMafia. The most discussed game on Twitter this season was Giants-Cowboys on Oct. 11.
  
  
• I’m not writing about viewership numbers for Maryland’s big Friday night win just because I’m a Terp. Actually, yes I am. The Terps' OT win over Minnesota averaged 1.912 million viewers on ESPN, up 26% from the network’s college football Friday night average last season.
  
  
• Digital content has carried WWE during the pandemic, notes Yahoo Finance's Reggie Wade. Average paid subscribers for WWE Network were 1.6 million in Q3, an increase of 6%. Digital video views increased 3% in the quarter for a total of 9.2 billion. Hours consumed also increased 3% to 342 million. WWE recently surpassed 50 billion views on YouTube, making it the fifth most-viewed channel in the world on the platform.

THE LAST WORD

• ESPN announcer Joe Tessitore gets tonight’s Last Word, after announcing Saturday’s Boston College-Clemson game. Joe’s son, John, is BC’s kicker and was the focal point of a trick play that worked near the end of the first half.
  
  
• Following the game, Joe posted on Twitter: “So happy to hear from so many touched by the beaming pride/emotion of a father getting to call his son making a memorable big play. Truly blessed ... postgame visit was special.”

Joe’s son, John (l) was the focal point of a Boston College trick play that worked near the end of the first half

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Something on the media beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).