Media Stuff And Money Stuff Today

Because I enjoy watching sporting endeavors, I always have in the back of my mind that someone somewhere is earning or intends to earn a buck from the presentation.  And that does not bother me even a little bit because I figure that I am the real beneficiary of their efforts to make some money.  So, let me begin today with some “money stuff” related to sports.

Next year, the Super Bowl will be carried on FOX.  The network has already told Variety that they want advertisers to pay “at least” $7M for a 30-second ad slot during the game.  Why such a lofty price?  Well, according to Nielsen, last year’s Super Bowl game had an audience of 123.5 million folks.  Even if only half that audience might be paying attention to an ad, that is a lot of eyeballs on a sponsor’s product/service.  It is not surprising that ad rates for the Super Bowl continue to increase, but in the report that announced FOX’s anticipated price for next year there was an interesting tid-bit.

Recall that last year’s Super Bowl was won in overtime by the Chiefs.  Well, ad slots in the overtime period had not been sold before the game; so as the game wound down and overtime became more and more likely, the folks at CBS that had the game last year worked quickly with “top sponsors” to sell more ads for the overtime period.  Those on-the-fly sales netted an extra $60M for CBS.

Moving on …  A new stadium for the Buffalo Bills is well into its construction phase in Orchard Park, NY; the scheduled opening for the facility is 2026.  New Highmark Stadium will seat 62,000 in an open-air facility with a heated playing field.  The estimated cost for the new playpen is $1.7B, about half of which comes courtesy of the taxpayers in the State of New York.  But there is going to be another revenue stream that intends to offset at least some of the “private funding” for the construction.

• Personal Seat Licenses (PSLs) have been around for at least 30 years now; a PSL is bought by a fan and that purchase then allows that fan to buy season tix for the seat to which he has a license. You read that right; you buy a PSL which gives you the right to spend more money to buy game tickets.  Such a deal …
• According to a report in the Buffalo News, the cost for PSLs in the new stadium will top out at an outrageous number.  Some PSLs will cost $50K per seat – – and remember, all that does is allow the license holder to buy season tix at market rates.
• That seems outrageous enough – – but the Bills are not yet done with their attempted fleecing of the flock.  Many of the seats in the existing stadium have PSL owners attached to them.  So, you would expect that those licenses would carry over – – or at least they would get some credit for license fees already spent.
• Nay, nay, yon teenager.  [Hat Tip to Jerry Blavat.]  If a current PSL holder and season ticket purchaser wants to retain that PSL at a comparable location in the new facility, he/she gets to pay full price for it – – again.

Switching gears …  There will be new looks in the studios and in the broadcast booths for NFL TV coverage this season.

• At FOX, Tom Brady will replace Greg Olsen as the color analyst on the network’s #1 gameday team pairing with Ken Burkhardt.  Olsen occupied that chair for the last couple of seasons and will “drop down” to the #2 broadcast crew this year working with Joe Davis to call NFL games on FOX.
• One change at ESPN will mark the arrival of Jason Kelce to the world of broadcasting.  He will be part of the crew that brings Monday Night Countdown to the air and according to some reports, he will be replacing RG3 on that studio panel.  [Aside:  Other reports say that the network has not yet decided RG3’s role for 2024 with ESPN.]  Others in the Monday Night Countdown cast are Scott Van Pelt, Ryan Clark and Marcus Spears.
• Another change at ESPN will involve Bill Belichick assuming a “recurring role” on the ManningCast with Peyton and Eli.
• At CBS, there has been a major shake-up for the network’s studio show, The NFL Today.  Boomer Esiason and Phil Simms will be replaced by Matt Ryan this year.  James Brown, Nate Burleson, Bill Cowher and JJ Watt will make up the rest of the show’s cast.

I am on record saying that I am not confident that Tom Brady will be a great broadcaster because I never got the idea that he enjoyed being “on a microphone”.  I am not rooting against him; I do not hope that he fails.  I simply will not be surprised if he is nothing more than “an OK voice” during games.

Jason Kelce seems to me to be the antithesis of Tom Brady in the sense that Kelce seems attracted to and energized by having a microphone in his presence.   Fans can count on Clark to create some controversy; I have a hunch that Kelce will join Clark in working that side of the street.  We shall see …

I am confident that I will find Bill Belichick’s comments insightful and interesting – – if not mesmerizing.  I am looking forward to seeing how the Manning brothers make that work.

Regarding the CBS “shakeup”, I will not miss Boomer Esiason at all, and I will not miss Phil Simms more than the slightest little bit.  Their acts had run the course.  Perhaps, the overseers at CBS might now take notice of the fact that Coach Cowher’s comments do not change much from week to week or year to year.  His “keys to the game” are always “defense” and “run the football.”

Finally, the situation about the PSLs in Buffalo remind me to close today with two observations by W. C. Fields:

“Never give a sucker an even break.”

And …

“It’s morally wrong to allow a sucker to keep his money.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………