How merger could impact sports
Good luck, Jeff. Lay off Vitello
Good morning, all and a happy Saturday!
It still has to pass scrutiny, but apparently Paramount has pulled the fat out of the fire and outbid Netflix to buy Warner Brothers Discovery. The price is reportedly $110B!
What does that mean to you the sports consumer? Plenty, actually, as the WBD owns several sports properties, as does Paramount, parent company of CBS. The two companies would be in control of numerous sports, including the NFL, NCAA basketball, March Madness, Big Ten Conference, NHL and the PGA Tour.
Paramount stated the combining of its resources with WBD would lead to a “direct-to-consumer platform with enhanced reach, engagement and monetization capabilities.”
Of course, the DTC would include sports and drive another nail in the coffin of the cable TV paradigm. I will repeat what I have written and stated in video commentary on numerous occasions, how we consume our sports is about to change dramatically by the next decade, if not sooner.
Congratulations, Jeff Dooley
A big congratulations to my dear friend and broadcast partner with the Hartford Yard Goats and University of Hartford Hawks, Jeff Dooley. Jeff is in Arizona this weekend, joining Jack Corrigan in calling Colorado Rockies games on KOA radio in Denver.
A couple of years back, Jeff called some regular season Rockies game, when Colorado was in Philadelphia for a series. “Dools” is first class all the way in so many areas. Here is wishing him nothing but the best, although why someone would want to leave two feet of snow and twenty degree temperatures for sun and 90 degrees, is beyond me.
Credit to the Tampa Bay Rays
Give credit to the Tampa Bay Rays and their new ownership. The Rays are returning to Tropicana Field this season, after the roof of their stadium was torn off by Hurricane Milton in the fall of 2024, forcing them to play their 2025 home games at the site of the New York Yankees spring training facility.
Per their contract with St. Petersburg, the city had to outlay $60M to repair the ballpark, but Rays ownership also poured in millions of their own money to enhance the ballpark experience even more, adding a speakeasy, candy shop and upgrading suites. The Rays, after all, could have mailed it in, seeing that the ballpark will most probably be history by the turn of the decade, as they plan to construct a new ballpark on the other side of the bay in Tampa.
More and more, it appears the ownership is determined to put their money where their mouth is, which could be a warning to the rest of the American League East. Outside of last season, the Rays have been perennial playoff participants, despite their low profile, thanks to a savvy front office staff. Other organizations have repeatedly poached their personnel because of their forward-looking blueprint on how to build a baseball team without breaking the bank. Now that the franchise has new ownership with some money, if the team can continue its smart approach on how to remain competitive, the Rays will be a force to contend with for many years.
Here are some other thoughts on the last day of February:
I’m sorry, but I am having a big problem with these media people scrutinizing every move and statement San Francisco Giants manager Tony Vitello has made so far in this spring training. I get that Vitello is under a microscope, having never played, coached or managed in a professional baseball game before this season. I get that Giants boss Buster Posey is taking a chance by hiring this successful college (Tennessee) baseball coach. But can we at least give him more than 15 days into spring training, before he gets thrown under the bus? Just on that alone, I am rooting for Vitello.
Speaking of which, remember when Brad Stevens was thrown under the bus, when the Boston Celtics hired him to be their coach, after his successful tenure as hoops coach at Butler University? Well, Stevens went on to become not only a successful coach of the Celtics, he then moved up the ladder to become president of the storied franchise and won an NBA championship. He then got criticized this past off season for tearing down the roster and building a new team, as the franchise was being sold. And what has happened? The new Celtics are not only in contention, they could very well end up in the NBA Finals. Stevens has done a remarkable job since making the jump from college to the pros and deserves proper recognition.
Neil Sedaka R.I.P.
One week into spring training games and already conclusions are being made about which players are going to succeed and which players are not. Baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. Unfortunately, in this age of social media “influencers,” it’s all about driving clicks and not about reality. Sad!
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for subscribing and have a sensational Saturday!
DAN