Good morning, all! I hope you have a terrific Thursday!
We are witnessing seismic shifts in how we consume televised content and sports is a big reason why. A TV station in Miami is the latest exhibit, cutting its affiliation with ABC. An excellent piece in the Columbia Journalism Review explains what is at play, while I provide more background in the video commentary.
Here are some other thoughts, as I look at the Red Sox one-two, etc. punch:
According to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic, 31.7M watched Saturday night’s NFL Wild Card playoff game between the Packers and the Bears. That is a record for streaming of an NFL game. As I stated in the video commentary, the future is now.
Former NY Giants head coach Brian Daboll has interviewed with the Philadelphia Eagles about becoming their next OC. Let’s just say how delicious that would be, if it were to happen?
Wow! After losing out on free agent Alex Bregman, the Red Sox pony up big and sign free agent pitcher Ranger Suárez. The Red Sox now have a one-two-three-four rotation of Garrett Crochet, Suárez, Brayan Bello and Sonny Gray. Not to mention they have some other pitching prospects, barring any trades, chomping at the bit.
With the Suárez signing, the Red Sox are the last big league club to sign a free agent this off season.
If I’m the Yankees, I am on the phone to the Tigers and working out a deal for free agent pitcher Tarik Skubal.
Bryson DeChambeau says he is not breaking with LIV and will finish out his contract, which runs through this year. He says his You Tube channel is so successful, he might just play the major tournaments and focus on YT, where he has 2.6M followers. Repeat! The future is now.
In case you are wondering, the highest paid athlete in 2025 was Cristiano Ronaldo, at $260M with salary, winnings and endorsements, according to Sportico. Juan Soto was fourth with combined earnings of $129.2M. LeBron James came in fifth at $128.7M. with $80M of that figure from endorsements.
Local baseball television woes continue, another example of what I talked about in the commentary on how everything is changing. MLB is now taking over the Washington Nationals local television package, as the Nats have split with MASN. MLB is now handling the local rights of the Nationals, D-backs, Padres, Rockies, Twins, Guardians and Mariners. Expect more teams to join that list.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for subscribing and have a great day!
DAN
