Praise for Brady and Burkhardt
Cohen makes a promise. F1 a hit.
Good morning, all! It’s Friddayyy!!!
Maybe it’s just me, by I think Tom Brady has become a helluva broadcaster on Fox NFL games. I do not expect much praise for Brady, though, from people who quickly threw him under the bus for his work last season. People do not like to admit, when they are wrong. But much like Brady worked to become a great QB, he has worked hard to become a great broadcaster. He does not mail it in.
Rating a broadcaster is a very subjective act. One fan’s cup-of-tea, when it comes to broadcasters, is another fan’s bowl of sour grapes. But there is no question Brady does his homework, and has learned to get in-and-out of a comment quickly, while making his point. That’s not easy. But he is mastering the craft of color commentary and I find he and Kevin Burkhardt a very good listen.
Here are some other thoughts as I look forward to Saturday afternoon’s women’s college hoops game between #1 UConn and #16 USC:
You might not think so but Formula 1 is becoming a big deal on television. ESPN announced F1 had a record audience this past year, attracting 1.3M on average per telecasts. That is a 148% jump in viewers since 2018. Reportedly the Netflix docuseries Formula One has helped to fuel audience growth. F1 coverage switches to Apple TV next season.
Is this the future of minor league baseball? We have witnessed the Diamond Baseball Holdings purchase one franchise after another. DBH owns more than 40 teams. Now Marc Lasry’s Avenue Sports Fund is entering the franchise field, creating OnDeck Partners, a private-equity firm owned by Lasry. Word is ODP is making its first foray into minor league baseball ownership, purchasing the Double-A affiliate of Tampa Bay, the Montgomery Biscuits, and the Single-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Visalia Rawhide.
When the Yankees selected Cardinals pitcher Cade Winquest in Wednesday’s Rule 5 draft, it was the first time they made a Rule 5 pick since 2011. And Yankees fans said their favorite team was quiet at the meetings.
Word is the Washington-Boise State game on Saturday night will be the last LA Bowl. This goes to the heart of what I stated in a recent commentary. With the college football playoffs, combined with NIL, the portal and players and schools refusing to play in bowl games, unless it’s for a national championship - and even then - many of these secondary bowl games are going to disappear.
Sports, streaming and cable-TV are interlocked. My friend Lon Seidman, who was a content creator before there were content creators, has struck again, with an excellent piece on climbing cable-TV prices and what the broadcast entities are doing to screw consumers, should they decide to cut the chord. Here is the link.
As we mentioned in Thursday’s podcast, do not be fooled by the Mets being unable to sign free agents Pete Alonso and Edwin Diaz. Billionaire owner Steve Cohen has issued this promise to frightened Mets fans: “There is lots of offseason left to put a playoff team on the field.” I look for the Mets to be very active.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Thank you for being a subscriber and enjoy your Friday!
DAN