Welcome to march (streaming) madness
Plus: Introducing Warnamount Sports and Soccer's New Rules
Welcome to March! Here are six sports business items worthy of your attention at the start of the week…
What Already Has My Head Spinning 😵: While March Madness™ doesn’t start until March 17, I’m celebrating beginning today, when the Horizon League tips off two weeks of conference tournament mayhem, with Cleveland State vs. IU Indianapolis at 7 p.m. (men’s) and Milwaukee vs. Detroit Mercy at 8 p.m. (women’s). Both games are on … ESPN+.
At some point over the following fortnight, I’m liable to also watch hoops on five other ESPN channels, plus CBS Sports Network, Big Ten Network, Peacock, USA and the Mountain West Network, if I can find it. And that’s all before the TNT Sports crew and CBS pick up the Big Dance™.
Basket Under Review helpfully compiled the full slate. I’m gonna stay glass-half-full about how much midday basketball is headed our way, rather than wallow in the fact you’ll need a PhD in Platforms to keep track of it all.
Sportico Story (and Chart) of the Week: While we’re on the topic of media mishigas, Paramount is once again the leader in the clubhouse to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery. And whereas Netflix’s erstwhile deal didn’t include WBD’s cable assets, Paramount’s does. That means—if a deal goes through—CBS and TNT’s sports assets would be under the same tent, creating one of the largest portfolios in American media.
What Caught My Eye 👀: The NFL is in the early stages of renegotiating its massive broadcast contracts—and the government is weighing in. In particular, the FCC announced a public inquiry about “the fragmentation of the sports media marketplace.”1
In this case, the regulator appears to be sticking up for local broadcast affiliates, who rely on NFL coverage to underpin their business.
“When sports are broadcast over the air on television, that helps drive advertisers to local broadcasters, and that’s what ends up funding local news and local reporting,” FCC chair Brendan Carr said last week (h/t Awful Announcing). “As more and more games start to go behind paywalls, it begins to tug at some of the underpinnings of that Sports Broadcasting Act.”
It sounds like saber-rattling for now, but we’ve already seen Carr have a big impact on other media businesses. For how much longer can the NFL stay out of the increasing politicization of the TV industry?
What I Learned ⚽: This week I learned that soccer has 17 rules… and that the International Football Association Board is in charge of tweaking them.
Over the weekend, they announced new changes, with a particular focus on cutting out time-wasting. Players are now required to leave the field within 10 seconds when being subbed off. Also, when play is stopped for an injury, the injured player is required to leave the field for a minute.
MLS was quick to point out that both rules have existed in American soccer at various levels since 2022, with strong results. For a long time, U.S. tweaks (a clock that counts down, a 35-yard shootout, etc.) were largely ignored by the global game. But now, with the World Cup coming this summer, the versions of the sport appear to be converging.
Trouble at the Underwear Olympics? 🏈: The NFL Combine has grown into the league’s latest media tentpole, with reporters swarming around coaches and GMs while fans get their first look at potential draftees since the end of the college season. Only problem? It’s turning into the Pro Bowl, with many of the biggest names declining to participate in drills. There are still important interviews and medical testing done behind the scenes, but if the NFL wants this to truly be a must-follow event for fans, there’s more work to be done.
Non-Sportico Video of the Week 🥫: Here’s a great breakdown of how Red Bull became such a sports marketing force—and why it has a different strategy than every other business.
BONUS: Eben was featured over the weekend in Numlock News, the great Substack newsletter authored by Walter Hickey. Give it a read (and a follow!) here 👇
Club Sportico is a community organized by Sportico, a digital media company launched in 2020 to cover the business side of sports. You can read breaking news, smart analysis, and in-depth features from Eben, Jacob and their colleagues at Sportico.com, and listen to the Sporticast podcast wherever you get your audio. Contact us at club@sportico.com.
The report cited our own Kurt Badenhausen