NBA Re-ups with ABC, ESPN, TNT

by

This is a little late; blame NBA.com’s tardiness putting up the story, but the NBA will stay on ABC, ESPN, and TNT through 2016, well after just about all other leagues will have to renew their agreements. So far as people watching TV will be able to tell, it will be status quo, unless they happen to watch NBA TV try to become as close to the NFL Network as the NBA is to the NFL.

TNT will show 52 regular season games a year and up to that number of playoff games. ABC will show a minimum of 15 regular-season and the same number of playoff games, including the Finals; the ESPN family will show up to 75 regular season games and 29 playoff games.

More info at the linked article.

15 playoff games mean even with a 7-game Finals, ABC will have to show 8 playoff games, more games than Finals games. This represents a larger playoff commitment on the part of both ABC and ESPN. This and more analysis on Sports Media Watch.

NBC probably had the most successful run of any NBA TV partner, but this deal will give ABC rights for longer than NBC. Many NBA fans on the Internet have been critical of the NBA on ABC – and with gimmicks like bringing in the Pussycat Dolls to do songs for the opener, ABC makes an easy target – but the NBA and others have stated repeatedly that NBC, CBS, and Fox did not make a sufficient offer to compete, and it’s absurd to blame the NBA’s broadcast ratings woes to the presentation of games on ABC. If the games are good, people will turn in in spite of the presentation.

The Strange Case of Chris Benoit

by

WWE wrestler Chris Benoit was found dead alongside his wife Nancy and son Daniel on Monday, and all three deaths appear to be the work of Benoit himself.

The reaction to which has led to some interesting insights on human nature, or at least American culture. It seems that people’s revulsion to murder outweighs their sorrow for a figure that, up until his death, was rather well-respected in the wrestling community.

People have overcome their sadness and disbelief and switched to anger at Benoit. Many people are now upset with WWE for dedicating last night’s “Monday Night Raw” to Benoit’s death. (The show was originally to be a memorial service to the fictionally-dead Vince McMahon, but that storyline appears to be dead.) “World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon opened tonight’s Extreme Championship Wrestling episode by saying that Chris Benoit’s name would not be mentioned at any other point during the telecast because of the revelations that have surfaced about the murder/suicide since a Benoit ntribute show aired on last night’s episode of Monday Night Raw.”

Um… what? So a guy (as it is likely to turn out) goes a little insane and kills his family and then kills himself and we focus on the murders? Don’t get me wrong, murder is bad, but does it change all the accomplishments of Benoit’s life? (Okay, I guess it does.) Can anyone really blame WWE for showing a tribute to one of its greatest wrestlers, especially since the “murderer” news hadn’t come out at the time?

Meanwhile, various news outlets are already speculating about the possible role of steroids in Benoit’s rampage, and the whole story is likely to result in a lot of renewed attention towards wrestling that it really doesn’t need…

Yet Another Greatest Movie List?

by

Last week the AFI updated their 1998 “100 Years… 100 Movies” list with a “10th Anniversary” update to the list. (Let’s not get into the fact that it technically hasn’t quite been 10 years.) I’m not going to give my opinions on the list, which you can see on Wikipedia here, mostly because I’m not qualified to have any, not being a movie watcher. (But yay for Do the Right Thing cracking the Top 100!)

However, it’s apparent that lists like these appeal more to our desire to list things (and my magnetic pull to countdowns) more than anything else. That’s why regardless of anything else, the future “greatest lists” mentioned on one of the polls will become part of the future of Da Blog.

I just need people to pick some initial topics for listing, which you can do in a comment to this post for now; later I’ll introduce a more robust topic-picking system.

A reminder, if you’re just joining us…

by

If you don’t know what the poll on the right side means:

  • If it asks where I should host my Web site, please refer to the Web Site Update post, and its accompanying update, which should be listed below.
  • If it asks what should be featured, just look and see which option you would most be interested in. “Sports Watcher” is a feature briefly featured on Da Blog earlier in the year. Here are some examples.

Thank you.

Quick note: When will a web site start?

by

Both polls on the right side of Da Blog (only one of which is visible at a time) will run for four and a half more weeks, ending two weeks into July. This is because I probably still won’t get a lot of votes on either one, and I don’t want to launch a web site right before or while I’m in the middle of a course that’s condensed into four weeks. I probably will have a web site launched by July 15, though.

Web Site Update, one week in

by

ZendURL has begun attracting some not-so-favorable responses over on free-webhosts.com. That makes me a lot more skeptical of them. I can’t really wait to find out if they’re going to fix their problems.

Scroll down to the “Web Site Update” post to learn more about the poll(s) on the right side of the screen. I need to get more votes than I have. If I get no responses on the web site host poll I’m probably going to be choosing between Freehostia and 50Webs. If I get no responses on the future-of-Da-Blog poll I’ll reissue it in broader terms.

Durations of sports television contracts

by

Info from Wikipedia and research through various sources. This info is incomplete and may contain inaccuracies. Your input is welcomed if you can point me to sources to fill in absent or unknown info.

College football contracts – basketball and other sports generally through following year:
ACC thru 2010
Big 12, ABC thru 2015, FSN thru 2011
Big East thru 2013
Big 10 thru 2016
Pac-10 thru 2011
SEC, CBS and ESPN thru 2023, CSS thru 2013
MWC thru 2016 or 2020
C-USA thru 2010
MAC thru 2016
WAC thru 2016
Sun Belt thru 2011
Notre Dame thru 2015
Army thru 2014, Navy thru 2009

College basketball only:
MVC thru 2011
WCC thru 2011
Horizon League thru 2010
MAAC thru 2010
Atlantic 10 thru 2010
Patriot League thru 2008

Professional and other leagues:
NHL thru 2011
Horse Racing, Belmont Stakes on ABC at least thru 2008, NBC thru 2010
MLS, FSC thru 2010, ESPN and Univision/Telefutura thru 2014
MISL, FSC thru 2009
NIT thru 2010
US Open Cup thru 2010
AFL, ESPN thru 2011
French Open, Tennis Channel and ESPN thru 2011
Australian Open thru 2011
Wimbledon, NBC thru 2011, ESPN thru 2013
NFL, NBC thru 2012, CBS, FOX and ESPN thru 2014
PGA, NBC and CBS thru 2012, Golf Channel thru 2022
UEFA Champions League thru 2012
Olympics thru 2012
IndyCar, ABC thru 2012, Versus thru 2018
MLB thru 2013
NCAA Tournament (men’s and women’s, plus other ESPN and CBS champs) thru 2013
BCS thru 2014
NASCAR thru 2014
LLWS thru 2014
US Open (golf), ESPN thru 2014
US Open (Tennis) thru 2014
MLL thru 2016
NBA, WNBA thru 2016
British Open thru 2017
LPGA, Golf Channel thru 2019

Last Updated: July 24, 2009

Soccer… MMA… softball?

by

College softball is a bigger deal than the WNBA or MLS, and is getting to be almost as big as UFC.

That’s what I have to conclude after the Women’s College World Series pulled off an average 1.5 rating, including a 1.8 for the rubber match between Arizona and Tennessee, admittedly according to ESPN itself.

I don’t know what ratings for the men’s College World Series are, but if they’re higher they’d have to poke into the twos, which is a bit mind-boggling.

So let’s go out there and start a pro softball league! Well, first of all, the Women’s Final Four gets pretty good ratings, roughly comparable with this, but the WNBA stinks up the ratings somewhere in the vicinity of .4. That said, we already have one, and I’d barely heard of it before last year. It’s six teams with hope for expansion, but despite having MLB as “official development partner”, you probably haven’t heard of it either. It’s not actually part of MLB but it seems to have failed at marketing compared to WNBA and MLS nonetheless. Of course, also part of its problem is that it has teams in Chicago AND Rockford, but none in NY or LA.