June 21, 2023

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Good morning. David Rumsey [[link removed]] here. Slowly but surely, the future of local sports rights distribution is starting to take shape.

The Utah Jazz are the latest team impacted by the Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy with their new plans for broadcasting games. Meanwhile, MLB players rate the league’s rule changes, and an American golf legend sounds off on the PGA Tour’s future.

Like The Suns, Jazz Are Ditching Their Cable Regional Sports Network [[link removed]]

Photo: USA Today

The Utah Jazz will air games next season on a local, over-the-air TV station and streaming service — becoming the latest team to move away from a cable regional sports network.

All non-nationally televised Jazz games next season will air on KJZZ, a Salt Lake City-based TV station owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Jazz games previously aired on Warner Bros. Discovery’s AT&T SportsNet, a collection of RSNs that could shut down [[link removed]] by October.

Smith Entertainment Group, the parent company of the Jazz, launched a new production company called SEG Media to lead the team’s new broadcast distribution strategy. Jazz games will also stream on the team’s new paid-subscription streaming service launching in October.

The Jazz are following the same model as the Phoenix Suns, who in April agreed to air games on local TV station Gray Television and launch a new streaming service. However, a bankruptcy judge blocked the deal [[link removed]] because it violated the Suns’ agreement with Sinclair’s Diamond Sports Group.

Since the Jazz are working directly with a local TV station owned by Sinclair, the team is likely to avoid the same legal challenge faced by the Suns.

Sinclair’s bankrupt cable RSNs have missed payments to several team partners across sports. MLB recently took over Sinclair’s San Diego Padres [[link removed]] distribution rights to air games locally on DirecTV, Cox, AT&T U-Verse, fuboTV, Spectrum, and MLB.TV.

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“It’s something around $50 billion in player salary.”

— Spencer Haywood, NBA Hall of Famer, on the wealth created by his fight to expand NBA eligibility rules. For more on what Haywood said, check out the latest episode of Front Office Sports Today.

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Icon Demands Answers After PGA Tour’s Deal With LIV Golf [[link removed]]

Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Network

Add one of golf’s most accomplished players to those questioning the shocking PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger.

Tom Watson — whose eight major championships still rank sixth all-time — wrote a lengthy open letter [[link removed]] to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, PGA Tour board members, and “my fellow players.”

In it, he rebuked the secret nature of the deal’s construction, asked for details regarding the Tour’s finances and the deal’s terms, and alleged a blatant disregard to Saudi Arabia’s woeful record on human rights.

“A matter this profound deserves thorough vetting by a representative group of stakeholders which include those, who in the end, define the public image and emotional connection with the PGA Tour,” Watson wrote. “Have funds been depleted to the point where the Tour needs an unprecedented capital injection to remain solvent?”

Though Watson’s last PGA Tour victory was in 1998 and his last major title in 1983, he still carries sizable influence in the sport and has also been active in spurring youth participation in golf.

Watson concluded his letter by asking for a way to preserve his loyalty to both golf and the U.S. in the wake of the massive deal — “and in a way that makes it easy to look 9/11 families in the eye and ourselves in the mirror.”

Monahan, meanwhile, continues to recover [[link removed]] from an unspecified “medical condition,” and the U.S. Department of Justice is now reviewing [[link removed]] the PGA Tour’s deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

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Meet The Rising 25 Class of 2023

Over the past seven years, The Front Office Sports Rising 25 Award [[link removed]], presented by Anheuser-Busch, has become one of the most competitive and prestigious awards in the business of sports.

This year, we received hundreds of nominations showcasing young professionals not only dominating in the workplace, but taking their drive and influence beyond the office walls and into philanthropic causes.

Check out [[link removed]] the Rising 25 Class of 2023.

MLB Survey Reveals Most Players Happy With Rule Changes [[link removed]]

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

As Major League Baseball nears the midpoint of the 2023 season, players are generally positive on rule changes that have helped increase fan interest, according to a new survey.

Banning the shift, implementing a pitch clock, and increasing the size of the bases have all helped MLB attract more fans to ballparks this year — the league projects up to an 8% attendance increase [[link removed]] by season’s end.

The Athletic polled [[link removed]] 103 MLB players, asking them to rate the changes on a scale of 1-5. All three rules averaged nearly a 4.

A majority felt the pitch clock should be altered in the postseason, with a popular suggestion being to add five seconds.

One player who voted against the postseason change idea said, “No one wants four-hour games back,” while one who voted in favor of it said, “In the playoffs, the fans are not leaving until the game is over. It doesn’t matter if it’s five hours.”

Nashville Up Next?

Another interesting finding from the survey was MLB players’ thoughts on the best potential expansion city.

Nashville was the overwhelming favorite, with nearly 70% of players suggesting Music City as a viable MLB town. Montreal was second with 10%.

Last year, one potential ownership group from Nashville was trying to raise [[link removed]] $2 billion to buy an MLB team.

Formula E Looks To Fill New York Void With Portland Race [[link removed]]

John Jones-USA TODAY Sports

Formula E will descend upon Portland, Oregon, this weekend for the electric racing series’ lone U.S. race this season after venue issues — and potentially declining interest — led to the circuit’s departure from New York City.

This year marks the first since 2016 (outside pandemic-impacted 2020) that Formula E won’t race at the Brooklyn Street Circuit after local construction forced the series to relocate.

Initially bullish on New York’s potential to grow an American fan base, Formula E co-founder and Chief Championship Officer Alberto Longo appears to have changed his tune.

“Unfortunately, the reason we left New York was very simple,” Longo told [[link removed]] Forbes. “It was no longer an option for us anymore. … We just started running out of space for grandstands and other infrastructure, so the move to Portland became an easy one.”

That’s a drastically different take than a year ago, when Longo said [[link removed]] that remaining in the Big Apple in some capacity was a “top priority.”

Last year, poor weather led to a lower-than-anticipated turnout [[link removed]] in Brooklyn for two days of racing, but even then Formula E was still optimistic about the New York market.

U.S. expansion had also been on Formula E’s mind. It’s conceivable that a successful showing in Portland could lead to a permanent race in Oregon, even if the series explores a return to the country’s biggest city.

For now, there is no indication that a return is on the table.

Conversation Starters Denver mayor Michael Hancock says as many as 750,000 people flooded downtown for the Nuggets’ NBA Championship parade. Check out [[link removed]] the video. The Washington Wizards are offering new courtside booths [[link removed]] for $128,000 a season. They’ll accommodate four-to-six people and include a five-course menu. Sport & Story and University of Arkansas are expanding their digital streaming and storytelling offering to showcase student-athletes and coaches like never before with their latest Women’s track documentary. Read more [[link removed]].* Top Rank, a legendary boxing promotional company, will allow access to exclusive footage for content creators in the first-ever program [[link removed]] powered via WSC Sports, the global leader in AI-generated sports videos and highlights.*

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Editor's Picks Aaron Rodgers’ Startup Seeks $1.5 Million in Crowdfunding [[link removed]]by Andrew Cohen [[link removed]]

Rodgers' Online Sports Database is launching a crowdfunding campaign.

NBC’s U.S. Open Golf Coverage Is Most-Watched Since 2019 [[link removed]]by Andrew Cohen [[link removed]]

NBC's U.S. Open average viewership jumped 27% over last year.

Question Of The Day

Do you seek out sustainable or purpose-driven companies when making purchases?

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Tuesday’s Answer

63% of respondents stream sports on their phones at least monthly.

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