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 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 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 distribution rights to air games locally on DirecTV, Cox, AT&T U-Verse, fuboTV, Spectrum, and MLB.TV.

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 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 from an unspecified “medical condition,” and the U.S. Department of Justice is now reviewing the PGA Tour’s deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

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 by season’s end.

The Athletic polled 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 $2 billion to buy an MLB team.

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 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 that remaining in the Big Apple in some capacity was a “top priority.”

Last year, poor weather led to a lower-than-anticipated turnout 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.