April 29, 2024

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The NFL once again showed it’s the top dog throughout the draft in Detroit, but the league’s big offseason plans aren’t done yet. … Efforts to bring more European soccer matches to the U.S. are increasing. … Fallout from the IndyCar cheating scandal continues. … And injuries among MLB pitches continue to drive intriguing debates.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]] and Eric Fisher [[link removed]]

The NFL’s Sports Calendar Takeover Continues. Next Up: Schedule Release [[link removed]]

Detroit Free Press

The 2024 NFL draft is over, but the league still has a busy month ahead, as interest in professional football continues to dominate the sports discourse in more and more months each year.

It’s not quite the middle of spring, but the final weekend of April certainly belonged to the NFL. A record 775,00 fans are estimated to have attended draft festivities in downtown Detroit, surpassing the 600,000 people that took in the action in Nashville in 2019. On TV, the draft’s first round drew an average audience [[link removed]] of 12.1 million viewers, up 6% from last year’s opening night. Complete viewership for all three days of the draft is not yet available.

Now, as rookies look to get acclimated with their new teams, the NFL’s power brokers will aim to keep fans thinking about football no matter what day or month it is.

Mark It Down

Next on the agenda for the NFL will be the upcoming season’s schedule release, which has started to become one of the league’s tentpole moments in recent years. Even though teams’ home and road opponents are set as soon as the previous season ends, the NFL has increasingly put effort into making the unveiling of game dates and TV windows a must-see event itself. Last year, NFL Network, ESPN2, and ESPN+ all had dedicated schedule release shows in prime time. ESPN2 drew [[link removed]] 178,000 viewers, up 29% from 2022’s show, and NFL Network had an audience of 177,000, an increase of 27% over the prior year.

Teams have also worked hard to capitalize on the moment, rolling out elaborate schedule release videos on social media in an effort to stoke interest and sell season tickets. (Who could forget last year’s masterpiece [[link removed]] from the Titans with fans on Broadway?)

In 2020, the NFL released that season’s schedule after the draft for the first time. That trend has continued, and the second Thursday in May has been the reveal date for the past two years. The league hasn’t officially announced its schedule release date yet, but it does have a dedicated landing page [[link removed]] promoting just that on its website. The second Thursday next month will be May 9.

As the NFL looks to generate hype four months ahead of the regular season, it now has six teams [[link removed]] with rookie quarterbacks selected in the first round to consider for major TV windows this fall. One of those teams, the Broncos, are a candidate to visit [[link removed]] the Super Bowl LVIII champion Chiefs on opening night. The others could be options for new holiday windows like Black Friday [[link removed]] and the upcoming Wednesday Christmas doubleheader [[link removed]].

Let’s Get Together

After the schedule release, NFL owners will convene in Nashville on May 20–22 for spring meetings. There, at least one future draft city [[link removed]] could be announced, with no hosts known at this point beyond Green Bay next year. “We’ll continue to try to move this around and share it with other communities and bring the fans,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said during an interview on ESPN last week. “But we always try to innovate something new every year.”

While the agenda for the meetings isn’t set yet, a future Super Bowl could be awarded to a host city, according to Front Office Sports contributor Dan Kaplan. In other league business, Goodell in March said [[link removed]] there could potentially be progress made by May’s meeting on letting private equity entities invest in franchises. There likely won’t be a vote in May, per Kaplan. And another major outstanding issue is Tom Brady’s pending ownership stake in the Raiders.

Even More NFL?

While in Detroit last week, Goodell also talked about expanding the schedule to 18 games. “I’m not a fan of the preseason,” he said during an interview on The Pat McAfee Show. Going from three preseason and 17 regular seasons to two and 18 would be the preferred option for Goodell. “That’s not an unreasonable thing,” he said. And there’d be another benefit, too, around the Super Bowl moving back another week in February. “That ends up on Presidents’ Day weekend,” the commissioner noted. “Which is a three-day weekend, which makes the [game on] Sunday night, and then you have Monday off.”

Regular-Season Euro Soccer Matches in U.S. Closer As Legal Barriers Fall [[link removed]]

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The prospect of European soccer leagues playing regular-season matches in the U.S. has been a highly tantalizing prospect for many promoters and stadium operators for years.

Recent legal developments have now made such events truly possible, but the final and critical step of those leagues actually agreeing to do so remains uncertain.

Earlier this month, FIFA settled a long-running lawsuit filed by promoter Relevent Sports, controlled by Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, that had alleged antitrust violations regarding the global governing body’s prior policy emphasizing leagues’ playing official matches within their own respective territories.

That legal action is still proceeding with the U.S. Soccer Federation as a defendant, but FIFA is now moving to change its policy blocking domestic games being played in the territories of other federations. The emerging shift, however, is not immediately opening the floodgates toward European matches being booked for U.S. facilities.

“It’s not part of our current plans, it really isn’t,” said Richard Masters, Premier League CEO, on Friday following a meeting of the 34-nation European Leagues group. “No one quite knows exactly what is happening, but the door looks ajar potentially in America, at any rate, for matches abroad.”

Massive Appeal

For years, even friendlies among European soccer powers have routinely sold out the largest pro and college football stadiums in the U.S. Putting more meaningful matches, as well as the sport’s biggest stars that sometimes skip those friendlies, in those venues would undoubtedly fuel even more fan frenzy, and represent something of an inverse of what the NFL has seen [[link removed]] in countries like Germany.

To that end, LaLiga is much more bullish on the prospect, an unsurprising stance since that league in 2018 proposed a match between Barcelona, then still featuring Lionel Messi, and Girona that was blocked by FIFA, helping lead to the legal battle with Relevent.

“I don’t know when, but this time LaLiga will play official games abroad,” LaLiga president Javier Tebas told Spanish newspaper Expansión [[link removed]]. “I think it could be from the 2025–26 season. An official game in the United States would strengthen our position in the North American market, which is the second [biggest] for LaLiga after Spain.”

Worry-Free Travel

While the U.S. proves to be an elusive market for top European soccer leagues’ regular-season games, the NFL continues to have no problem taking American football aboard.

Ahead of Thursday’s NFL draft, commissioner Roger Goodell predicted that the league would be playing 16 regular-season games annually outside of the U.S. in 10 years’ time. This season, the league will play five games internationally, tying the record number from last year. “We’ll try to get to eight or nine in the next couple years,” Goodell said during an interview on ESPN, confirming plans that could result in a new Sunday morning TV window [[link removed]] for the NFL.

In September, the NFL will play its first game in Brazil, and next year it will be headed to Spain. “The reaction we’re getting from fans every time we play in a new market is incredible,” Goodell said. “There are a lot of markets that want us to play there, and we’re actively looking at all those.”

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FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY What’s Really Going On With MLB Pitcher Injuries?

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Are there more than ever? Or just more involving high-profile players? Travis Sawchik, senior baseball writer for TheScore, has been investigating these questions. He joins the show today to discuss his findings, including the economic factors involved. Sawchik also reveals his highly compelling case for significant MLB realignment. Take a listen, and then let us know in an Apple review if you agree or disagree with his idea for divisional and league shake-ups.

🎧 Listen and subscribe on Apple [[link removed]], Google [[link removed]], Spotify [[link removed]], and YouTube [[link removed]].

LOUD AND CLEAR Apology Tour

Peter Casey-USA TODAY Sports

“I don’t know how you do that.”

—IndyCar driver Josef Newgarden (above), when asked how he and the rest of Team Penske can regain the trust of their competitors after the revelation of a cheating scandal [[link removed]] at last month’s season-opening race. Speaking [[link removed]] in the lead-up to Sunday’s race in Alabama, where Newgarden finished 16th, the reigning Indianapolis 500 champion admitted, “I don’t know that anybody’s going to believe what I’ve told you here today.” Newgarden won the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, and his teammate Scott McLaughlin finished third, but both were retroactively disqualified. “It’s a very embarrassing thing to go through,” Newgarden added.

TIME CAPSULE April 29, 1961: ‘The Thrill of Victory …’

Louisville Courier Journal

On this day 63 years ago: ABC debuted its iconic and long-running sports series, Wide World of Sports. Beginning humbly with coverage of the track and field’s Penn and Drake relays, the series ultimately ran for 36 years, featuring a variety of sports from around the world not previously seen on U.S. television, including jai alai, cliff diving, barrel jumping, and badminton—though it also grew to cover major events such as Wimbledon, the Daytona 500, and Little League World Series.

Long before ESPN was even an idea and later became a sister network to ABC, the breadth of programming featured on Wide World of Sports served as an influential forerunner of the sports media giant. A critical component for the longevity and success of the series was capitalizing on tape-delaying competitions in a pre-internet age.

The series also helped turn producer Roone Arledge and host Jim McKay (above, right) into sports broadcasting legends, and, its title sequence [[link removed]], highlighted by McKay’s promise of delivering “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” became one of the industry’s most legendary program opens with its catchphrase status. Even after the end of the anthology series itself, the Wide World of Sports name was used by ABC Sports and ESPN in various other settings, and now it serves as the moniker for ESPN’s multi-use sports complex in Orlando.

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Conversation Starters Women’s basketball legend Candace Parker is retiring [[link removed]] after 16 seasons, leaving behind a legacy that includes two MVP awards, seven All-Star appearances, three championships, two Olympic gold medals, ownership of her production company, and aspirations to own a WNBA team. MLB plans to modify its Nike jerseys before the 2025 season, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan [[link removed]], to address player and fan concerns, including enlarging lettering, fixing mismatched gray pants, addressing sweat visibility, and resolving see-through pants issues. Jocelyn Alo, softball’s all-time home run champion, has signed a historic one-month contract [[link removed]] to play with the Savannah Bananas, becoming the first woman to do so. Editors’ Picks Just Like We Drew It Up? Stadium Renderings Can Excite, Confound, and Anger [[link removed]]by Eric Fisher [[link removed]]During a historic wave of development, drawings wield more power than ever. Iowa Athletes Sue State, Citing ‘Unconstitutional’ Tracking of Gambling [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]They claim investigators didn’t get warrants, misled about the purpose of questioning. More NFL Draft Prospects Are Staying Home, and TV Networks Are Adjusting [[link removed]]by Michael McCarthy [[link removed]]Whether making or missing out on millions, more prospects are staying home. Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

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