June 27, 2024

Read in Browser [[link removed]]

POWERED BY

The Paris Olympics are less than a month away, and NBC Sports is getting ready to roll out all the stops for its coverage. … Zaccharie Risacher will get a nice payday [[link removed]] after being selected No. 1 in the NBA draft by the Hawks. … European soccer leagues are seeing revenue surges. … Front Office Sports Today explores the future of the College World Series. … And we look back on a big Olympic miss.

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

NBC to Lean on Celebrity Power to Boost Its Paris Olympics Viewership [[link removed]]

NBC Sports

NBC Sports has always employed a big-tent marketing and programming strategy for the Olympics, continually looking to pull in viewers for this event who don’t ordinarily watch sports. But that effort is rising to new levels for the upcoming Paris Olympics with the network’s unprecedented lean into celebrity and pop culture in the pursuit of greater viewership.

Building off previously announced alignments with stars such as Snoop Dogg [[link removed]], Kelly Clarkson, Kevin Hart, Jimmy Fallon, Kenan Thompson, and Peyton Manning, among others, NBC Sports on Wednesday introduced a series of new celebrity tie-ins as it marked one month until the start of the Paris Games.

A collaboration [[link removed]] with famed filmmaker Steven Spielberg (above), who stars in and helped develop a new opening film for the network’s Olympics coverage entitled “Land of Stories.” The four-minute clip will be aired in full just before live coverage of the opening ceremony on July 26. Shorter versions [[link removed]] will be used across NBCUniversal platforms as a promotional vehicle, as well as in AMC and IMAX movie theaters An appointment of Saturday Night Live star Colin Jost to help cover the Olympic surfing competition from Tahiti in French Polynesia The development of a new artificial-intelligence-powered daily Olympics highlights feed, featuring the synthesized and recreated voice of Hall of Fame announcer Al Michaels. The personalized video clips, to be offered daily on Peacock, mark a further push by the network to advance the streaming platform’s capabilities after generating a record-setting audience [[link removed]] in January for an NFL wild-card game. Michaels, now a key figure in Amazon’s NFL coverage, has been in an emeritus role with NBC since 2022

There’s much more than just celebrity sizzle behind the network’s efforts, though. Parent companies NBCUniversal and Comcast are looking to restore [[link removed]] audience growth and prominence to the Olympics after posting record-low ratings in both Tokyo in 2021 and the following year in Beijing. Significant money is also riding on the Paris Games—particularly as the network has sold [[link removed]] more than $1.2 billion worth of advertising. Network research has additionally found that conversation for nearly one in three consumers in the Olympics within their own social circles is sparked by the presence of a celebrity.

“The last two Games in Tokyo and Beijing were significantly challenged by COVID protocols and a difficult time zone,” said NBC Sports president Rick Cordella. “It lacked buzz, vibe, and fans in the stands. Paris changes all of that in a big way.”

Two Primetimes

The network, meanwhile, is advancing upon a recent programming approach in which all Olympic events in Paris will be streamed live on Peacock, while evening programming in the U.S. on TV will be a curated show of highlights from each day’s action. With a six-hour time difference between Paris and the East Coast in the U.S., NBC Sports is now leaning in to what it sees as a dual primetime in which afternoon programming in the U.S. will center on live events happening at night in France, while the newly named “Primetime in Paris” will be an evening show in the U.S. hosted by Mike Tirico and feature “enhanced storytelling” of prior action.

“We really have a new paradigm for our coverage, and it’s a marked shift from London 12 years ago, which was the last time these games were hosted in Europe,” said Molly Solomon, president of NBC Olympics Production.

But What About the NBA?

The Paris Olympics are a major corporate priority for NBCUniversal and Comcast, and a press event Wednesday in New York featured the companies’ most senior executives, including Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts and president Mike Cavanagh. But another key area of focus—NBC Sports’ pursuit [[link removed]] of NBA national media rights—is perhaps approaching a conclusion. Network sources said a formal decision from the league is now expected within the next two weeks as the negotiation process reaches a highly anticipated endgame.

NBC is strongly expected to return to live coverage of the NBA, joining incumbent Disney and its ESPN, newcomer Amazon, with the status of Warner Bros. Discovery and its TNT Sports representing by far the biggest source of drama.

ONE BIG FIG Just Peachy

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

$57.19 million

Approximate total value of the four-year contract that Zaccharie Risacher (above, right) will be eligible to sign, according to Spotrac estimates [[link removed]], after being selected No. 1 overall by the Hawks in the NBA draft Wednesday night. That’s up slightly from the $55.17 million that Victor Wembanyama signed for last year after the Spurs drafted him with the first pick. Atlanta won last month’s draft lottery despite having just a 3% chance of getting the top selection.

Front Office Sports reporter Margaret Fleming writes more [[link removed]] on the 19-year-old Risacher and explains how the 2024 NBA draft is an unusual one.

SPONSORED BY ENERGYX

Tail GM’s Big Bet on Lithium Tech

People make bets because they’re confident in an edge.

With the world rapidly transitioning from gasoline to electric cars, GM placed a $50 million bet on EnergyX [[link removed]] thanks to its undeniable edge in lithium extraction.

While it takes 12 to 18 months to extract lithium using current methods, EnergyX extracts 300% more lithium [[link removed]] in just one to two days.

That’s why it acquired 90,000 acres of lithium-rich Chilean land and recently announced Project Lonestar, a commercial lithium plant on U.S. soil supported by a $5 million DOE grant.

This bet’s got a pretty impressive potential payout, too. Lithium demand is expected to increase 20x by 2040.

EnergyX is still accepting shareholders at its current $9/share price—but it will change June 27 at 11:59 p.m. PT.

Click here [[link removed]] to learn more about the EnergyX investment opportunity.*

Europe’s Big Five Soccer Leagues Top $20 Billion in Revenue for First Time [[link removed]]

Green Bay Press-Gazette

European soccer teams were some of the organizations hit hardest financially by the COVID-19 pandemic. But new figures from a season ago show most have recovered fully and are now seeing unprecedented growth.

During the 2022–23 soccer season, the first in which Europe’s top leagues all operated under no pandemic restrictions, the Big Five generated a record $20.93 billion, according to Deloitte’s 2024 Annual Review of Football Finance [[link removed]]. That total was up $2.46 billion (14%) over the previous season.

Here’s how the leagues compared against one another:

Premier League (U.K.): $7.43 billion Bundesliga (Germany): $4.09 billion LaLiga (Spain): $3.77 billion Serie A (Italy): $3.04 billion Ligue 1 (France): $2.53 billion

Broadcasting was the greatest source of revenue for each league, with sponsorship and commercial dollars coming in second, and match-day sales third.

Always Room for More

Despite the record growth, European soccer leaders are still exploring more ways to bring in additional revenue. LaLiga and the Premier League, in particular, appear to be keen on obtaining permission from their respective local authorities to play regular-season matches [[link removed]] in the U.S.

On the media front, the Bundesliga flirted with bringing in private equity money, before backing down [[link removed]] after fan pressure. Serie A completed [[link removed]] new media-rights deals worth nearly $5 billion last year, while Ligue 1 is still searching for its next broadcasting contract.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY College World Series Stakes Its Claim to Sports Calendar

The Knoxville News-Sentinel

The College World Series has gone from a niche event to a major part of the summer sports calendar. Front Office Sports newsletter writer David Rumsey joins the show to discuss the impacts of ESPN and host city Omaha on the tournament’s growth, and the surprising reversal of coach Jim Schlossnagle, who left Texas A&M for Texas, shortly after pledging he would never do so.

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

TIME CAPSULE June 27, 1992: Vaulting Into Controversy

George Long-USA TODAY NETWORK

On this day 32 years ago: U.S. Olympic hopeful Dan O’Brien (above) failed to qualify for the Barcelona Olympics, bringing a highly unexpected turn to Reebok’s high-profile “Dan & Dave” marketing campaign that had been running for five months with fellow decathlete Dave Johnson. Debuting during Super Bowl XXVI that January, Reebok’s campaign turned the two relatively unknown athletes into household names nationally. The company’s goal was to use the two medal favorites—and Reebok endorsers—as an additional tool to capture prominence and market share from key rival Nike.

The $30 million “Dan & Dave” ad campaign was at once one of the most expensive and long-running marketing efforts in Olympics history, and it fed in part off the era’s multisport and cross-training frenzy advanced by pro stars such as Bo Jackson. But the plan hit a major snag when O’Brien failed to make a successful pole vault at the Olympic trials in New Orleans, leaving him off the U.S. team.

The two athletes’ paths then diverged considerably. Reebok retooled the remaining spots for the campaign, with new scenarios including Johnson consoling O’Brien, and O’Brien coaching Johnson. Once in Barcelona, Johnson battled a foot stress fracture, but he was still able to win a bronze medal and retired soon thereafter. O’Brien, however, still had unfinished business and returned to win a gold medal four years later in Atlanta—and by that point was aligned with Nike. At the 25th anniversary of the O’Brien trials miss, ESPN’s 30 for 30 franchise developed [[link removed]] a retrospective podcast on the saga.

SPONSORED BY FINANCEBUZZ

This Card Is Worth Its Weight in Gold

Did you know some credit cards can actually help you get out of debt faster? Yes, it sounds wild. But it’s true.

The secret: Find a card with a “0% intro APR” period for balance transfers. Then, transfer your debt balance and pay it down as much as possible during the intro period. No interest means you could pay off the debt faster.

Check out [[link removed]] the full list of cards you can use to do this on FinanceBuzz.

Conversation Starters EA College Football 25 has unveiled a behind-the-scenes exploration video featuring game visuals and audio, narrated by Kirk Herbstreit. Watch here [[link removed]]. Speaking of College Football 25, EA collaborated with ESPN to capture crowd reaction audio from major games and recreated a viral moment from the 2019 Michigan–Penn State game. Check it out [[link removed]]. Talk about excitement: Watch and listen [[link removed]] to the Panthers’ radio booth as they clinched their first Stanley Cup. Editors’ Picks Michael Phelps Had Strong Words for Congress About Lax Anti-Doping Policies, Again [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Phelps testified against the World Anti-Doping Agency’s handling of banned substances. Rich Paul, Klutch Sports Hit With Breach of Contract Lawsuit in Federal Court [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]NBA agent Mark Termini says Klutch owes nearly $5 million plus interest. Hot Dog PR Mavens Claim Joey Chestnut Beef Is All Real [[link removed]]by Dennis Young [[link removed]]The Shea brothers insist the Chestnut drama is genuine. DISCLAIMER

*This is a paid advertisement for EnergyX’s Regulation A+ Offering. Please read the offering circular at invest.energyx.com [[link removed]].

Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Sports Careers [[link removed]] Written by Eric Fisher [[link removed]], David Rumsey [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Catherine Chen [[link removed]]

If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe here [[link removed]].

Update your preferences [link removed] / Unsubscribe [link removed]

Copyright © 2024 Front Office Sports. All rights reserved.

460 Park Avenue South, 7th Floor, New York NY, 10016