October 11, 2024

Read in Browser [[link removed]]

POWERED BY

Good morning. The Jaguars arrive in London on Friday for back-to-back games, facing the Bears and “hosting” the Patriots at Wembley. As they seek an extension for annual games, we’ll explore what this means for their brand in the U.K.

— David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], and Colin Salao [[link removed]]

Jaguars Doubling Down on London Games. Is That a Good Thing? [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Jaguars arrive in London on Friday for a 10-day stay and the team’s second two-game U.K. stint in as many seasons.

Jacksonville, which has played 11 games total across the pond, will face the Bears on Sunday at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as the designated away team, before “hosting” the Patriots at Wembley Stadium next weekend. Both matchups will take place at 9:30 a.m. ET on NFL Network.

London and the Jaguars have become synonymous over the past decade. Jacksonville first planned to play two games at Wembley in the 2020 season, but that got delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, they are working to extend a contract (that expires after this season) to keep playing at least one game annually [[link removed]] at the 90,000-seat venue. “We think that they’re the best partner for us to have, and certainly hope that that continues for a long time,” Jaguars president Mark Lamping told SportsPro Media. “And it’s our expectation that it will.”

The Jaguars get to keep revenue from their Wembley game each year, which is in contrast to all other international games. The NFL operates those and keeps the revenue to distribute across the league.

Jaguars owner Shad Khan also owns Premier League club Fulham, which plays in West London. In 2018, Khan dropped his bid to buy Wembley Stadium for nearly $800 million.

Tea Time

The Jaguars’ presence in London could grow even bigger in 2027, when they are planning to play their entire home schedule away from EverBank Stadium during the final year of a $1.4 billion renovation project [[link removed]]. While the team could utilize Florida’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium or Camping World Stadium in Orlando, it will have the option of playing up to three games in London [[link removed]].

Last season, the Jaguars went 2–0 in London, including an upset over the Bills, after having more than a week to acclimate to being overseas, compared to the 48-hour turnaround for Buffalo.

ESPN’s Bold Future: Pitaro Unveils Ambitious Sports Streaming Plans [[link removed]]

ESPN Images

The flagship, direct-to-consumer version of ESPN will not be a mere streaming service, insists company chair Jimmy Pitaro, but rather a distillation of all the company’s various offerings and capabilities.

Already the most pressing initiative for not only ESPN, but perhaps parent company Walt Disney Co., the forthcoming offering will feature a wide variety of enhanced features, including multi-screen viewing, full integration with ESPN Bet, ticketing, and merchandising, fantasy content, user personalization, and advanced statistics, among others. The existing ESPN+ will also be available within the flagship ESPN streaming service.

“It’s not just about flipping the switch [and making the network available direct-to-consumer],” Pitaro said, appearing Thursday at the Columbia University Sports Management Conference. “When we do this, it will come with significant product enhancements. Yes, you’ll be able to get all of our networks. But the shoulder experience around the video will be much more interactive and it will be much more personalized. … I could go on and on, but we have an army of engineers and designers on all of this right now.”

The service, expected to cost around $30 per month, is still set to debut next summer, in time for the 2025 college and pro football seasons, as ESPN and Disney officials have detailed for many months [[link removed]].

‘Worldwide Leader’ Tag Again Dismissed

Pitaro, meanwhile, remained quite clear on one of his foremost pet peeves: any reference to the sports media giant as the “Worldwide Leader in Sports.”

The network used that slogan for many years, particularly as it was growing into the dominant, multi-platform entity it now is, and top on-air talent such as Stephen A. Smith still use the moniker now [[link removed]]. But Pitaro said the nickname still gets very much under his skin.

“It’s always felt un-ESPN-like,” Pitaro said of the “Worldwide Leader” framing. “The fact that historically we’ve referred to ourselves that way, it’s always felt a bit off from my perspective. I’m fine if other people want to refer to ESPN in that way. But let’s focus on serving the sports fan. Let’s be of service. That’s our mission.”

Those comments expand on those he made in late August during a press day at network headquarters in Bristol, Conn. [[link removed]] There, he said of the Worldwide Leader” nickname that “I don’t think it’s representative of the culture here,” building on efforts by the former Yahoo executive to downplay the moniker since he began his current role in 2018.

Instead, Pitaro continues to lean hard into the current ESPN mission statement of “to serve sports fans. Anytime. Anywhere.”

“We really mean that, and any employee [of ours] will be able to tell you that,” Pitaro said Thursday. “I believe our employees know where we’re going and they know what we need to do. We’re operating in an incredibly challenging environment. There’s no way around that. There’s fewer people watching television today than there were yesterday, and there will be fewer people tomorrow.”

Within that mission statement, Pitaro said all network functions are guided by four key business priorities: direct-to-consumer operations, audience expansion, quality storytelling and programming, and innovation, with the flagship streaming service leaning heavily into that last notion.

SPONSORED BY WSC SPORTS

Automate Everything Around the Game

More than 500 customers—including the NBA, Bleacher Report, the New Jersey Devils, and Clemson University— use WSC Sports [[link removed]] to automate the creation of highlights with speed, accuracy, and scale. Now WSC Sports’ powerful automation capabilities are coming to all content around the game as well.

Automate press conferences: Every in-game reference, quotable moment, and important topic automatically turns into short-form content [[link removed]] and is tagged with metadata

Automate fan reactions: All in-the-moment reactions and potential viral moments are automatically ready to use and edit at your disposal from the moment they happen

Automate archival footage: Give greater context to content automatically by pulling in highlights from the past so fans can see related content and how it applies to today’s story

Fuel the fandom with around-the-game automation. Learn more [[link removed]].

College Football’s Most-Hyped Weekend: Networks Set to Cash In [[link removed]]

Ricardo B. Brazziell-Imagn Images

One of the more highly anticipated college football weekends, a slate circled on fans’ calendars for months, is finally here. And the sport’s shifting dynamics are set to make it just as interesting off the field as it promises to be on the gridiron.

Even before the season started, Oct. 12 was being touted as potentially the best Saturday of college football in the past five years [[link removed]]. That led to a viral social media trend of debating when it’s O.K. to skip weddings for college football [[link removed]].

With three matchups of ranked opponents and the continued impact of conference realignment, Saturday promises to be one to remember.

Prime-Time Viewership Battle

From a TV perspective, the most intriguing contests of the day are going head-to-head against each other in prime time. At 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC gets No. 2 Ohio State at No. 3 Oregon, while ABC has No. 9 Ole Miss at No. 13 LSU.

So far, the most-watched game of the season is Alabama’s 41–34 victory over Georgia, which drew 12 million viewers on ABC. That bested the audience of 9.35 million that tuned in to the early-season Texas-Michigan game, which the Longhorns won 31–12.

Could either Ohio State–Oregon or Ole Miss–LSU top those previous high marks? If they had a bigger spotlight to themselves, maybe, but it’s expected that many viewers likely split between the two.

New and Old Conference Foes

On Saturday afternoon, two networks are benefiting from conference realignment.

At 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC gets the first SEC version of the Red River Rivalry, as No. 1 Texas faces No. 18 Oklahoma. CBS, in its first season with a full Big Ten schedule, will air No. 4 Penn State at USC—those schools’ first contest in the same conference.

Best of the Rest

After ESPN airs Florida at No. 8 Tennessee at 7 p.m. ET, the network gets another crack at ratings-magnet Colorado [[link removed]], which has averaged more than 4.4 million viewers per game during the 4–1 start to Deion Sanders’s second season as head coach, and welcomes new Big 12 foe No. 18 Kansas State to Boulder.

Meanwhile, the MLB playoffs have forced Fox Sports to audible around its successful new Friday night college football schedule [[link removed]]. Northwestern at Maryland is moving to FS1, so the main Fox network channel can show the winner-take-all Game 5 of the Padres-Dodgers National League Division Series.

FRONT OFFICE SPORTS TODAY Inside CFB’s Big Day

FOS illustration

Saturday is set to be one of the biggest days of the college football regular season, and ticket prices for marquee matchups are skyrocketing.

Hurricane Milton tore off part of the Rays’ stadium, raising questions about the venue’s viability for the 2025 season. The incident also raises questions about their plans for a new stadium in the same area.

Also, the Minnesota Twins are for sale, the Mets are seeing dividends from their big spending, and TBS is facing heavy criticism for its Yankees-Royals broadcasts.

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

SPONSORED BY COLLECTORS

Get $25 Off Your First PSA Submission

Grade with the industry standard. PSA [[link removed]] is the leader when it comes to authenticating, grading, and preserving your most valuable sports and TCG cards. Today, backed by leading expertise and the industry’s best customer guarantee, more collectibles are submitted to PSA than any other grading service.

New to grading? For a limited time only, Front Office Sports readers will get up to $25 off [[link removed]] their first online grading order at psacard.com [[link removed]] or the PSA mobile app. Use code FOS25 at checkout [[link removed]].

Conversation Starters Netflix released the trailer for a new docuseries The Comeback: 2004 Boston Red Sox, which premieres Oct. 23. Check it out [[link removed]]. The roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Rays, has been destroyed by Hurricane Milton [[link removed]]. It was being used as a base for first responders. Mets owner Steve Cohen built one of the most expensive rosters in MLB history [[link removed]]—with a payroll of more than $300 million in each of the last two seasons. On Wednesday, the Mets clinched their first NLCS berth in nine years. Editors’ Picks Nike Has Lost Some Mojo. But Not Its Market Share [[link removed]]by Lisa Scherzer [[link removed]]Nike is in recovery mode but still enjoys a dominant slice of the market. Valkyries Make Natalie Nakase First Female Asian American WNBA Head Coach [[link removed]]by Colin Salao [[link removed]]The Valkyries will join the WNBA in 2025. Beer Sales Soar as Hockey Arrives in Salt Lake City [[link removed]]by A.J. Perez [[link removed]]Beer sales beat any NBA or NHL game at the Delta Center in its history. Question of the Day

Which CFB game are you most excited for this weekend? Feel free to reply to this email with another option.

Ohio State–Oregon [[link removed]] Ole Miss–LSU [[link removed]] Texas-Oklahoma [[link removed]] Penn State–USC [[link removed]] Other [[link removed]]

Thursday’s result: 56% of respondents said Sunday’s weather delay kept them from watching part or all of the Cowboys-Steelers game.

Advertise [[link removed]] Awards [[link removed]] Learning [[link removed]] Events [[link removed]] Video [[link removed]] Podcast [[link removed]] Written by David Rumsey [[link removed]], Eric Fisher [[link removed]], Colin Salao [[link removed]] Edited by Matthew Tabeek [[link removed]], Or Moyal [[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