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Afternoon Edition

November 20, 2024

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Sports do not exist in a vacuum. We’ve seen past presidential election cycles eat into viewership for leagues, the NFL among them. How did the NFL weather this year’s election, and where does it stand relative to last season?

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

NFL Ratings Hold Strong Through Election Season, Chiefs Lead TV Pack [[link removed]]

Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

The NFL’s TV ratings appear to have weathered any potential major hit from election season [[link removed]], as the league is reporting big numbers heading into Week 12 of the regular season.

Through 11 weeks of action, the NFL is averaging 17.5 million viewers per game [[link removed]], when excluding international games on NFL Network and exclusive streaming broadcasts on ESPN+ [[link removed]] and Peacock [[link removed]]. That 17.5 million figure is the highest through Week 11 since the 2015 season.

In 2016, NFL ratings fell 8% from the prior year [[link removed]]. That was the most recent presidential election not impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (TV numbers were down across almost every sports league in 2020).

This season, when looking at the NFL’s major TV windows in the two weeks before and after the Nov. 5 election, things have remained quite steady.

In the two weeks before, primetime games (on Amazon Prime Video, NBC, and ESPN) and the late Sunday afternoon window (on CBS and Fox) averaged 18.48 million viewers, according to Nielsen data cited weekly by Sports Media Watch. In the two weeks following Election Day, those same windows were nearly flat, averaging 18.18 million viewers.

Week 11 was boosted by the most-watched game of the season, as 31.14 million viewers [[link removed]] tuned in to the Bills’ 30–21 victory over the previously unbeaten Chiefs.

Big D: Disappointing Dallas Still Draws

Despite Sunday’s loss to Buffalo, Kansas City extended its lead over the Cowboys as the NFL’s No. 1 TV team [[link removed]]. Here are the five most-watched games of the season through Week 11:

Chiefs-Bills: 31.14 million viewers Ravens-Chiefs: 29.2 million viewers Bengals-Chiefs: 27.9 million viewers Ravens-Cowboys: 27.3 million viewers Chiefs-49ers: 27.1 million viewers

The Cowboys have still drawn well, though, in the two lopsided losses since quarterback Dak Prescott sustained a season-ending torn hamstring in Week 9. This week, ESPN got 17 million viewers for the Texans’ 34–10 win over the Cowboys, which was the most-watched Week 11 Monday Night Football broadcast since 2006. Last week, CBS drew 24.61 million viewers for the Eagles’ 34–6 victory over Dallas.

Comcast’s SpinCo: New Home for USA Network, Golf Channel, Sports Rights [[link removed]]

Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Comcast is making good on its recent pledge to deal with the ongoing decline in linear television, unveiling a formal plan to spin off most of its cable networks.

Just three weeks after first mentioning even the possibility of such a move [[link removed]], the NBC parent company will place the bulk of its cable network holdings such as USA Network, CNBC, MSNBC, and E! into a separate, publicly traded company, currently carrying the working name of SpinCo. The new entity will also include certain digital assets such as the online booking service GolfNow and the youth sports registration platform Sports Engine.

The move certainly carries a defensive posture, as it moves linear TV businesses that have been battered by accelerating cord-cutting away from healthier and faster-growing assets in the Comcast portfolio, such as its broadcast television holdings, theme parks business, and the Peacock streaming service. But Comcast insisted there is an opportunistic bent to the effort, too, suggesting it could ultimately lead to a variety of deals with other networks or private investors, including potential purchases of other networks.

“With significant financial resources from day one, SpinCo will be ideally positioned for success and highly attractive to investors, content creators, distributors, and potential partners,” said Comcast chair and CEO Brian Roberts.

Still, the move also is something of a clear acknowledgment of how dramatically the traditional pay-TV universe has declined, now standing at about 54 million U.S. households [[link removed]], roughly half the level of a decade ago.

Investors were essentially neutral on the news, with Comcast shares declining 0.2% in early Wednesday trading. Completion of the spin-off will require about a year. Other critical assets, such as NBC Sports and the NBC broadcast network, will remain as is within NBCUniversal, which is still a core part of Comcast.

Sports Focus

Sports will be a meaningful pillar of SpinCo, as the inclusion of USA Network and Golf Channel in the new company includes live rights to a variety of top-tier properties, including the Premier League, NASCAR, PGA Tour, LPGA, and multiple conferences in college basketball.

The involvement of GolfNow and Sports Engine also brings perhaps less glamorous, but steadily performing and more transactionally oriented businesses into the new entity.

“When you combine our assets, talented management team, and balance sheet strength, we are uniquely positioned to set both SpinCo and NBCUniversal up to play offense in a complex and evolving media landscape,” Comcast president Mike Cavanagh wrote in a memo to employees.

Will Others Join?

Perhaps the most pressing question is whether any other major media company such as Fox or Disney will make a similar move with its linear cable assets. ESPN parent Disney has arguably come closest, inviting outside inquiries into equity partnerships for some of its networks, most notably the sports media giant.

During the recent run of quarterly earnings reports, each of Comcast’s main contemporaries was queried by analysts in some fashion about the possibility of making a similar spin-off move. Thus far, the answer appears to be generally no, though Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said the TNT Sports parent company is exploring “all things operationally and strategically to ensure shareholder value.” But should SpinCo show some success, copycat endeavors could surface—ultimately inviting a potential of broader mergers of cable networks currently held by different companies.

“I don’t see how we could ever do that,” said Fox executive chair and CEO Lachlan Murdoch about the prospect of pursuing a similar cable spin-off. “I think breaking apart a part of the business would be very difficult, both from a cost point of view and from a revenue and a promotional synergy point of view.”

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Sparks Turn to College Ranks: Utah’s Lynne Roberts Named Head Coach [[link removed]]

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Days after missing out on the No. 1 pick in the 2025 WNBA draft [[link removed]], the Los Angeles Sparks hired their next head coach. L.A. dipped into the college ranks and signed Lynne Roberts from Utah as the replacement for Curt Miller.

Roberts is the second head coach in a week hired in the WNBA from the NCAA women’s basketball ranks—despite the season starting on Nov. 4—after the Atlanta Dream hired Karl Smesko from Florida Gulf Coast [[link removed]] last Wednesday.

Roberts had a 162–115 record in nine full seasons as the Utes coach, including three consecutive NCAA tournament appearances since 2022. Utah’s last tournament appearance before Roberts’s tenure was in 2011.

Her departure comes despite signing a contract extension in the summer with Utah [[link removed]] through 2030. But there’s been a ton of tension in the college ranks given NIL (name, image, and likeness) and realignment—and Utah was one of the affected schools, moving from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 [[link removed]] in August. The Utes were also a target of a pair of racial hate incidents [[link removed]] during last year’s NCAA tournament.

The WNBA Coaching Market

The financial details of Roberts’s deal with the Sparks are unknown. There are varying reports as to what her salary was with the Utes. According to USA Today, she was expected to earn $709,500 with a $305,000 maximum bonus [[link removed]] this year for a potential total north of $1 million. In 2022, USA Today pegged her to have a $410,000 salary with a $190,000 bonus, while The Salt Lake Tribune reported Roberts made $695,000 [[link removed]] that year.

Only two WNBA head coaches made more than $1 million last season—Nate Tibbetts of the Phoenix Mercury (approximately $1.2 million) and Becky Hammon of the Las Vegas Aces ($1 million). The Athletic reported before Smesko was hired by the Dream that the low-end salaries for WNBA head coaches last season were $350,000.

The market for salaries is expected to rise as the league continues to grow and as the money from the new $2.2 billion media-rights deal [[link removed]] is already expected to come in by 2026. It may not be enough to lure in the biggest names in women’s college basketball—Kim Mulkey, Geno Auriemma, and Dawn Staley all make north of $3 million [[link removed]]—but it’s clear the market for WNBA coaches is going up.

“There’s no better time to join the W than right now,” Smesko said during his introductory press conference Tuesday. “This is the most exciting time for the league.”

Three WNBA head coaching positions are still available: the Connecticut Sun, Dallas Wings, and Washington Mystics.

LOUD AND CLEAR Knecht With the King

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

“The other 16 teams fucked it up. Did anybody watch him? Shit. They just didn’t fuck it up.”

—LeBron James, following the Lakers’ win over the Jazz on Wednesday night after rookie Dalton Knecht dropped 37 points and hit nine three-pointers, tying an NBA rookie record for most threes in a game. Knecht won the SEC Player of the Year award while at Tennessee last year after transferring from Northern Colorado. He fell to the Lakers at pick No. 17 in the 2024 NBA draft.

The 23-year-old, one of the oldest prospects in the draft, has a salary of $3.82 million this year, according to Spotrac, less than a third of the payout for No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher. Knecht’s full four-year deal is worth $18.48 million, though he will be 27 by the time his first contract ends—while many of the top picks will still be in their early 20s.

STATUS REPORT Three Up, One Down

Matt Krohn-Imagn Images

Cleveland ⬆ The Rock Entertainment Group, the parent company of Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s sports and entertainment properties, will submit a proposal for a WNBA expansion team [[link removed]], according to CNBC. Gilbert adds to a growing list of suitors for the 16th WNBA franchise, which commissioner Cathy Engelbert has stated the league wants by 2028. Read more about the other known suitors [[link removed]], which include Jayson Tatum and Patrick Mahomes.

Chevy-driving Flyers fans ⬆ The NHL team has completed a helmet sponsorship deal with Philadelphia-area Chevrolet dealers [[link removed]], placing the carmaker’s iconic logo on both home and away helmets. Otherwise a fairly standard agreement covering the rest of the 2024–2025 season, the pact also includes free parking at Wells Fargo Center for fans attending Wednesday’s game against the Hurricanes and arriving in a Chevrolet.

Oklahoma City ⬆ The city council approved the donation of Echo Investment Capital for 9 acres of downtown land that the city can use to build a $71 million soccer stadium for a USL team. The OKC Energy FC, which has been on hiatus since 2022, will return to the USL once the stadium is completed in 2027.

Jim Montgomery ⬇ The Bruins fired their head coach after starting the season off 8-9-3 (.475 win percentage), despite an overall record of 120-41-23 (.715 win percentage) as the team’s coach for the last three years. Two seasons ago, Boston set a record for most points in an NHL season. Montgomery was in the final year of a three-year deal that reportedly paid him about $1.9 million per year [[link removed]].

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Conversation Starters HBO dropped a trailer for Hard Knocks In Season with the AFC North, which premieres Dec. 3. Watch it here [[link removed]]. Nike released an ad for Rafael Nadal ahead of his final match. Take a look [[link removed]]. ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky used virtual reality and StatusPRO technology to break down the game film of the Chiefs and Bills matchup. Check it out [[link removed]]. Editors’ Picks Deion Sanders Downplays NFL Smoke As Former Cowboys Lobby for Him [[link removed]]by Alex Schiffer [[link removed]]The Colorado coach says “I’ve got a kickstand down” in Boulder. Messi’s Inter Miami Coach Quits After Best Regular MLS Season Ever [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Gerardo “Tata” Martino has been with Miami for about as long as Messi. The Wealthy Booster Spending Millions to Turn U.S. Soccer European [[link removed]]by Margaret Fleming [[link removed]]Michele Kang says NWSL expansion requires more coaches and refs. 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]]

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