CYNOPSISSPORTS
02.29.16
Good morning. It’s Monday February 29, 2016, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
With March Madness set to once again swarm the country, American Athletic Conference Commissioner Mike Aresco continues to plan big as the conference plots its course in college football and basketball. While recent years have seen the injection of cost of attendance stipends, continued uncertainty over conference expansion and a line drawn between the so-called P5 and G5 leagues, the American has, more than any other conference, had to evolve its strategic foothold in the collegiate landscape, bolstered by a football season that saw the likes of Houston, Memphis, Navy and Temple make waves in the rankings. With negotiations for a new TV deal on the horizon, Cynopsis Sports spoke with Commissioner Aresco about the state of the league, persistent realignment rumors and how the conference is positioning itself for the media discussions ahead.
Aresco on the state of the conference: We’ve been working to build something here and I think that we are probably ahead of schedule as we’ve exceeded expectations with an outstanding football season, which of course, is the key to everything. Sustainability is key. I think that people look at us and wonder if we can continue to do it since we obviously don’t have the resources the other guys have but we have enough. It’s about hiring good coaches and having the desire to win, and we’ve got that. We had four teams this year in the Top 25 at one point. We won the Fiesta Bowl two years ago, we won the Peach Bowl this year. We also had five ABC national games this year and we had countless games on ESPN and ESPN2 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. That’s how you build your brand, develop some fans and create an identity. Clearly, football will be driving our TV deal when that comes back into play and we are counting on that.
On strategy: I thought this group of schools had some real potential that hadn’t been realized yet, especially in football and I thought they would be better together than splintering off. No one is going to argue that we weren’t in turmoil three years ago and no one can argue that we took some real hits when we lost some teams. A lot of people were writing us off, and honestly, I was wondering if they were right. But as long as we were able to get us a TV that gave us the proper exposure, and enough money, which includes the exit fees and NCAA credits left behind, to make them the highest paid within the Group of 5 and still be competitive with the P5.
On exposure: We want to continue to create value for our TV partners in any way that we can. We play Thursdays, we play Fridays, which is wide open and helps us get great exposure. That also helps our TV partner in ESPN. We do a game of the week with CBS Sports Network as part of a sub-license deal with ESPN, which gives them really good value. ESPN decided to put our Championship Game on ABC over a Texas/Baylor game. You couldn’t have imagined that two or three years ago but they did it because it was a compelling game. We had almost 18 or 19 games that had over a million viewers this year, while we only had 11 before that. Some even had several million viewers such as the Temple/Notre Dame game which was the highest-rated game of the week that week.
On the media strategy: When we first started, there were some media outlets who didn’t think we were going to get out of this. I understand that. We were not in great shape, we still had to do a TV deal, we had to get through that Catholic 7 negotiation to make sure we would get a clean break. We had to get a new name and a new logo. We had to get a new bowl lineup, which we did with great destinations. But with the media, we had to get in and change the narrative about the P6 and breaking into the P6. We had six schools at this conference that were once in a BCS conference or the old Southwest Conference. What I was hoping to do was to win some big games that would become part of the narrative and make us the next best under the P5. Sure enough, that started to happen. It’s a real credit to our schools and their athletes in terms of what we’ve been able to do. Because of that, we’ve now had serious interest from title sponsors for our football, basketball and the bowl game that we own.
On rights plans: We’ve got to look at TV and online and the future and see if there is a proverbial pot of gold. As our conference gets stronger and the other rights are tied up for years, we’ll be negotiating a new contract with ESPN and potentially others in just a few years. We are going to be a valuable conference to have because everybody else is tied up well into the 2020s and even 30s. We’ve got to look at the digital aspect of that and see how to monetize that strategy. You are seeing more and more networks that are pure digital plays and that is definitely going to be part of our strategy. We’ve retained Wasserman to advise us on TV and they are helping us with the strategic plan that we will probably have ready this Spring.
On potential conference realignment: It’s always something we have to deal with. We tell our schools that we understand the attractiveness of going to a P5, we are not naïve about it. But the best thing to do is to continue to build our own conference into a top contender. If anybody does leave down the road, I want them to look back and say that they played in a great conference. Of course you always have to be prepared. With the Big 12 looking like they will finally make a decision in late May, that should settle the environment one way or the other. But if they do decide to take some of our members, we still have really good schools and they are all schools that the country has heard of. If we lost one or two, we wouldn’t even feel it necessary to add any because we can now play a championship game with 10 teams. Of course, they may be some schools out there who we think would add value to get us back to 12. The key is to be prepared.
ON THE AIR
FIFA launched its new era on Friday, approving reforms and electing Gianni Infantino as the President of the organization thanks to balloting at the Extraordinary FIFA Congress held in Zurich. Infantino was elected as the ninth FIFA President after the second ballot with 115 of 207 total votes. Reforms were confirmed, affecting FIFA’s governance structure, including improvements to the governance of global football, a separation of commercial and political decision-making, scrutiny of senior officials, and commitments to women in football and human rights. "A new era is starting for FIFA as we speak,” Infantino told reporters. “I will approach the commercial partners, the sponsors who need to regain their trust in FIFA, and if we can achieve this with our way of working then revenue streams will increase and we will not have to worry at FIFA.”
A dazzling performance by Stephen Curry on NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC handed the broadcaster with a 3.9 overnight rating for the overtime battle, according to Nielsen. That score marks the highest-rated NBA regular-season game (non-Christmas) across all networks since 2013, peaking with a 5.6 rating. San Francisco delivered a 14.9 for the contest, while Oklahoma City represented with a 14.6.
Kickboxing league GLORY locked in a multi-year agreement with ESPN that will continue showcasing the promotion’s events beginning with the weekend’s GLORY 27 in Chicago. The deal will see future GLORY events carried live on ESPN2 in addition to ESPN3. "Working with the team at ESPN has been an absolute pleasure," said GLORY CEO Jon J. Franklin. "We’re two, after tonight three, events into this relationship and excited that GLORY is part of ESPN’s sports portfolio. There’s no better television home in the United States for the GLORY numbered series."
Melissa Stark signed on to join HBO’s The Fight Game with Jim Lampley where she will serve as the new interviewer and correspondent for the boxing studio program. Michelle Beadle has held the role for the past two years. The season premiere runs March 16 at 11p on the channel. Meanwhile, Stark will continue with her broadcasting duties at NFL Network.
Willow TV International announced plans to offer its most comprehensive multi-platform coverage ever in the US for the upcoming International Cricket Council events, beginning with the ICC World Twenty20 when the 2016 tournament launches in India on March 8. All 35 matches from the men’s tournament and 11 matches from the women’s tournament will be televised live on the Willow cricket channel in high definition between March 8 and April 3. This would mark the first time a US television network will broadcast the entire tournament live. Future ICC events slated for the channel include the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, the 2017 ICC Women’s World Cup, the 2018 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup, the 2018 ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier, the 2018 ICC Women’s World Twenty20 and the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
ESPN reports that a move to shorten the NFL preseason could finally be underway, with the league’s competition committee holding “lengthy discussions” about reducing the preseason to three games, according to Packers President Mark Murphy. "That would probably be a little more practical, especially with all the emphasis on player safety," McCarthy said.
RIP to Eddie Einhorn, a minority owner of the Chicago White Sox and a key pillar for the rise of college baskeball on TV. Einhorn passed away due to a stroke at the age of 80 and previously served as founder and chairman of TVS Television Network, which broadcast the famous Houston Cougars/UCLA Bruins battle in 1968, which has been credited for the popular growth of the sport.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE!
Join CYNOPSIS and your peers on THURSDAY, APRIL 7 in New York City at our 2nd Annual SOCIAL GOOD AWARDS BREAKFAST as we honor everything from sustainability partnerships and PSA’s, to diversity campaigns, environmental initiatives, and more. Last year’s event sold out, so book your company’s table today!
SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
The United States Olympic Committee and USA Track and Field requested to hat a lawsuit filed against the organizations, claiming they have the full authority “to control all commercial activities at the upcoming Olympic trials, including the brand logos athletes display when they compete,” according to the WSJ. The antitrust lawsuit is centered on middle distance runner Nick Symmonds, who refused to sign a document pledging to wear official US uniforms at all post-race functions and was subsequently left off the team. However, the organizations claim that Congress gave them control over the commercial business associated with all Olympic-related activities via the 1978 Amateur Sports Act.
The World Series of Poker announced that 888poker will serve as the official sponsor of the 2016 WSOP, extending the partnership. 888poker will be featured during WSOP Main Event programming on ESPN and on the WSOP live streams throughout the 2016 festival and hands 888poker exclusive rights to run official WSOP satellites online.
DIGITAL & STREAMING
The America’s Cup is heading to China, locking in a deal with Sina Sports has entered into an official strategic partnership with the America’s Cup, making the media company the “Official Digital Media Partner of America’s Cup in China.” Chinese audiences can now follow every race through expanded America’s Cup coverage that will be made available on Sina Sports, including exclusive interviews, articles, pictures, highlights, behind-the-scenes content, and more.
With Spring Training comes the annual update to MLB.com At Bat, which announced new features and technology following last year’s record numbers. Highlights will include: portrait and landscape orientations and multitasking split view for the iPad; a redesign that includes Gameday, News Reader, Videos, Sortable Stats and more; as well as a new UI experience for League and Team News readers. For Spring Training, audiences can access more than 275 available Spring Training games via an MLB.TV Premium subscription as well as Spring Training radio broadcasts.
Meanwhile, ESPN launched an all-new ESPN Fantasy Baseball app with new features and functionality, allowing fans to create leagues, draft teams, make trades, manage multiple teams and rosters with a single swipe, and more. The new app also offers team-specific alerts, news, columns and videos from ESPN Fantasy baseball analysts, while FantasyCast provides live scoring updates. The new baseball app also includes Team Logo Packs.
The Global Poker League made its debut over the weekend, with managers from 12 franchise teams making their player selections at the official GPL Draft Day, featuring NFL and golf presenter Holly Sonders and poker presenter Kara Scott, livestreamed via Twitch. Managers were tasked with selecting four players for their first ever GPL teams. With an eye toward eSports, games will be played in a series of online, studio and venue based events, culminating in a World Championship Final later in the year.
The first-ever espnW Film Fellowship program, presented by Walmart, announced plans to grant funding to filmmaker Daniele Anastasion to direct a docu-series. The slate will see four short films examining motherhood and athleticism through the eyes of Sarah Brown, an elite track athlete who will train through her pregnancy. Episodes of “Run Mama Run” will roll out on espnW.com from April to August and screen in full in the fall at the 2016 espnW: Women + Sports Summit.
THE MAIN EVENT
Kansas/Texas on ESPN at 9p.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
TOP WOMEN IN DIGITAL AWARDS EVENT
Thursday, March 24 // 8:15-10:30a.m. // New York City
Join us as we celebrate honorees from the following companies and more!
AT&T, Comcast Cable, Crown Media Family Networks, Deutsch, DigitasLBi, Dunkin’ Brands, Fox Sports, Hasbro, Horizon Media, Hulu, Maker Studios, Mindshare, MTV, NBCUniversal, Octagon, PBS Kids, Scripps Networks Interactive, Showtime Networks, Starcom MediaVest, TiVO, Xaxis.
Book your company’s table today: http://www.cynopsis.com/event/2016-twd-event/.
ON THIS DAY in 1980: Gordie Howe becomes the first NHL player to score 800 career goals.
In The Know:
Which current AAC school has the best all-time winning percentage in football? (Email Chris-Sports@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)
Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Who is the NBA’s all-time leader in free-throw percentage? Answer: Steve Nash. Kudos: Todd Singer-American Banknote/NY; Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; Brian Krasik-WME|IMG/NY; John Miller-NBC Sports Group/Stamford; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Judie Henninger-Valentine Productions/Santa Monica; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Mark Wolfson-PAC-12 Networks/San Francisco.
Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
02.29.16
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