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CYNOPSISSPORTS
05.19.14
Good morning. It’s Monday, May 19, 2014, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
Amid the frenzy for live content and rising fees in school athletics, consolidation continues to affect the players handling collegiate, high school, and global event sponsorship and multi-media rights management. Cynopsis Sports spoke with David Johnston, co-founder and Principal of Rockbridge Sports Group, about the changing dynamics in the industry, founding the company in 2011 with Rich Klein, and taking on the stalwarts.
Johnston on the state of the industry: One thing you realize when you talk to people who aren’t necessarily in the business and they start asking questions about the collegiate multi-media rights space, it’s really not that old. The 2000s were really a period of incredible growth in the industry. Rich and I were part of six or seven players in the space while at CBS Collegiate Sports Properties. There was ISP, Learfield, Nelligan, ESPN Regional, etc. Then, there was this run of lots of companies getting out via acquisitions and what not. So we found ourselves in a unique position because we weren’t the largest player in the space, but we are able to build it up and add a lot of layers, developing an offense for our clients, tweaking the system and perfecting it. We eventually decided to go our own way believing that the system we had developed offered proven results in an incredibly competitive industry.
On founding the company: The market needed another new company. We believed it three years ago. The last new company in the collegiate multi-media rights industry was Nelligan Sports Marketing. From 15 years ago until the time we founded Rockbridge, there had been no new companies. Now you look athlete landscape and there are really only four left, IMG, Learfield, CBS and us, in terms of companies that have the deep experience and track record.
On philosophy: You have to monetize the assets. There is a fundamental belief that the further away you get from the central point of the property, the less it gets valued. What we saw coming three years ago was that as other firms got larger and larger, it would become a challenge to service all of the clients. The reality of the marketplace is that they are locked in long-term deals. We left some terrific people behind, but we really believed in servicing our client and using our relationships to help assets grow in value. In the grand scheme of an institution’s overall budget, you have this incredible asset, which is their athletic department and their teams, and these universities were simply not going to be content with just receiving their check. Our philosophy was to be to get out in front of what we thought was going to happen in the marketplace and bring people back to the true key to the value proposition, which was at the school.
On his biggest success from the past year: I am particularly proud of the type of people that we’ve been able to attract. That’s what gives me the most peace, knowing we built some opportunities for people where they can be successful. We are proud of that fact and are now doing business in ten states.
AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV, of course, now positions the telephone company as a new player in the sports arena. Valued at $48.5 billion, the merged company, if approved, suddenly thrusts new potential in mobility, video and broadband services for the industry. More directly in the sports space, AT&T would now own exclusive pay TV rights to the out-of-market package NFL Sunday Ticket, as well as content ownership for the ROOT SPORTS Networks as well as minority stakes in MLB Network and NHL Network.
California Chrome continues to deliver off the track as well. NBC posted a 6.3 household overnight rating/15 share for the horse’s victory in the Preakness, up 5% over last year’s run and marking the best since 2010, according to Nielsen. Top local markets included Baltimore 17.2/39; Louisville 16.6/33; Ft. Myers 11.3/23; Cincinnati 11.2/24; and Buffalo 10.5/21. The final stop on the run for the Triple Crown with the Belmont Stakes is slated for June 5 at 5p on NBC.
ESPN drew headlines over the weekend with Mark Jackson’s reunion with the company. Jackson served as an ESPN NBA game analyst from 2006 to 2011 before departing to become head coach of the Golden State Warriors for three seasons. Jackson now has a multi-year agreement with ESPN and returned as an NBA game analyst yesterday with Game One of the Eastern Conference Finals, joining Mike Breen and analyst Jeff Van Gundy.
After drawing criticism for Michael Sam’s planned reality show with OWN, the project has now been postponed. The planned documentary was set to showcase Sam’s quest to become an NFL player. "After careful consideration and discussion with the St. Louis Rams, ‘The Untitled Michael Sam Project’ has been postponed, allowing Michael the best opportunity to achieve his dream of making the team," Erik Logan, president of the network, said in a statement.
Univision reports that its coverage of the 2014 Liga MX Futbol Clausura semifinals hit record viewership marks last week as the Toluca/Leon semifinal match delivered 1.2 million Total Viewers and 681,000 Adults 18-49 on May 11. Meanwhile, UniMas averaged 1.1 million Total Viewers and 645,000 Adults for its coverage of the Santos/Pachuca LMX semifinal on May 10 while Univision Deportes Network scored its most-viewed LMX semifinal match since inception with the Santos/Pachuca contest averaging 690,000 Total Viewers and 475,000 in the demo, up 21% among Total Viewers and 22% among Adults 18-49 from year ago, respectively.
Around the dial on Telemundo/mun2, the live Futbol Estelar broadcast of the Torneo Clausura soccer final match pitting Leon/Pachuca on Thursday delivered 1,726,000 Total Viewers and 991,000 adults 18-49, to rank as the highest-rated Liga MX 2014 playoff match aired in Spanish-language television, according to Nielsen. The final also ranked as the most watched show in its time period in Los Angeles and San Francisco among adults 18-49, regardless of language.
TNT launches the 2014 NBA Western Conference Finals tonight with the San Antonio Spurs squaring off against the Oklahoma City Thunder at 9p. Marv Albert calls the action alongside analysts Steve Kerr and Reggie Miller and reporter David Aldridge. TNT’s coverage will open with a one-hour NBA Tip-Off presented by AutoTrader.com pre-game show at 8p hosted by Ernie Johnson with analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith. TNT Overtime presented by Gatorade and Samsung Galaxy will offer a companion experience allowing fans to watch the games via four alternate camera angles, along with real-time stats, etc.
ESPN made its game selection for the August 3 edition of Sunday Night Baseball presented by Taco Bel, picking an old-favorite as the Red Sox host the Yankees at 8p. Dan Shulman, analyst John Kruk and reporter Buster Olney will provide commentary for the telecast.
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After Dogecoin, the Bitcoin spinoff currency, landed the hood of NASCAR driver Josh Wise’s car and made a return appearance at the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte, now comes word that the digital currency will make a longer run. Dogecoin will reportedly be added to videogame NASCAR ’14 in an upcoming DLC pack, with executives stating, "We love to see more technology-oriented partners getting involved in NASCAR," said Ed Martin, executive vice president of Eutechnyx in an interview with CNN. "I think it will bring NASCAR to the attention of a lot of people that haven’t been exposed before."
ESPN reports that it set a new mobile record in April as ESPN Digital Media ranked No. 1 across the sports category, according to new metrics numbers. ESPN reached 66.1 million unique users across computers, smartphones and tablets, to mark an increase of 27% from a year ago. Overall, 49.6 million unique users accessed ESPN content on mobile devices, setting a category record for mobile reach and breaking the previous high ESPN set last month.
Thunder/Spurs on TNT at 9p.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
CYNOPSIS KIDS WEBINAR
The New Lessons of Licensing: How to Maximize Tune In, Brand Engagement & Revenue
Thursday, May 29, 2014 ||| 1:30 – 3:00pm ET ||| Sign-Up Now
Speakers Include:
Moderator: Cathy Applefeld Olson Editor {Cynopsis Kids!}
Erin Dippold – VP, Consumer Products {DHX Media}
Kirk Bloomgarden – SVP, Global Consumer Products {Saban Brands}
Gregory Economos – SVP, Global Consumer Products {Sony Pictures}
Marty Brochstein – SVP Industry Relations and Information {LIMA}
ON THIS DAY in 1988: The Red Sox retire Bobby Doerr’s #1.
In The Know: Al the Octopus is the mascot of which NHL team? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)
Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: What number was retired by the Broncos in honor of John Elway? Answer: #7. Kudos: Andrew Feingold-Nielsen Sports/NY; Paul Cosentino-IndiePay/NY; Denis Barry-CBS Television Stations/NY; Chris Long-USA Today Sports Group/NY; David Koonin-CSE/Atlanta; Cris Aguilar-WCYB/Bristol; Renee Ruetz-Buckeye CableSystem/Toledo; Joe Guarnieri-ESPN Remote Operations/Bristol; David Ross-Ross Enterprises/Cape Girardeau; Gretchen Brady-KDAF/Dallas; Kristen Staskowski-Charter Media/Birmingham; Joe Haack-Time Warner/Lincoln; David Hauptman/Denver; Matt Sautter-OpenTV/Golden; Rick Pike-InterMedia Advertising/Woodland Hills; Joe Pedri-KLAS-TV/Las Vegas; Larry Hutchings/Pacific Palisades; Alex Petrilli, Jr.-TiVo/San Jose.
Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
05.19.14
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