Planning for a $200 million soccer stadium in St. Louis hit a snag when incoming Missouri Governor Eric Greitens opposed public funding of the venue. After Greitens called the project “nothing more than welfare for millionaires,” the city of St. Louis delayed its request to the Missouri Development Finance Board for $40 million in state tax credits, a hearing that was supposed to take place yesterday.

SC STL, the potential ownership group looking to bring a Major League Soccer team to St. Louis, will instead look to meet with Greitens and fully brief him on the project and the benefits it affords the state before moving forward.

Paul Edgerley, chairman of SC STL, said he was disappointed by Greitens’ statement, but respects the difference of opinion. “We continue to believe in the substantial economic and other benefits of this project,” Edgerley said, citing an independent study that determined 400 permanent jobs would be created.

With two games remaining, NBC’s Sunday Night Football is on pace to finish as the No. 1 primetime show on television for a sixth straight year. Sunday Night Football would join American Idol (2005-06 through 2010-11) as the only programs since 1950 with a six-year run atop the primetime ratings. The most recent SNF game, between the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, averaged 24.1 million viewers. It was the ninth SNF telecast to top 20 million viewers, doubling all other networks combined among primetime programming.

The World’s Toughest Mudder makes its television premiere on CBS on Christmas Day (2-3 p.m. ET), giving viewers a chance to celebrate one of the most extreme endurance events in the world. CBS Sports yesterday released a 360-degree video chronicling the grueling 24-hour competition on its Facebook page. The video offers a heart-pounding sneak peek at the race, which was held in the Las Vegas desert last month and featured 20 signature obstacles designed by Tough Mudder over a five-mile looped course of unforgiving terrain.

At around the same time on Christmas Day, NBC will counter with an hour-long special titled PGA Tour 2016: Must-See Moments of the Year sponsored by Myrbetriq. The show, which starts at 2:30 p.m. ET, showcases the best moments, biggest events and breakout stars from the 2015-16 PGA Tour season, as well as early storylines for the 2016-17 campaign.

ESPN is also loading up its holiday programming, which includes its third annual 30 for 30 Christmas marathon: 24 straight hours of sports documentaries on ESPN2. The SEC Network will bring back the classic tradition of a flaming Yule log, only with a sports twist. From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Christmas day, the network will play SEC fight songs to accompany the glowing fireplace. And for something a little different, ESPNU will feature analyst Mike Golic Jr. wearing his holiday pajamas in a cozy studio, eating cookies, on Christmas morning from 7-8 a.m.

Bob Costas is returning to the roots of his broadcasting career as he joins NBC Sports’ coverage of the 2017 NHL Winter Classic in St. Louis. Costas, who lived in St. Louis for more than 30 years, will join the NHL on NBC’s game commentary crew of Doc Emrick, Eddie Olczyk and Pierre McGuire for the Jan. 2 game between the Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. Prior to joining NBC Sports, Costas was the radio play-by-play announcer for the American Basketball Association’s Spirits of St. Louis on KMOX Radio from 1974-76 and also served as the play-by-play voice of the University of Missouri’s men’s basketball team.

Butler’s upset win over instate rival Indiana in a December 17 matchup of one-loss teams delivered the Big Ten Network’s highest viewership totals ever for a non-conference men’s basketball game. The BTN’s .59 household rating for Indiana-Butler in the network’s 12 metered markets topped the previous record, set a month earlier for a game between Purdue and Villanova.

Univision Deportes’s December 18 sports award show outperformed this year’s ESPYs among Hispanic viewers by 109%. More than 4.7 million viewers tuned into all or part of the Univision broadcast, which included a tribute to late Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez, with the network’s audience growing by 14% year-over-year among adults 18-49.

GolTV has secured exclusive U.S. broadcast rights for the December 23 match between Juventus and Milan  two of Italian soccer’s biggest rivals – in Doha, Qatar. The 2016 Super Cup is the annual championship match between the winners of the Italian League (Serie A) and Coppa Italia and will air at 11:30 a.m. ET.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

AT&T is the national sponsor for the College Football Playoff and got one of its most visible spokesmen, golfer Jordan Spieth, to make his picks for the national semifinal and championship game in the best way he knows how  with his putter. AT&T released a video showing Spieth, a big college football fan, picking Alabama and Ohio State to win their semifinal games and then knocked a crimson red ball into the hole in picking Alabama to defend its national title.

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association extended its partnership with Blue Diamond Almonds, the world’s leading almond brand, by four years. As part of the partnership, which includes the run up to the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea, Blue Diamond will work with USSA to incorporate its almonds into athlete snacks and meals at the organization’s training facility in Park City, Utah.

The NHL’s pregame tailgate party prior to its January 1 outdoor game in Toronto between the Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings will feature a special concert by alt-rock band Arkells. The concert is part of the pregame festivities, which includes an appearance by the Stanley Cup, and will begin two hours before the 2017 Scotiabank NHL Centennial Classic at Exhibition Stadium.

Want up close access at the NFL combine, where college players will participate in autograph sessions and media interviews in between showcasing their talent for team personnel? The league on Tuesday opened the application process for the 6,000 free tickets to the event on its Fan Mobile Pass app and on NFL.com. The NFL Combine is held March 2-5 in Indianapolis and is part of the league’s strategy to involve more fan engagement during the offseason.

NBC Sports Digital has already set a season record for its Sunday Night Football coverage, with 577 million live streaming minutes across NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app, and NFL Mobile from Verizon. The total minutes to date exceeds all prior full seasons of NFL games on NBC, a stretch that included playoff games and two Super Bowls.

Nielsen has entered an agreement to acquire Gracenote, thus acquiring the data and technology that underpins programming guides and personalized user experience for major sports content as well as video, music and audio. Gracenote provides reference information for more than 12 million movie and TV listings and 200 million music tracks, while driving the interfaces of the major streaming digital media services and the connected technology systems in over 75 million cars.

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Which NFL team won 11 games during the 2008 season but missed the playoffs?  Answer: The New England Patriots. Kudos: Andreas Droste-Time Inc/New York; David Kalan-MLB Advanced Media/New York; Mike Donato-ABC/New York; Scott Jenkins-Gracenote/New York; Farrah Segaloff-Comcast Spotlight/Quincy, MA; Tom Wetzel-MMSI/Warwick, RI; Tim Buckman-NBC Sports/Stamford, CT; Michael Goodman-Radio One/Atlanta; John Ward-Tennis Channel/Chicago; Brad Brown-Nevco Inc/St. Louis; Lance Davis-ESPN Milwaukee; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete Magazine/Houston; Rick Pike-InterMedia Advertising/Woodland Hills, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/Los Angeles; Elouie Gopez-DirectAvenue/Carlsbad, CA.

Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
12.21.16

Roberta Caploe: Publisher @robertacaploe
Diane K Schwartz: Senior Vice President, Media Communications Group

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