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Ooh La La: Opening Ceremony of Paris Olympics Draws 28.6M Viewers
NBCUniversal’s coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Paris Summer Olympics averaged 28.6 million viewers across the company’s TV and streaming platforms, a combined delivery which marks the biggest turnout for the quadrennial event since the 2012 Games in London scared up 40.7 million viewers.The ratings figures include NBC’s live broadcast of the ceremonies Friday afternoon and the network’s repackaged primetime presentation. Streaming on Peacock accounted for approximately 2.5 million viewers, while the Spanish-language simulcast on Telemundo Deportes added another 666,000 to the media mix.NBC did not break out the deliveries by daypart, and as Sportico reported earlier, the blended...
Canada Drone Scandal at Olympics Costs Women’s Soccer Points, Coach
Soccer’s global governing body FIFA docked Canada’s women’s soccer team six points from its Olympics group stage total, severely denting its chances of moving on to the tournament’s knockout stage and defending its gold medal from the 2021 Games. FIFA also suspended women’s soccer coach Bev Priestman for one year in response to the drone spying scandal that erupted this week.Kevin Durant and NBA Teams Key to Intellectual Property Disputes New Zealand filed a complaint on Monday after a drone appeared over the field as its women’s soccer team practiced ahead of its opening match versus Canada. Police tracked the drone...
Five Interesting Nuggets From the $10.3B NBA-Turner Contract
When Warner Bros. Discovery sued the NBA on Friday, it released nearly the entire text of their $10.3 billion broadcast contract, signed in October 2014, as part of its complaint.NBA Players Get Paid to Play in the Olympics--Just Not by the USOPC It’s rare for major league media deals to become the subject of state trial court lawsuits, and it’s equally rare for these 100-page contracts to become public documents. While lawyers will argue over the matching clause, which itself covers nearly 30 pages of the agreement, Sportico found some previously unreported details regarding other aspects of the deal. Here are the...
These Are the Content Olympics. Here’s What I’ve Learned on TikTok
As you’ve likely seen, cardboard beds are back at the Olympic Village. But have you heard about the special mattress toppers certain athletes have gotten—or the fact that the kids are trying to make Olympic Villa a thing? Did you know Simone Biles is giving out custom pins to adoring fellow Olympians? Have you learned about this year’s “floating” Olympic Village in Tahiti, or the Parisian bakery and game room that have each become hangouts for competitors? Gotten a glimpse of diving practice from the top of the 10-meter platform?ESPN Signs Social Media Star Omar Raja to Multiyear Extension For dedicated social media users, the answer to all the...
NCAA Settlement Lawyers Can Seek Cut of Athlete Revenue
The long-awaited, long-form settlement in House v. NCAA that was presented to a federal court Friday includes not only unique terms for how college athletes can get paid, but how their attorneys get compensated.NCAA House Settlement Handed to Judge as Reviews, Challenges Loom According to the parties’ stipulation and settlement agreement, the class counsel in the case—the law firms Hagens Berman and Winston & Strawn—can apply for a $20 million “upfront injunctive fee” paid by the defendants, as well as an annual percentage share of the revenue that schools will distribute to athletes over the next decade. This would then be deducted from...
NCAA House Settlement Handed to Judge as Reviews, Challenges Loom
Attorneys for the NCAA, power conferences and athletes represented by the House, Carter and Hubbard antitrust litigations filed a motion Friday for preliminary approval of a settlement agreement that would morph the upper echelon of college sports into pro sports.NCAA Settlement Lawyers Can Seek Cut of Athlete Revenue The motion follows the parties agreeing to a term sheet in May that intends to resolve the three antitrust lawsuits and comes on the heels of a recent delay in finalizing the terms. If it withstands judicial scrutiny, the agreement will obligate the NCAA and member schools to pay athletes about $2.8 billion over the next 10...
Sportico Transactions: Moves and Mergers Roundup for July 26
Welcome to Sportico’s transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships and products across the sports business industry.Sportico Transactions: Moves and Mergers Roundup for July 19 PERSONNEL New York Red Bulls Name Scott Epstein Head of Corporate Partnerships The New York Red Bulls have named Scott Epstein the head of corporate partnerships for the Major League Soccer club. In his role, Epstein will oversee all partnership opportunities for both the club and Red Bull Arena. This encompasses identifying new partnership opportunities including brand partners for venue naming rights, maximizing existing partnerships and business development opportunities. Prior to joining the Red Bulls, Epstein served...
TBS, Warner Bros. Discovery Sue NBA Over Loss of TV Deal
In a court filing at a New York trial court Thursday, TBS and Warner Bros. Discovery sued the NBA, NBA Media Ventures and NBA Properties.NBA Players Get Paid to Play in the Olympics--Just Not by the USOPC “You are hereby summoned to answer the complaint in this action and to serve a copy of your answer,” a summons written attorney David Yohai read. Yohai, a senior partner in the litigation department of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, is representing TBS and WBD. The complaint for the lawsuit was filed as a sealed document, though Sportico has obtained a redacted version. The plaintiffs contend WBD lawfully invoked...
Charles Barkley: NBA Chose Amazon’s Money Over Fans
As you’d expect, Charles Barkley had something to say about the end of the nearly four-decade relationship between Turner Sports and the NBA.NBA Players Get Paid to Play in the Olympics--Just Not by the USOPC The longtime TNT analyst and Basketball Hall of Famer issued a statement, lamenting that the league chose the money from tech titan Amazon over the fans. “Clearly, the NBA has wanted to break up with us from the beginning,” Barkley said in the statement, which was shared by TNT’s corporate sibling Bleacher Report. “I’m not sure TNT ever had a chance. TNT matched the money but the...
Ninjas in Pyjamas’ $20M IPO Is Latest Test of Esports Biz in Public Markets
Prominent esports franchise Ninjas in Pyjamas began public trading on Friday, the latest financial litmus test for an industry—and business model—still reeling from an investment boom and bust cycle.CVC IPO Offers Glimpse Into Private Equity Giant's Sports Strategy NIP Group, which owns Ninjas in Pyjamas, Chinese gaming org eStar and Chinese representation agency ESVF, is hoping to raise about $20.25 million from its IPO, according to SEC filings from this week. That’s 2.25 million shares at an IPO price of $9, at the bottom of the $9-$11 range listed in an F-1 filing earlier in the month. It will list on...
House v. NCAA Settlement: Plaintiffs Refine Their Complaint
Ahead of the expected court submission of a settlement agreement for In Re: College Athlete NIL Litigation, the plaintiffs’ attorneys on Friday afternoon filed—with the defendants’ consent— a second consolidated amended complaint that sought to formalize their challenge of both NIL restrictions and limits on “pay-for-play.” As a practical matter, the new filing is just a step in the legal process to submit the settlement for preliminary approval later Friday.NCAA Settlement Lawyers Can Seek Cut of Athlete Revenue The new version of the complaint brings together the various claims made against the NCAA and its conferences in the House, Carter and...
Paris Will Boost Brands as Olympic Marketing Shifts, Study Finds
The Super Bowl is not only competitive for the teams on the field but the brands that buy commercial spots and sponsorships for the big game. Yet even that single-day branding Shangri-La pales in comparison to the 18 days and nights of the Summer Olympics.Kevin Durant and NBA Teams Key to Intellectual Property Disputes On Wednesday, SponsorUnited published its 2024 Olympics Partnerships Preview, an analysis of the brands on full display during the Paris Games. The study broke down how leading brands such as Visa, Delta and Proctor & Gamble are using the Summer Games to boost consumer engagement. It also...
France Aims for Record Medal Haul Thanks to de Gaulle’s Disgust
At its home Olympic Games, France could collect the most medals in over a century, thanks largely to an athlete development system born from disgrace.NBA Players Get Paid to Play in the Olympics--Just Not by the USOPC In 1960, France returned from Rome with only five medals (25th overall among participating countries) and no golds for just the second time in the history of the modern Olympics. With postwar political instability at home and decolonization taking place overseas, French president (and former military officer) Charles de Gaulle determined the country couldn’t continue suffering defeats on playing fields as well. After all, Frenchman Pierre...
Team USA Spends $230 Million in Pursuit of Untapped Gold
By most measures, the U.S. sport climbing team had a successful showing at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. There were four Americans in the competition—no nation had more—and Team USA brought home one of the six medals awarded, a silver won by Nathaniel Coleman in the men’s combined event. Ooh La La: Opening Ceremony of Paris Olympics Draws 28.6M Viewers This year in Paris, however, expectations are higher. The U.S. was the only nation to fill all eight qualifying slots, and many of those climbers are ranked in the global top 10 in their disciplines. There are also double the medal...
Sports Media’s Merciless Evolution Leaves Cable TV Model Adrift
With apologies to Jon Landau, I have seen the future of cable television, and it is a suicidal penguin.NFL Sunday Ticket Lawsuit Could Change How Sports Are Streamed The flightless dandy in question waddles into the frame in the closing quarter of Werner Herzog’s 2007 documentary Encounters at the End of the World, which was filmed at an American research station in Antarctica. While the rest of the colony moseys over to a nearby feeding ground, the “deranged” penguin turns his back on his pals and treks straight for the interior of the continent. “With 5,000 kilometers ahead of him, he’s...
UFC and Fighters Want $335M Settlement, but Judge Might Slam It
“And the reality is the claim has little value. They should take—they’d be better off both taking the money, getting the injunctive relief … The world where that doesn’t happen is not in that fighter’s interests because I would tell that fighter if they were in my office, ‘You’re likely to lose. You’re likely to get nothing.’”NCAA Settlement Lawyers Can Seek Cut of Athlete Revenue – Eric Cramer, attorney for UFC fighters, bluntly urging U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware on July 12 to approve the $335 million settlement. When UFC and fighters in two class action lawsuits, Cung Le et al. v. Zuffa and Kajan Johnson...
NIL Collective Group Looks to Raise Dues, Members and DC Influence
The Collective Association, a trade group representing 42 NIL collectives (and counting), is planning to raise fees for many of its members early next year, with the hope of increasing its already-significant lobbying effort in Washington.NCAA Settlement Lawyers Can Seek Cut of Athlete Revenue TCA spent $80,000 on Congressional lobbying expenditures in the second quarter of 2024, according to disclosures recently filed with the House and Senate. That matches what the organization spent in Q1. By comparison, the Big Ten Conference spent $50,000 in the most recent quarter. Asked about his organization’s future influence-peddling plans, White said: “I don’t think it goes...
IOC Hotel Staff Strikes as Labor Pains Plague Paris Olympics
International Olympic Committee leaders got a proper introduction to France Thursday, as staff members at their Hôtel du Collectionneur reportedly protested for two hours, disrupting breakfast service, a day before the 2024 Olympics Opening Ceremony.House v. NCAA Settlement: Plaintiffs Refine Their Complaint According to the Union Départementale CGT Paris trade group, employees are pushing for their first raises since 2017 amid negotiations with hotel management. “We can’t wait for the workers of the world to discover our French way of striking,” UD CGT Paris posted online while saying that the IOC is paying €22 million to stay at the five-star hotel about a kilometer...
Vince Vaughn Buys Pickleball Club Coachella Valley Scorpions
Vince Vaughn is switching sports: He’s going from dodgeball to pickleball.Northwestern's Ex-AD Earned $1.2M After Fraught 9-Day Stint The award-winning Hollywood actor, who starred in 2004 comedy Dodgeball, has acquired a majority stake in the Coachella Valley Scorpions, one of 12 teams in the National Pickleball League. Vaughn is teaming up with Scorpions co-owner and NPL player Kim Jagd, who will remain as a minority owner once the transaction is complete. Vaughn joins an ownership group that also includes team CEO Rob Zwemmer, Ruth Ann Poppa and Don Zuker. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.MLP, PPA Pickleball Tours Complete Merger...
Dan Gilbert’s REG, Gray Media Form Rock Entertainment Sports Net
The over-the-air renaissance continues in sports media as Dan Gilbert’s Rock Entertainment Group (REG), the holding company for the Cleveland Cavaliers and other properties, is launching a sports platform with Gray Media called the Rock Entertainment Sports Network.NCAA Settlement Lawyers Can Seek Cut of Athlete Revenue The new venture will broadcast live games for several other teams under the REG umbrella—the Cleveland Charge (the Cavs’ NBA G League affiliate), the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, the Lake Erie Crushers of the Frontier League—as well as high school varsity sports. Games will be shown on Gray’s local affiliate stations in Cleveland (WUAB, WOIO) and...
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