The next College Football Playoff rights deal could include some games exclusively on streaming services. Plus: Byron Allen says Disney is not ready to sell ABC; CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus is retiring; and more, including the USFL-XFL merger.
Next CFP rights deal could include some streaming-exclusive games
The next College Football Playoff media rights deal could include some games exclusively on a streaming platform, CFP executive director Bill Hancock said Tuesday. Per Hancock, the CFP has already received presentations from five different television companies, with “four or five” others expressing interest. The current rights deal with ESPN expires at the end of the 2025-26 season.
The CFP plans to split rights among multiple broadcast partners in the next deal. ESPN has held exclusive rights since the playoff began in the 2014-15 season and previously held exclusive rights to the Bowl Championship Series. The only time in the history of the BCS or CFP that rights belonged to multiple companies was from 2008-11, when Fox Sports held rights to all BCS games except for the Rose Bowl — which continued to air on ABC. (ESPN.com 9.27)
Byron Allen says Disney not ready to sell ABC
The media executive Byron Allen, who made a $10 billion bid to acquire ABC, FX and the Nat Geo networks from Disney, said a a conference this week that the company is “not ready yet” to sell the networks. Allen: “Bob [Iger] has said they’re not ready yet. … He’s brought in some excellent consultants, Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs. And they just said look, we’re not ready.”
Iger over the summer signaled Disney’s willingness to part ways with its linear networks, ESPN excluded. In addition to Allen, Nexstar has expressed interest in acquiring ABC.
Allen’s comments followed a New York Post report last week that poured cold water on the possibility of a sale. Sources cited by the Post noted that Disney has not taken any formal steps toward a sale and that the company had told one prospective bidder — a private equity firm — that it was merely evaluating its options with ABC and had not begun a sales process. (CNBC 9.27, NYP 9.21)
CBS Sports’ McManus retiring in April
CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus will retire in April, it was announced this week, ending a 28-year tenure with the company. McManus became CBS Sports president in 1996, when the sports division was arguably at its lowest point following its loss of NFL rights to FOX. While president of CBS Sports, he took on the same position at CBS News from 2005-11 — joining ABC’s Roone Arledge as the only executives to ever hold both positions at a network at the same time.
The son of legendary ABC Sports voice Jim McKay, he began his career as a production assistant and associate producer at ABC Sports in 1977 and later served a vice president in charge of sports programming at NBC in the 1980s.
McManus will be replaced by current CBS Sports president David Berson. (CBS Sports PR)
Plus: USFL-XFL merger, McDonough, Melas
— The USFL and XFL officially announced their intent to merge Thursday, marking the latest transformation in the spring football space in the mere five years since the Alliance of American Football launched in 2019. The announcement included no further details, but prior reporting indicates that the merged league will operate under a new name and that at least two of the leagues’ incumbent broadcasters — USFL owner Fox Sports and XFL broadcaster ESPN — will be involved. (USFL/XFL PR)
— ESPN NHL and college football voice Sean McDonough will be one of the play-by-play voices on the company’s coverage of the MLB Wild Card Series, replacing Dave Flemming. The voice of the 1992 and 1993 World Series for CBS, McDonough regularly called baseball games for ESPN when the network still carried a regular slate of weeknight games. (ESPN PR)
— Tas Melas, the basketball blogger and podcaster perhaps best known as one of “The Starters” on NBA TV from 2013-19, is recovering from injuries suffered when he was struck by a vehicle last week, according to a fundraiser posted on his behalf. (GoFundMe 9.26)
