The owner of the Los Angeles Angels says he is undecided as to how the team will proceed with its local broadcasts this season. Plus: the WNBA and its players are no closer to an agreement on a revenue split as the “11th hour” approaches; midweek races may be “on the table” again for NASCAR; and more.
Angels owner undecided about ceding local rights to MLB
Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno told reporters at Spring Training Friday that he is undecided as to whether the team will cede production and distribution of its local game telecasts to Major League Baseball, with a decision coming by the end of next week. “A lot of teams have gone to MLB and I haven’t done it yet,” he told reporters at Spring Training, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register. “I’m not telling you I won’t do it. We’re still working on it.”
Moreno, who noted the revenue hit the Angels have taken since the Main Street RSNs were sold by Fox in 2017, gave assurances that the team will “be on TV” this season — but added that it “hasn’t been easy.”
The Angels are one of nine teams who began the offseason under contract with Main Street Sports Group — operator of the FanDuel Sports Network RSNs — before opting out in January amid uncertainty over the company’s future. Of those teams, seven have joined MLB’s in-house production arm, which will produce and distribute games for 14 teams this season. MLB will also handle digital distribution for an additional seven teams, including the Angels.
Unlike the other ex-Main Street teams, the Angels share ownership of their RSN, FanDuel Sports Network West. According to Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal earlier this month, the team has considered buying out Main Street, taking over the RSN, and even paying a rights fee to the NHL Kings to remain with network. The other Main Street team yet to announce future plans is the Braves, who are also believed to be weighing the launch of their own RSN.
WNBA, players, no closer to agreement on revenue split
The WNBA and its players union exchanged revised proposals for a new collective bargaining agreement this week, but appear no closer to agreement on how to split league revenue, according to multiple reports Saturday. As has been the case throughout negotiations, the players continue to seek a cut of the league’s gross revenue, while the league is proposing that they receive a cut of net revenue instead.
While the players are said to have softened their most recent proposal Tuesday — dropping their share of gross revenue from over 30 percent to 25 — the league continues to offer a share of net revenue that would equal less than 15 percent of the gross, per Alexa Philippou of ESPN.
There is increasing urgency regarding the stalled CBA negotiations. While the players have yet to call a strike and the owners have given no indication that they plan to impose a lockout, the sides did agree to a moratorium on league business last month that would have to be lifted soon in order to begin the season as scheduled May 8.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said at the league’s All-Star Weekend that the WNBA negotiations are “getting awfully close to the 11th hour.” Though the WNBA has its own commissioner, Cathy Engelbert, she reports to Silver. The previous NBA commissioner, David Stern, was heavily involved in the 2003 CBA negotiations; it was his threat to cancel the upcoming season that was the catalyst for an eventual deal.
NASCAR president open to schedule changes, mentions midweek races
Appearing on Puck’s “The Varsity” podcast last week, NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell told host John Ourand that that the organization is not locked into its current scheduling format, mentioning any number of hypothetical changes — including midweek races — as being “on the table” for future years. “Is there a number of races that would make more sense [than the current 36]? Could it be 30? Could it be more? Could you have midweek races that you [use to] shorten the season? I would say all that’s on the table.”
NASCAR introduced midweek races on-the-fly during the COVID-altered 2020 season, and they were among the least-watched Cup Series races this century. There have been none since, even though the concept had been floated for years previously. But given the poor ratings can be attributed at least in part to the industry-wide collapse in sports viewership during COVID — which affected even the Super Bowl — it is not too surprising to see some appetite for revisiting the effort.
Any changes, particularly any reduction of the schedule, would have to wait until the end of the current NASCAR media rights deals in 2031. O’Donnell told Ourand that discussions are already ongoing about potential schedule changes around that time.
O’Donnell: “I would not lock us in for the foreseeable future. We have contracts, obviously, with our existing media partners — which we’re excited about — but long term, I think it’s something to look at and really deliver what fans want.”
Plus: Wes Rucker, Joey Knight, Boardroom layoffs, Closing Ceremony
- Wes Rucker, who chronicled University of Tennessee athletics for more than 25 years, died Thursday in a car accident. He was 43. Perhaps best known nationally through his 15-year run with 24/7 Sports, Rucker was a fixture in Tennessee sports media and a longtime contributor to Knoxville NBC affiliate WBIR — most recently as host of the “10 at 3” podcast, which he recorded on the day of his passing.
- Longtime Tampa-based sportswriter Joey Knight passed away Friday at age 57 after battling cancer. Knight began his career with the Tampa Tribune and, after that publication shut down in 2016, shifted to the Tampa Bay Times.
- The Kevin Durant-backed company Boardroom has parted ways with three writers, the company announced Saturday. That would mark a far smaller contingent than was indicated earlier in the day, when reporter Phil Lewis posted that the company had laid off its “full editorial team.” The site’s co-founder, Durant’s agent Rich Klieman, criticized “false reporting” in a statement Saturday.
- NBC announced Friday that its figure skating broadcast team of Terry Gannon, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir will host Sunday’s Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony, marking their fifth-straight Olympics anchoring the event. Gannon also hosted the Opening Ceremony, making him the first host to anchor both events since Bob Costas in 2012.
