Local broadcasts for the Nationals will be produced and disseminated by MLB; SailGP signs an extension with CBS Sports; and a reported complication with TikTok’s new FIFA deal. Plus news on Kirk Cousins, Asad Ayaz, Paul Bissonnette and Michael Irvin.
Nationals to partner with MLB for local game broadcasts
The Washington Nationals announced that local games will be produced and disseminated by Major League Baseball beginning next season, officially moving on from Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) after 21 years. With the move, the Nationals become the seventh team to join the MLB media consortium.
“The past year marked a significant turning point in our relationship with the Nationals, and we had been optimistic about continuing this productive partnership,” Greg Bader, EVP/GM of MASN, said in a statement provided to Sports Media Watch. “We respect their decision to move forward independently and will ensure a professional and coordinated transition. MASN will continue to operate as the Orioles’ rights holder throughout our seven-state region.” The MASN2 overflow channel will not be continuing, Sports Media Watch has confirmed, although an exact date for its sunset has not been announced.
Nationals games will be available on a new “Nationals.TV platform” in addition to outlets on cable and satellite television. Consumers can purchase subscriptions to Nationals.TV when sales begin in February, although it is unknown if that would take place before the MASN deal officially expires on Saturday, Feb. 28. The team is slated to begin spring training games one week earlier, starting with split-squad play at home against the Houston Astros and away versus the St. Louis Cardinals.
In addition to the change in networks, the Nationals will also have a new sound next year following the retirement of longtime play-by-play announcer Bob Carpenter after last season. Chelsea Janes of The Washington Post reported that the Nationals plan to hire Alexa Datt as a sideline reporter, citing “multiple people familiar with the team’s plans.” Janes also reported that color commentator and former MLB infielder Kevin Frandsen is expected to return. Mark Zuckerman, who covers the Nationals for MASN’s website, revealed in a social media post that he will continue covering the team for the company until the end of the month when his employment concludes.
SailGP inks two-year extension with CBS Sports
SailGP has signed its first multiyear television agreement in the United States, inking a two-year extension with Paramount-owned CBS Sports that goes through 2027. The international catamaran sailing league was co-founded by Larry Ellison in 2018, father of Paramount chairman David. The elder Ellison invested $6 billion in financing for the merger between Paramount Global and his son’s Skydance Media. Ellison is among the richest people in the world and a competitive sailor whose team won the America’s Cup in 2010.
Under the rights extension, CBS Sports platforms will present over 50 hours of Rolex SailGP Championship coverage every year. Nine total broadcast windows are scheduled for the CBS broadcast network this year, three of which will occur on dates to be determined in October, November and December. It stands to reason that at least some of those fall dates will air adjacent to NFL singleheader windows.
In one of those NFL-adjacent windows this past fall, SailGP touted an average of 3.469 million U.S. viewers on CBS for “The Race to Abu Dhabi” — that was the most-watched sailing broadcast in the United States since the 1992 America Cup. (That comes with the obvious caveats of expanded coverage for Nielsen out-of-home measurement to 100% of the contiguous United States, along with the implementation of Big Data + Panel as official currency.)
The racing entity previously announced plans to expand to a 13th team for the 2026 season, and CEO Russell Coutts said last April that it plans to add a 14th team in the next year. Dan Sheldon of The Athletic wrote last July that the league is planning expansion to 16 teams and has set a cap of 20.
TikTok reportedly needs to reach separate pact with Fox to live stream parts of World Cup matches
Neither FIFA nor TikTok consulted Fox Sports before reaching an agreement to make the social media app the “preferred platform” for this coming summer’s World Cup, according to a report by John Ourand of Puck. The TikTok deal includes the right to live stream portions of matches, which would necessarily infringe upon Fox Sports’ exclusive U.S. video rights.
Ourand reported that TikTok will need to reach a separate pact with Fox, but that is complicated by ongoing negotiations between Fox and a “rival social media platform.” The ultimate resolution is that TikTok is unlikely to have exclusivity for the live streams or for any “extended in-game highlights in the United States.” Fox reached deals with then-Twitter in past iterations of the tournament, including producing the “FIFA World Cup Now” studio program on the platform for the last two FIFA Men’s World Cup competitions and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
FIFA and TikTok previously worked together three years ago during the Women’s World Cup. The companies are jointly introducing a program through which select global TikTok creators can gain access to attend training sessions and press conferences.
Fox announced its plans for World Cup coverage last fall, with its broadcast network set to carry 69 matches. With the event being hosted primarily in the United States for the first time since 1994, and given the changes in Nielsen methodology that have occurred since the last World Cup, it is widely expected to be the most-watched edition of the tournament.
Plus: Kirk Cousins, Asad Ayaz, Paul Bissonnette, Michael Irvin
- Atlanta Falcons QB Kirk Cousins will serve as a guest analyst on “The NFL Today” during the Divisional Round and AFC Championship, it was announced Wednesday. Former NFL OL and CBS Sports analyst Kyle Long is going to be on the show as well as it moves forward without Matt Ryan, who recently became the Falcons’ president of football.
- The Walt Disney Company has introduced an enterprise marketing and brand organization to be led by Asad Ayaz, who was named the company’s chief marketing and brand officer on Wednesday. Ayaz, who has worked at Disney for more than 20 years, will report to Disney CEO Bob Iger and segment chairs and oversee the marketing efforts of Disney Entertainment, Disney Experiences and ESPN
- TNT Sports analyst Paul Bissonnette has signed a multiyear extension to remain part of the network’s NHL studio team alongside Liam McHugh, Anson Carter, Henrik Lundqvist and Wayne Gretzky. Bissonnette, who joined the network when it acquired NHL U.S. media rights in 2021, will also serve as a game analyst for the first time this Wednesday night for TNT’s coverage of Flyers-Sabres.
- Netflix is launching a new, twice-weekly original sports podcast titled “The White House with Michael Irvin,” the company revealed on Wednesday. Irvin will lead the program with a co-host rotation that includes fellow Netflix NFL Christmas Day analyst Brandon Marshall, whose production company is serving as a partner for the program.
