Sports Media Watch presents 20 notable sports media stories of the year 2013. Today, #10-#6, including a huge scoop, a surprising TV deal, and a messy split for a college conference.
#10: Deadspin Breaks Te’o Story
Deadspin broke one of the most bizarre sports stories of all-time in January when the website reported that Manti Te’o’s dead girlfriend never existed. A media favorite during Notre Dame’s 2012 run to the BCS title game, Te’o attracted considerable coverage not only for his play, but also his resilience in the face of tragedy — specifically the loss of both his grandmother and girlfriend on the same day. While most media outlets took the tale at face value, rumblings began in early January that Te’o’s girlfriend had never existed. ESPN first began looking into the story on January 10, but internal debate over whether to secure an interview with Te’o caused the network drag its feet (NYT, 1/22/13). Deadspin was able to beat ESPN to the punch, publishing its exposé on January 16. It was arguably the biggest scoop in the history of the website, touching off weeks of national media coverage.
#9: Super Bowl Blackout
Delays are nothing new in big time sports, but the Super Bowl is a different animal. The highest profile event in the United States is so meticulously planned that the half-hour power outage that took place during this year’s game was frankly stunning. CBS was left stalling for time after the lights went out, a situation exacerbated by the inability to get Jim Nantz and Phil Simms back on-air. The network had to rely on sideline analysts Steve Tasker and Solomon Wilcots, and later, the “NFL Today” studio crew, to wing it in front of 106.6 million viewers — a situation later lampooned on “Saturday Night Live.” Of note, the network did not have an actual reporter (e.g., a Michele Tafoya, Pam Oliver, or Lisa Salters) as part of its game coverage, with Tracy Wolfson only making a brief appearance during the outage.
#8: TBS Gets Final Four Semis Early
The NCAA’s Final Four was always going to move to cable – TBS will begin airing the three-game package every other year beginning in 2016 – but Turner Sports managed to expedite the process this year. The NCAA Tournament TV deal included an option that would have begun the every-other-year rotation in 2014, as opposed to 2016. Instead, CBS and Turner came to a shrewd compromise. TBS will get the national semifinals (e.g., the Saturday Final Four games) in 2014 and 2015, and the national title game will remain on CBS in both years. In essence, CBS gave Turner the 2015 semifinal games in exchange for the 2014 championship game. As part of the two-year arrangement, Sports Business Journal reported, Turner Sports plans to simulcast next year’s semifinal games on TBS, TNT and TruTV. The latter two networks are set to carry team-specific broadcasts (SBJ, 11/18/13).
#7: Fox Sports Lands U.S. Open
One of the biggest surprises of 2013 was Fox Sports swooping in to steal golf’s U.S. Open from NBC and ESPN. FOX has never before aired a major golf tournament – or much golf at all – but the launch of Fox Sports 1 has prompted the organization to broaden its already considerable portfolio. The USGA, meanwhile, viewed the deal as an opportunity to revitalize U.S. Open television coverage – the not-so-subtle implication being that NBC was too staid a partner. The USGA/FOX deal was not without backlash. As Golf Digest noted, NBC bristled at the implication that FOX – which, again, has never televised golf – would be an improvement over a network for whom golf has been a decades-long tradition. Meanwhile, the PGA of America was upset over the timing of the announcement, which was made on the eve of the PGA Championship.
#6: Big East TV Drama
The Big East Conference did not lack for drama in 2013, splitting in two and touching off two separate bidding wars. It all started late last year, when the Big East’s basketball-only schools announced plans to leave the conference. The so-called “Catholic 7” conference became a hot commodity, and Fox Sports led wire-to-wire in the race to acquire television rights. Meanwhile, the remaining Big East schools struggled to save face after an embarrassing TV rights negotiation. The conference rejected a $130 million/year deal from ESPN in 2011, only to accept over $100 million less after ESPN matched NBC Sports’ $20M/year offer. The “Catholic 7” eventually took the Big East name, and the old Big East rebranded as the American Athletic Conference. The biggest loser in the convoluted mess (other than the old Big East) was NBC, the only major network to completely whiff on acquiring rights to either conference. FOX had the Big East, ESPN had the AAC, and CBS – which reached sublicensing deals with FOX and ESPN – had both.
The #5-#2 stories of 2013 will be posted on Monday, December 23.
