Category Archives: ESPN

ESPN lands Sugar, Orange Bowls for perpetuity; Notre Dame, SEC, Big Ten part of Orange Bowl deal

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OK, the deals are only 12 years, but they might as well be forever. It is difficult to fathom that ESPN will lose any portion of the major bowls in anyone’s lifetime.

Yesterday, ESPN announced a 12-year deal with the Sugar Bowl. Today, it is the Orange Bowl’s turn.

Coming soon: Formal announcement that ESPN lands the new national title game, which begins in 2015.

As far as the Orange Bowl is concerned, the ACC champion will play an opponent from the SEC, Big Ten, or Notre Dame. According to ESPN.com’s Brett McMurphy, the SEC and Big Ten are guaranteed at least three appearances over 12 years: A maximum of two for Notre Dame.

 

 

Big deal: Bob Knight to call Indiana game Monday for ESPN

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Yes, it is true. Bob Knight will join Dan Shulman and Andy Katz for the Indiana-Georgia game Monday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

ESPN, which sends out a press release about everything, definitely low-keyed this one. Knight’s name showed up on the announcer schedule for its upcoming games. Whoa, there’s “The General” under Indiana.

Obviously, this is highly significant. This is the first Indiana game Knight has done since leaving Bloomington.

Does this signal that Knight is ready to reconcile with the school after all these years? Will his next Hoosier game be in Assembly Hall? Imagine that scene.

It will be interesting to see how Shulman handles Knight through the telecast. How much will they get into his feelings for Indiana?

You know they definitely will follow his every word in Indiana. How big of a deal is this?

I think Terry Hutchens of the Indianapolis Star put it best in this tweet:

Bob Knight on the IU-Georgia telecast Monday night in NYC? And pigs have been spotted flying in downtown Indy, too.

 

 

Forbes: ESPN is worth $40 billion; Reason why network corners market on sports rights

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When I went to ESPN’s headquarters in March, I asked them to take me to the place where they print money. They said it didn’t exist, although I did get to see the nice cafeteria, yet another profit center.

I didn’t believe them and my suspicions were confirmed after reading Kurt Badenhausen’s piece at Forbes.com. He writes that ESPN is worth $40 billion.

Yes, $40 billion. There isn’t another media property as valuable in the world.

Badenhausen writes:

Ad revenues at ESPN, now $3.3 billion, can fluctuate depending on the economy (total ESPN revenues, including the networks, magazine and website, are $10.3 billion). Affiliate fees, paid by cable companies to channel owners each month, have steadily grown 8% annually at ESPN in recent years. ESPN and ESPN2 are both in more than 100 million homes and command $5.13 and $0.68 per month, according to SNL Kagan. The next highest among widely available channels are TNT at $1.18 and Disney Channel at $0.99 says Kagan. The average fee for basic cable channels is $0.26.

ESPN’s money machine goes a long way in explaining why the network has locked up long-term rights deals with the NFL, MLB and virtually every major college conference. It is why ESPN will snag the new college football playoff for roughly $500 million per year, beginning in 2014. It even had some money left over to lure Darren Rovell away from CNBC.

Show me the money machine, ESPN. I know it’s there in Bristol.

 

 

 

 

Did ESPN really ‘forgive’ Bruce Pearl?

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Interesting choice of words from Bruce Pearl in an interview with Michael Hiestand of USA Today. Pearl talked about landing at ESPN as a basketball analyst after rules violations cost him his job at Tennessee in 2011.

He said:

“I realized I’d made a mistake that cost me my dream job,” says Pearl, recalling how he felt after being fired as Tennessee’s basketball coach in March, 2011. “I was hopeful that people would examine my career and evaluate me on my body of work on and off the court. I was hopeful for some grace, that it wouldn’t end my life in basketball. Because that’s all I’ve done for 33 years. I’m grateful to ESPN for forgiving me for my failure.”

Forgive? I don’t think that’s the right word. ESPN hired Pearl because he’s colorful and outspoken. This is about developing a potential break-through analyst, not forgiveness on ESPN’s part.

Forgiveness will have to come from coaches in his former fraternity when he does their games. I know one place where Pearl won’t be going: the Assembly Hall at the University of Illinois.

Don’t get me started.

 

Berman is no Blitzer: Toned-down version of Boomer to candidates

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It’s Election Day, and I asked ESPN senior vice-president Rob King what ESPN.com had in mind.

“We’re getting out of the way and funneling everything in that regard to ABC News,” King said.

That’s just as well, because this is the one day where the final numbers go way behind ESPN’s coverage area.

ESPN, though, did contribute one last blast to the election last night. Chris Berman interviewed Barack Obama and Mitt Romney during halftime of last night’s Monday Night Football game.

It did seem strange that the final interviews I saw with the candidates came during a football game. Then again, maybe not.

Monday Night Football often is the No. 1 or 2 show on that night in prime time, and usually is first in the all-important male demographic. Want to reach the most people on the night before the election? Go to ESPN and its 13-14 million viewers. Certainly beats another sitdown with Wolf Blitzer.

The selection of Berman to conduct the interviews shows that he’s still the main guy at ESPN, despite what the critics say. Clearly, though, the questions were well-scripted. It also was interesting to see the toned-down version of Berman in front of the candidates. Perhaps, he should try to act that way more often.

Anyone expecting any news to come out of the interviews was off base. This was a football game, and Berman asked sports-related questions. Very impressed that the President knew Bears cornerback Charles “Peanut” Tillman had a big game Sunday.

Basically, the interviews served as one last campaign ad for the candidates. ESPN was more than happy to give them the platform.

One final question: Will Berman be conducting the interviews in 2016?

 

 

 

It’ll be President Romney if ‘Redskin Rule’ holds true to form

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Update: OK, the Republicans have to feel good about Romney’s chances based on Carolina’s victory over Washington. Here’s my updated post from Friday.

******

Forget about all the analysis and polls and polls about polls.

The outcome of next Tuesday’s Obama-Romney rumble was decided at the Carolina-Washington game in D.C. Sunday.

So says Steve Hirdt, inventor of the “Redskins Rule.”

Hirdt, the executive vice-president for the Elias Sports Bureau, has determined that the outcome of the Redskins final home game prior to the election has predicted the winner of 17 of the last 18 elections; or 18 for 18 according to a Hirdt “revision” in 2004. If the Redskins win, the incumbent party remains in office. And if they lose, the other guys take control.

So Carolina’s victory bodes well for Romney, who will take everything he can get going into Tuesday.

I talked to Hirdt when he was in Chicago for the Bears-Detroit game. He has been crunching the numbers on Monday Night Football for 31 years, dating back to Howard Cosell and “Dandy Don” Meredith. He has terrific stories, and I’ll have more from my interview at a later date.

With the election coming up, we had to talk about the “Redskins Rule.” In 2000, while preparing for the Redskins-Tennessee game in D.C., Hirdt thought he should do something to link football to the upcoming George Bush-Al Gore election.

“I started to go through the Redskins press guides and look at the scores of the games,” Hirdt said. “And then I tried to figure out each year what happened off their last home game before the election. I went Democrats and Republicans, but it didn’t match up.

““Then I went with incumbents. I was shocked to see it lined up exactly right, that whenever the Redskins won their last home game prior to the presidential election, the incumbent party retained the White House, and whenever the Redskins lost their last home game prior to the election, the out-of-power party won the White House.”

Hirdt noted that Tennessee native Gore shouldn’t have been happy that the Titans won that night in D.C. “He should have been rooting for Tennessee to lose,” he said.

Tennessee’s victory foreshadowed a change in party in the White House, even if it took the Supreme Court to make it official.

“For the next 37 days of indecision, I said, ‘This has been settled already. The Redskins lost,'” he said.

The ‘Redskins Rule’ held true in 2008. Washington lost to Pittsburgh in its final home game before the election. And presto, Obama got the keys.

The only wrinkle was in 2004. The Redskins lost to the Packers in their last home game prior to the election, but Bush, the incumbent, remained in office.

Hirdt then did some playing with the numbers. He prefaced his remarks by saying, “With tongue firmly in cheek…”

“I went back and studied the ‘Redskins Rule’ data and what happened in 2004 was explained in 2000,” Hirdt said. “Because Al Gore actually won the popular vote in 2000 — but lost in the Electoral College – it reversed the polarity of the subsequent election. The opposite of the usual ‘Redskins Rule’ was true.

“Redskins Rule 2.0 established that when the popular vote winner does not win the election, the impact of the Redskins game on the subsequent presidential election gets flipped. So, with that, the Redskins’ loss in 2004 signaled that the incumbent would remain in the White House.”

OK, that may be a stretch. Besides, even 17 for 18 is fairly telling.

Hirdt talked about recently receiving a call from a Wall Street Journal reporter who was plugging NFL numbers into the computer in an attempt to find new election trends.

“I said do any of yours deal with the Washington and with the final score of the game,” Hirdt said. “‘No, he said. OK, the ‘Redskin Rule’ reigns supreme.'”

Here’s the breakdown compiled by ESPN. Keep in mind Hirdt’s “revision” in 2004:

Year Presidential Election Redskins game Redskins
Win/Lose		 Incumbent
Keep/Lose
White House
2012 Obama (D) vs. Romney (R) Redskins vs. Panthers TBD TBD
2008 Obama (D) defeats McCain (R) Steelers def. Redskins,
23-6		 Lose Lose
2004 Bush (R) def. Kerry (D) Packers def. Redskins,
28-14		 Lose Keep *
2000 Bush (R) def. Gore (D) Titans def. Redskins,
27-21		 Lose Lose
1996 Clinton (D) def. Dole (R) Redskins def. Colts,
31-16		 Win Keep
1992 Clinton (D) def. Bush (R) Giants def. Redskins,
24-7		 Lose Lose
1988 Bush (R) def. Dukakis (D) Redskins def. Saints,
27-24		 Win Keep
1984 Reagan (R) def. Mondale (D) Redskins def. Falcons,
27-14		 Win Keep
1980 Reagan (R) def. Carter (D) Vikings def. Redskins,
39-14		 Lose Lose
1976 Carter (D) def. Ford (R) Cowboys def. Redskins,
20-7		 Lose Lose
1972 Nixon (R) def. McGovern (D) Redskins def. Cowboys,
24-20		 Win Keep
1968 Nixon (R) def. Humphrey (D) Giants def. Redskins,
13-10		 Lose Lose
1964 Johnson (D) def. Goldwater (R) Redskins def. Bears,
27-20		 Win Keep
1960 Kennedy (D) def. Nixon (R) Browns def. Redskins,
31-10		 Lose Lose
1956 Eisenhower (R) def. Stevenson (D) Redskins def. Browns,
20-9		 Win Keep
1952 Eisenhower (R) def. Stevenson (D) Steelers def. Redskins,
24-23		 Lose Lose
1948 Truman (D) def. Dewey (R) Redskins def. Boston Yanks,
59-21		 Win Keep
1944 Roosevelt (D) def. Dewey (R) Redskins def. Rams,
14-10		 Win Keep
1940 Roosevelt (D) def. Willkie (R) Redskins def. Steelers,
37-10		 Win Keep

Boomer ka-boom: Sports Illustrated’s Deitsch blows up Berman, Stockton

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It’s hardly news that somebody is ripping Chris Berman. Who isn’t?

However, it is worth noting when ESPN’s biggest mouth gets obliterated by the nation’s largest sports magazine.

Richard Deitsch made sure he won’t be receiving any holiday cards from Berman. In his Media Circus column in the latest edition of Sports Illustrated, Deitsch ranked the best and worst of NFL announcers.

Under worst is “Chris Berman and anyone.” Deitsch writes:

“In a shameless attempt to sate a longtime employee’s desire to call an NFL game, ESPN foisted Berman on the football public for the Chargers-Raiders opener. Naturally, the broadcast featured predictable grunt-speak (“The Raaiddddaazz!”), outdated references (he name-checked former Raiders running back Marv Hubbard, who last suited up in 1977), and on a sack by San Diego’s Donald Butler, Berman bellowed, ‘The Butler did it in the conservatory with the lead pipe!’ As Dr. Z (Paul Zimmerman) once wrote about Joe Theismann, another broadcast butcher, ‘Personally, the whole thing makes me sick.'”

Yep, King Richard, you sure did take that lead pipe to Berman.

As for Deitsch’s other targets on the worst list, he probably should steer clear of Tony Siragusa (“Too much shtick and too little substance”) and Dick Stockton, whose constant mistakes are tarnishing his career.

On the best side, Deitsch lists Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth (“If only this pair could call every game”), Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts (“Underrated”), and Brad Nessler and Mike Maycock.

Agree on the bests.

 

 

Frank Caliendo: Move to ESPN opens new horizons; his dead-on video on Jon Gruden

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In an interview with AD Week, Frank Caliendo discusses how his move to ESPN allows him to expand his arsenal to include ESPN’s personalities. That includes this dead-on spoof of Jon Gruden.

From the interview:

Your new gig gives you an opportunity to bring more “voices” to the show. Who are you working on now?
Doing impressions of ESPN people was not an option before, so right there you have a whole bunch of huge personalities I haven’t had a chance to try on. So, I have Chris Berman down and I’ve been working on my [Ron] Jaworski, my Herm Edwards. One I’ve been having a lot of fun with is Jon Gruden.

It’s kind of weird to ask you to do an impression for a print Q&A, but…
[In Gruden’s voice] Yeah, well, you know the thing about Gruden is, he’s so positive, man. No matter what’s happening, he puts it in a positive light. [In his own voice] And the way he puts that inflection in his voice, that’s the key to getting his voice down.

 

New 30 for 30: Ghosts of Ole Miss about much more than football

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The latest 30 for 30 is yet another documentary you should be sure to watch with your kids. The film chronicles the 1962 Ole Miss football team’s undefeated season against the backdrop of the integration of the university.

It is told through the perspective of ESPN’s Wright Thompson, whose family in Mississippi once awoke to see a cross burning on their front lawn.

From ESPN.

ESPN Films’ 30 for 30, presented by Buick Verano, will premiere Ghosts of Ole Miss on ESPN/ESPNHD on Tuesday, October 30, at 8 p.m. ET. The film, directed by Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Fritz Mitchell, is told through the perspective of writer and Mississippi native Wright Thompson.

In the fall of 1962, on the eve of James Meredith becoming the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi, the campus erupted into a night of rioting between those opposed to the integration and those trying to enforce it. President Kennedy sent the US Army to Oxford to put an end to the violence and enforce Meredith’s rights as an American citizen, but the riot resulted in two deaths and many injuries.

Against this backdrop, the Ole Miss football team was in the early stages of what would prove to be an unprecedented season in school history. Ghosts of Ole Miss explores the intersection of the Rebel football team with this seminal event in the civil rights movement, including tumultuous events that not only continue to shape the state half a century later, but also led to Thompson’s discovery of a personal family connection to the story.

“Ghosts of Ole Miss will shed light on a significant time in our country’s civil rights history while weaving in a sports story not familiar to most,” said Connor Schell ESPN Films vice president and executive producer. “Fifty years later, the topic resonates with all Americans and we are proud to showcase such an important story as part of the 30 for 30 series.”

Ghosts of Ole Miss features personal interviews with James Meredith, former players on the 1962 football team and students who witnessed the riot.

“This story is very personal to me, and I appreciate the care Fritz Mitchell and his team put into getting it right,” said Wright Thompson. “I hope the powerful and important message of the film connects with both people who lived through the civil rights era and those for whom it is something that exists in history books.”

How TV gets made: A look at massive enterprise that is Monday Night Football

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You likely will sit in your easy chair tonight (do people still have easy chairs?) and flip on the Arizona-San Francisco game. You will listen to Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden, see all the replays and camera angles.

You will take it all for granted, and that’s just as well. How much thought do you give to how your car is made or what goes into your hot dog (you really don’t want to know)?

However, I got a chance to receive a behind-the-scenes look at ESPN’s Monday Night Football operation at Soldier Field last week. Make that, a huge operation. It gave me a new appreciation for what goes into the national telecast of a sporting event.

Occupying a large section in the bowels of the stadium, the Monday Night crew consists of credentialed production force of 250-300 people, 11 large 80,000-pound trucks, 35 cameras, and 25,000-35,000 feet of cable.

“Unless you see it up close, you can’t get a feel for the size of it,” said Steve Carter, who is ESPN senior operations director. “People take a look at all these cables, and say, ‘My goodness, this is big.'”

Speaking of the cables, I was sitting in the instant replay truck, looking at a massive board of connections. It literally was a wall of wires, seemingly randomly plugged in. I wondered if I pulled out one of them, would it take down the whole show?

I decided, not a good idea. I didn’t want to cause any headaches for Carter.

Carter is in his 13th year of making sure everything works when they flip the switch. He has a wonderful description for his job.

“I tell people, ‘Have you ever seen the parade for the circus?'” he said. “You see all the tigers, elephants and horses. And then there’s the guy with the shovel who gets to clean everything up. I’m the guy with the shovel.”

Carter, though, doesn’t appear to ruffle easily. He seemed pretty calm for a guy who endured a day of travel nightmares that left him with about an hour to spend at Soldier Field.

Perhaps Carter knows that it all works.

“It’s a controlled chaos,” Carter said. “There are a lot of pieces, but it all comes together. We’ve got such a good group of people. The great thing about this crew is that enough isn’t good enough. They always want to make it right.”

The biggest obstacle, Carter said, is the weather. The crew never had a bigger challenge than in 2010 when Metrodome roof collapse forced the Bears-Minnesota game to be played outdoors at the University of Minnesota’s college stadium.

“That was tough,” Carter said. “We always find ourselves having to adapt to the environment. Some challenges are more difficult than others, but we manage to get the job done.”

Here is one fact that got me: Carter said the entire operation will be torn down and on the road within three hours after the game. I don’t believe him. I can’t pack an overnight bag for a weekend trip in less than 30 minutes.

“Want to stick around and see?” Carter said.

I declined. I’m confident in the wee hours of the ESPN’s drivers had their trucks pulling onto Lake Shore Drive. All told, they’ll log more than 32,000 miles for the season.

They left Chicago and headed for Phoenix, and like Jackson Browne sang about the roadies, ready to do it all over again. After what I witnessed, I’ll be thinking of Carter and his crew Monday.

But you won’t, and that’s just as well.