My latest Chicago Tribune column is on a landmark anniversary for Comcast SportsNet Chicago.

You also can access the column at my Twitter feed @Sherman_Report.

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When Comcast SportsNet launched on Oct. 1, 2004, the Blackhawks barely registered in Chicago. It didn’t even matter that a NHL strike wiped out the entire 2004-05 season. The ratings wouldn’t have been much higher if the Blackhawks were actually playing games.

Fast forward to 2014, and Blackhawks games now produce the highest ratings among the Bulls, Cubs, and White Sox on CSN–often, by far.

So as CSN celebrates its landmark 10^th anniversary this week, the improbable rise of the Blackhawks illustrates just how difficult it is to predict where the channel is headed in the next decade.

“There are so many possibilities out there right now,” said Phil Bedella, vice-president and general manager of CSN.

The network has come a long way in its first 10 years. When it debuted in 2004, CSN was operating out of make-shift studios at CLTV in Oak Brook, with directors and producers working from production trucks in the parking lot. Now it has a modern operation in Chicago that also includes a large digital presence.

Under long-time president Jim Corno, whose presence still is felt even after he died last December, CSN became the nation’s first regional network to be owned by multiple pro teams. They essentially eliminated the middle man, which had been Fox, in forging their own deal with Comcast.

While Bedella won’t divulge figures, he says the arrangement has impacted the bottom line for the Bulls, White Sox, Cubs and Blackhawks.

“I can say this business definitely has lived up to the expectations for the partners in terms of profitability, promotion and coverage of the teams,” Bedella said.

Bedella contends the set-up also has benefitted Chicago sports fans. CSN airs more than 400 games per year, plus comprehensive studio shows, documentaries, and specials.

“Having one stop for all things Chicago sports is terrific,” Bedella said. “We don’t just cover one team. We cover all the teams.”

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The uncertainty in the future:

Cubs decision: It is fairly clear that Cubs would like to go solo with their own network, beginning in 2020. There are many market factors that will determine whether the Cubs eventually go that route, but if they do, it would leave a big programming hole for CSN.

Bedella, who is monitoring the situation, chooses his words carefully.

“Our hope is for all the teams to stay together,” Bedella said. “I think we’re stronger with all four teams. Time will tell if everyone chooses to embrace the model, or if one of the teams will want to have its own voice in the marketplace. A lot will play out in the next five years.”

Yesterday, Derek Jeter announced one of his plans for retirement. The future Hall of Famer who always measured his words, is launching a website to provide athletes with an “unfiltered” resource to express their views.

In a note on the site, Jeter explained the new Players Tribune:

I realize I’ve been guarded. I learned early on in New York, the toughest media environment in sports, that just because a reporter asks you a question doesn’t mean you have to answer.  I attribute much of my success in New York to my ability to understand and avoid unnecessary distractions. 

I do think fans deserve more than “no comments” or “I don’t knows.” Those simple answers have always stemmed from a genuine concern that any statement, any opinion or detail, might be distorted. I have a unique perspective. Many of you saw me after that final home game, when the enormity of the moment hit me. I’m not a robot. Neither are the other athletes who at times might seem unapproachable. We all have emotions. We just need to be sure our thoughts will come across the way we intend. 

So I’m in the process of building a place where athletes have the tools they need to share what they really think and feel.  We want to have a way to connect directly with our fans, with no filter.

I am working with other athletes, with editors and with producers to create a platform that gives us a chance to say what’s on our minds. It’s called The Players’ Tribune. Over the next few months, we’ll be introducing a strong core of athlete editors and contributors who will shape the site into an online community filled with first-person stories and behind-the-scenes content.

My goal is for the site to ultimately transform how athletes and newsmakers share information, bringing fans closer than ever to the games they love.

This morning, Russell Wilson was introduced as The Players Tribune first “senior editor.” Pretty good starting out on the senior level.

We’ve heard for years about athletes bypassing the messenger (reporters) and delivering the message themselves. It’s already done in many ways via social media and other outlets.

Yet will Jeter’s site really satisfy the public in terms of what they get from their heroes? Writes Matt Yoder of Awful Announcing:

There are immediate questions with regards to the launch of The Players’ Tribune.  First of all, we’ve seen these athlete blogs and websites come and go before.  Second, with such a robust editorial team behind the project, are we truly going to get something unfiltered?  Just how many chefs are going to be in the kitchen when it comes to producing content at The Players’ Tribune?

Indeed, fans want the truth and substance. They don’t want PR vehicles for their players.

It will be interesting to see how much “real stuff” is delivered by The Players Tribune. If the stories aren’t nothing more than glorified first-person press releases, then it won’t be much better than getting a “no comment” or “I don’t know” from Derek Jeter.

Congrats on the new deal. The youngest 75-year old anyone will ever know.

The official word from ESPN:

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Hall of Famer Dick Vitale, one of sport’s most influential and recognizable personalities, has reached a new contract extension with ESPN to continue as a college basketball analyst with the company through 2016-17. Vitale will call some of the season’s top games across ESPN networks, including regular-season action primarily on ESPN and ESPN2 and the Men’s Final Four for ESPN International. The agreement was announced by John Wildhack, ESPN Executive Vice President, Production and Programming.

“Dick is the ultimate ambassador who has always recognized the importance of both educating and entertaining the audience,” Wildhack said. “He puts his heart and soul into everything he does – his work, his life, his family – and we are all better for it.  We are thrilled to have his unmistakable presence on ESPN for years to come.”

Vitale added, “I am just so honored to be at ESPN for over three decades. I am absolutely thrilled, at my relatively young age of 75, ESPN feels I am still passionate enough to talk about a game I love, college basketball.  I am just so grateful to be part of the ESPN family. Without ESPN, there would no Dickie V; there would be no Hall of Fames.  I am forever indebted to them.”

Vitale joined ESPN during the 1979-80 season — just after the network’s September 1979 launch — following a successful coaching career.  He called ESPN’s first-ever major NCAA basketball game – Wisconsin at DePaul on Dec. 5, 1979 (a 90-77 DePaul win).  Since then, he’s called more than a thousand games.

The Bears beat writers in Chicago rue the day Inside The NFL decided to take on Brandon Marshall as an analyst. That means they are on call on Tuesday nights to monitor if the receiver makes news on the show.

Marshall did again last night. He admitted he was wrong to blow off the media after the Bears’ loss to Green Bay on Sunday. He also acknowledged that he has been unavailable for interviews this year.

The segment included Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason, playing the mentor role, chastising Marshall for ducking the media.

The Chicago Tribune’s Dan Weiderer had Marshall duty last night. He transcribed the exchange:

Marshall: When the media asks for your time, you better give it to them.

Boomer Esiason: Why is that?

Greg Gumbel: Yeah, why? Why’d you do that (snub the media) anyway?

Marshall: They’re killing me right now. They’re killing me right now. But, I have to say, these people in Chicago have really treated me good. And I need to give them more. I tried to channel my inner-Marshawn Lynch (by not talking.) And it didn’t work for me. It didn’t work for me.

Esiason: Yeah, but why? I know it was a tough game and we’ve all been through that. And you can stand there in front of your locker when you win and it’s great. But you have to do it (after losses too). It’s your responsibility as a team leader to do it when you lose.

Marshall: Well, I haven’t done it all year. Honestly. I haven’t done it. I didn’t do it in camp. And I didn’t do it this year. And they have really been hounding me for the past three weeks. And I’ve got to give them a little more. That is my job.

Esiason: OK, so we’re good now?

Marshall: Yeah. We’re good.

Gumbel: You have a winning personality. So really what’s your problem talking to them?

Marshall: Man, it’s just something about the Green Bay Packers. And I’ve got to do a better job like I said.

Phil Simms: Yeah, it’s part of the job now. It really is part of the job. Quarterbacks, stars of a football team, which you are, you have to go out (and talk). You know what? You can be like a politician. You can go out there and talk to them for 10 minutes and say nothing. You really can.

Marshall: Well, I mean, I’ve done a great job of that my whole career. But these past few months I really haven’t talked to the media at all. I really haven’t. I thought, you know, ‘I’m on Showtime now.’ I’m all over the place. You do “A Football Life” on me on (NFL Network). It’s like, man the people don’t need to see my face anymore.’ So it didn’t work.

Gumbel: We’re actually hearing more from you than most people have all season.

Marshall: Yeah, I know, I know.

Simms: We all learn. It’s a lesson learned. So we all learn our lessons along the way.

Esiason: Just know this. The Bears fans want to hear from you after you win or lose. They want to hear from you. That’s all there is to it.

Of course, Weiderer is skeptical Marshall will follow through with what he said on the show.

The Bears’ standout receiver continues to be mercurial and unpredictable with the media both after games and during the week. And the team continues grappling to find productive ways to facilitate his media obligations — the ones that don’t exist on TV sets in New York with healthy compensation attached.

We’ll see what, if anything, Marshall has to say at Halas Hall this week as the Bears prepare to face Carolina in Week 5.

The good news is that the ratings only can go up for the Cubs and White Sox. It is hard to imagine them getting much lower.

For the most part, viewers tuned out both teams during their 73-89 seasons. According to Sports Business Daily, the Cubs and Sox ranked among the bottom 5 for the lowest ratings on local regional sports cable networks.

The Sox were at 1.15 on Comcast SportsNet, which actually was a 4 percent increase from 2013. However, they only were ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Houston Astros, both of which had limited access to their networks because of distribution problems.

The Cubs, meanwhile, were the fifth lowest at 1.5 on CSN, down 6 percent from 2013; 1 local ratings point is the equivalent of 35,000 homes.

WGN-Ch. 9 does not disclose ratings information for the Cubs and White Sox, but the final numbers likely mirror what occurred on CSN.

The highest rating for both teams was a 3.37 for the Cubs-White Sox game on May 5. The Cubs have some hope for a turnaround based on their game against Milwaukee on Sept. 3, which did a 3.2 rating. An estimated 115,000 homes tuned in to watch young prospects Jorge Soler, Javier Baez and Kyle Hendricks.

This is way overdue.

Bloomberg News reports:

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday will vote on whether to eliminate a decades-old rule that has prohibited pay-TV providers from airing some home sports games, such as NFL football games, if the tickets to those games did not sell out.

Four of five FCC commissioners, including Chairman Tom Wheeler, have publicly indicated support for ending the policy, which is known as a sports blackout rule and is backed by the broadcasters and the National Football League.

And:

Only two NFL games, or less than 1 percent, were blacked out as a result of the rule last season and none so far this year, according to the NFL. In several instances, some businesses helped avoid blackouts by buying blocks of unsold tickets.

“The sports blackout rules are a bad hangover from the days when barely 40 percent of games sold out and gate receipts were the league’s principal source of revenue,” Wheeler wrote in a recent newspaper opinion piece, saying the policy hurt fans.

“The NFL no longer needs the government’s help to remain viable,” Wheeler wrote in USA Today on Sept. 9.

 

 

It would seem the Golf Channel would be more than enough to satisfy people like me who love/hate the game. But here comes a new entry.

The Back9Network kicks off today in 20 million homes on DirecTV. Obviously, the new network hopes to extend its reach, and that would include cutting a deal with Comcast, which owns the Golf Channel.

According to the advance PR, Back9Network will be more about the lifestyle and off-beat element of golf, and less about breaking down why the U.S. sucked again in the Ryder Cup.

From a release: “(The network will feature) nearly 1,100 hours of original programming in its first year, including 10 original primetime series, live morning, midday, and evening shows, as well as a variety of golf lifestyle programming covering travel, real estate, food, fashion, courses and equipment.”

Will there be an audience for two networks on golf? You would think Back9Network is facing a 925-yard, par 5, but there is a some serious money behind this endeavor, suggesting somebody knows something.

In case you were wondering what happened to Ahmad Rashad, here’s your answer: He’s on the Back9Network.

“The Ahmad Rashad Show:  Golf lifestyle show about living the Back9 and all that it entails. Host Ahmad Rashad takes viewers behind the scenes and away from the glare of the spotlight as he hangs out with the biggest names in sports and entertainment.”

No surprise, an early guest will be his best buddy, Michael Jordan.

Here’s a rundown of some of the shows and personalities who will be featured on the network. Best wishes to my old pal, Jeff Rude, who never is at a loss for words.

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BACK9NETWORK, the 24/7 golf lifestyle network, announced  the addition to its talent roster of Shane Bacon, Erica Bachelor, Matty Blake, Caite Upton, Jeff Rude, John Maginnes, and Will Christien. The group of on-air personalities will headline the network’s studio shows as the network debuts on DIRECTV on September 29th. BACK9NETWORK, located on DIRECTV channel 262, will launch with nearly 1,100 hours of original programming in its first year including midday and evening studio shows entitled “The Turn,” “Off-Par” and “The Clubhouse.”

“While we will certainly pay attention to professional golf’s leaderboard, our coverage will focus on the lifestyle of the game where golf enthusiasts are spending their time and money — the courses and resorts they can play, the latest fashion, gadgets and equipment, and the behind-the-scenes stories that will highlight the personalities and characters that make golf so much fun,” said Scot Thor, Senior VP of Programming, BACK9NETWORK. “We’re dedicated to introducing lifestyle entertainment to the game of golf while respecting its values and traditions, and we’ve brought on some incredibly talented people to emphasize the depth, humility and humor in the game.”

BACK9NETWORK’S flagship hour of golf, pop culture, debate, and entertainment will be delivered on “The Turn,” which will premiere Monday, September 29th. Co-hosted by Shane Bacon and Erica Bachelor, “The Turn” will air on BACK9NETWORK daily at Noon and 7 PM Eastern.

Bacon, a veteran cbssports.com and Yahoo! Sports golf writer, and Bachelor, former E! Network host, will tackle the industry’s biggest topics by blending news, analysis and user-generated content with behind-the-scenes perspectives from the game’s most colorful icons and personalities.

“Golf is a universal sport that tends to stick with people as they grow older, and I can’t wait to join a group that remembers that first and foremost, golf should be fun,” said Bacon.

Co-hosted by acclaimed comedian and actor Matty Blake, and American model Caite Upton, “Off Par” is an inventive look at the world of golf and entertainment, with a comedic twist. Blake, Upton, and a rotating cast of characters will deliver free-flowing laughs in the form of viral internet videos, user-generated social media content, golf-themed skits, and guest appearances by other comedians. The program will air weeknights at 8PM Eastern.

“I’ve long said there’s a difference between loving the game of golf and taking it too seriously. BACK9NETWORK gets it,” said Blake. “I can’t wait to get started and share my thoughts on everything golf and pop-culture.”

Former PGA Tour pro John Maginnes, former Golfweek Senior Writer Jeff Rude, and women’s extreme sports championWill Christien will co-host “The Clubhouse” which will air on weeknights at 10 PM Eastern. The playful banter of Christien, Maginnes, and Rude will echo the conversations one would hear at the 19th hole.  The trio’s no-holds-barred conversations will cover the latest happenings both on and off the course, as they incorporate questions and guidance from viewers at home, celebrities and the game’s professionals.

“John and Jeff come from the golf world, they’ve known each other for years and can literally finish each other’s sentences. I’m the new kid, but I definitely don’t feel that way, it’s such a fun dynamic.” said Christien. “Our show is a conversation; we talk about life, but use golf as a theme. It’s for you if you’ve played once and it’s for you if you play every day.”

In addition, BACK9NETWORK will utilize Charles Everett and Universo Pereira as network co-hosts. Everett is a veteran voice, theatre, and television actor, and Periera has both television and stage experience.  Alexis Morgan (TV Personality/Reporter) and Katie Sundseth (TV Personality/Model) join the network as lifestyle correspondents. All will offer personalized, satirical, and at times brutally honest opinions on what’s trending in golf on “The Turn,” “Off Par” and “The Clubhouse.”