The addition of Adrian Wojnarowski isn’t linked to Fox Sports 1’s pursuit of part of the NBA TV package. The network still will be talking NBA even if it gets shut out of the deal.

Perhaps, though, having Wojnarowski on board shows Fox Sports 1 is hopeful it will be airing NBA games one day soon. With virtually every other major pro and college rights deal locked up into the 20s, it is essential for FS1 to add pro hoops to its relatively thin inventory of live sporting events–at least compared to ESPN.

ESPN, TNT, and perhaps even NBCSN, will have plenty to say on how the deals shake out. The robust competition should make Adam Silver very happy.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Wojnarowski. Yet another example on the value of inside information in the new media landscape.

From FS1:

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FOX Sports announced the addition of the industry’s preeminent NBA insider, welcoming Adrian Wojnarowski to the FOX Sports 1 on-air lineup. The announcement was made today by Michael Hughes, Executive Producer, FOX Sports Live.

Wojnarowski (war-ja-NOW-skee) contributes immediately on Fox Sports 1’s flagship nightly highlight, news and opinion program FOX SPORTS LIVE, and also makes regular appearances on AMERICA’S PREGAME. He is slated to make his debut appearance on FOX SPORTS LIVE, Thursday, May 22 (show airs at 11:00 p.m. ET).

“We think it is awesome that Adrian is joining FOX Sports 1,” Hughes said. “He is one of the most credible and well-respected reporters covering the NBA, and we feel like adding someone with his contacts, experience and insight will be a definite plus for the audiences of our signature news shows.”

As the NBA columnist for Yahoo Sports since 2007, Wojnarowski has established himself as the landscape’s No. 1 NBA insider. His news breaks, insider information and award-winning columns will continue to appear on the Yahoo web platform.

Prior to his current tenure at Yahoo!, Wojnarowski spent 1997-2007 as a newspaper columnist for The Record in northern New Jersey. In 2006, his book, The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball’s Most Improbable Dynasty, earned critical acclaim and landed on the New York Times’ best-seller list.

Wojnarowski is a 1991 graduate of St. Bonaventure University with a B.A. in mass communication, and a native of Bristol, Conn.

The power of the NFL.

The official release from NBC:

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NBC’s Sunday Night Football finished the 2013-14 television season as the No. 1 show in primetime in household rating, viewership and the coveted Adult 18-49 demographic, based on live plus same day data from The Nielsen Company (September-May).

This marks the third consecutive television season — and the only three times on record — that a sports series has been the highest-rated and most-watched show of the primetime TV season. 

For the 2013-2014 primetime television season, Sunday Night Football ranks as the highest-rated (12.8), most-watched show (21.7 million, viewers 2+), and the No. 1 broadcast program across the key demographics of Adults 18-49, 18-34, 25-54 as well as Men 18-49, 18-34 and 25-54 and Women 18-34 and 18-49.

In addition, 12 SNF games averaged at least 20 million viewers, tying NBC’s Sochi Winter Olympics for most primetime telecasts with 20 million viewers (not including pre-/post-shows).

Following is a look at primetime telecasts averaging at least 20 million viewers from Sept. 5, 2013-May 21, 2014 (based on live plus same day data):

*Four NFL postseason games in primetime: Super Bowl XLVIII, NFC Championship Game, AFC Divisional Playoff, NFC Wild Card Playoff

Also notable from the 2013-14 TV season (based on live plus same day data):

• The 21.7 million average viewers for Sunday Night Football tops second place NCIS (16.9 million) by nearly five million viewers;

• The 2010-13 seasons of Sunday Night Football are the first four seasons that an NFL primetime package drew more than 21 million viewers since the 1993-1996 seasons of Monday Night Football on ABC;

• In the advertiser-coveted Adult 18-49 demographic, Sunday Night Football ranks as the No. 1 show for the fourth consecutive TV season and tops the second place show by 18% (8.0 vs. 6.8 for The Walking Dead);

• Sunday Night Football’s win in the Women 18-49 demographic marks the first time ever that a sports series has ranked No. 1 among the broadcast networks in this category for a full TV season. This is the second consecutive season that SNF finished No. 1 among the broadcast networks among Women 18-34 (tied with The Voice for No. 1 last season).

While final live plus seven data for the broadcast TV season will not be available for a few weeks, according to Nielsen’s most current data stream (with live plus seven through May 4), Sunday Night Football leads the No. 2 primetime show in the following metrics:

• Average Viewership – Sunday Night Football averaged 21.9 million viewers, nearly two million more than 20.0 million for Big Bang Theory.
• Household Rating – Sunday Night Football posted a 12.8 HH rating, topping the 12.4 for NCIS.

Each year, the Associated Press Sports Editors hands out its major award to a person who has made “major contributions to sports journalism.” The award was named for Red Smith, who was the first recipient in 1981.

You could have made a strong argument that another Smith’s name should be on the award: Wendell Smith. Red Smith likely would agree.

Wednesday, APSE announced that Wendell Smith will be the 2014 winner of the Red Smith Award. To say this is way overdue would be an understatement.

You can’t name another sportswriter who had more impact on sports and society than Wendell Smith. The movie 42 highlighted his role in forcing the integration of baseball and how he helped shepherd Jackie Robinson through his first year in Brooklyn.

Here is a link to my column on Smith last year when the movie was released.

In announcing the Red Smith Award on the APSE site, Rhiannon Walker had this passage:

Next month, Smith will be honored as the recipient of the Associated Press Sports Editors’ Red Smith Award. The family of Smith, who passed away in 1972, will accept the award on June 27, which would have been his 100th birthday.

“I think it’s wonderful; I’m deeply honored,” said Wyonella Smith, Wendall’s wife. “After all this time, it’s wonderful. It’s a surprise. I was really surprised, but I am just deeply honored that he was remembered so, and respected and that his contribution has been acknowledged.”

George Solomon, director of the Povich Center at the University of Maryland, College Park, named an award after Smith and contemporary Sam Lacy to honor journalists who embody their ideals.

“[Smith] endured lots and lots of prejudices and slights, and we felt what a way to honor their memory,” Solomon said. “As for APSE honoring Wendell Smith, a friend of mine said it’s a long time coming, and it’s true. … He did so much for the cause of fairness in sports.”

Here is a list of the previous winners of the Red Smith. Many legendary names to be sure, including Sam Lacy of the Baltimore Afro-American, who won the award in 1998.

It may be overdue, but it will be good to finally see Wendell Smith’s name on this list.

Fifty years of covering anything is a big deal. So ABC has good reason to be proud about celebrating 50 years of coverage of the Indianapolis 500 Sunday.

For those of us of another generation, the 500 meant Jim McKay driving the broadcast booth and Jackie Stewart talking about “drafting.”

Enjoy some vintage McKay from the ’73 race.

A little history from ABC/ESPN on its long run at Indy:

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What began as highlights in black-and-white on ABC’s Wide World of Sports in 1965 has evolved into ESPN’s massive production of the modern telecast for ABC, one of the largest and most complex that ESPN does each year. The production will utilize 92 cameras to televise the premier event of the Verizon IndyCar Series, including three onboard cameras per car in 12 of the 33 cars competing in the race.

The relationship between ABC and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of the longest-running between a network and a sporting event. Weekend coverage of the Masters has aired on CBS since 1956, and ABC has aired the Little League World Series since 1963.

“The stewardship of ABC’s storied history at the Indianapolis 500 is something we take very seriously,” said Jed Drake, ESPN senior vice president and executive producer. “The heritage of this event, and the pure excitement and spectacle of it, are what we look forward to bringing to our viewers every year.”

During the past 49 telecasts of the race, some of the most familiar names in sports television history have been part of ABC’s coverage, led by the legendary Jim McKay, who called the race for 18 years and served as telecast host for two others. Chris Schenkel, Bill Flemming, Keith Jackson, Al Michaels, Jim Lampley and Brent Musburger have all served in various roles on the telecast.

The “Dean of Motorsports Journalists,” Chris Economaki, originated the role of pit reporter and was part of many Indianapolis 500 telecasts on ABC, while former Indy 500 winner Rodger Ward originated the driver-analyst position that was later filled by Jackie Stewart, Sam Posey, Bobby Unser, Rusty Wallace, Tom Sneva, Arie Luyendyk and others. Paul Page anchored the telecast 14 times and before his late night career, David Letterman was a pit reporter on the 1971 telecast.

Allen Bestwick will become the 10^th person to call the race on ABC when he makes his debut this year.

“One of the things that sparked my fascination with broadcasting was that appointment viewing of the broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 with Jim McKay behind the microphone,” said Bestwick. “It’s one of those things that attracted me and inspired me to get into the business and to think that I’m going to have the opportunity to sit in that chair – THAT chair – is mind-blowing.”

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Check this out. Note the drop-ins for hashtags: #BOCN

Feel like this must be some sort of social media experiment by Scott Van Pelt and John Buccigross. As of this posting at 12:36 ET on Wednesday, the video had 3,079 views.

Dade Hayes of Broadcasting and Cable wrote about a strange scene that occurred during the Peabody Awards.

The PBS documentary League of Denial was honored. One of the producers wasn’t about to let ESPN off the hook for bailing out late into the project.

Hayes writes:

The back story was recapped for the audience in brief by event host Ira Glass as the nets claimed their trophies one after the other. ESPN’s Dwayne Bray kept his remarks simple and praised colleagues, including vets John Walsh and Vince Doria, who “decided not to let sports be the toy department.” League producer Michael Kirk chose to address the elephant in the room.

“ESPN abandoned us,” he said, adding, “We are comrades in arms with you guys regardless of what happened.”

Kirk said the NFL proved a mightier force of opposition than even recent Frontline targets like the National Security Agency. “PBS stood by us,” even as ESPN pulled out and the league maintained a wall of silence, Kirk said. “No other network would have done that.”

Yep, ESPN had that coming. Not one of the network’s better moments.

Even though the Michael Sam saga would make a great storyline, and the St. Louis Rams are eligible to be selected based on the new criteria, don’t expect the Hard Knocks cameras to be rolling through their camp.

From Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

“I think it’s unlikely,” Jeff Fisher told the Post-Dispatch on Monday. “We are eligible, but I think it’s highly unlikely they’d ask us to do it. I think this organization has a right to go through training camp with some normalcy.”

Fisher probably isn’t speaking in a vacuum. As a longtime member of the NFL’s competition committee, Fisher is highly respected in league circles. The extra attention the Rams will get in training camp with the league’s first openly gay player (Michael Sam) figures to be enough of a distraction without adding the behind-the-scene cameras of the Hard Knocks crew. Even the NFL probably figures that would be piling on.

Fisher also explained why it wasn’t a good idea for Sam to do a documentary with Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network.

Speaking of Sam, Fisher said: “That thing settled down last week. We had a very productive meeting with the network. They understand our position; we understand theirs. We felt, and they collectively felt, the best thing to do was just to postpone it.”

Fisher was referring to the Oprah Winfrey Network, which put its plans for a Sam “docu-series” on ice after meeting last Friday with Fisher, general manager Les Snead, and executive vice president Kevin Demoff.

One of Sam’s agents, Cameron Weiss, attended the meeting, among others.

“The best thing that’s come out of this is that we all see eye to eye, we’re in really good communication, and we’ve established the best path possible for Mike to focus on football and for the Rams to be able to limit distractions,” Weiss said.

Indeed, if Sam is going to be regarded as just another player, he needs to steer clear of the media circus.

As for possible candidates, Jason McIntyre of Big Lead writes Arizona, Chicago and Buffalo are the frontrunners.

I think the Cardinals – with guys like Honey Badger, Larry Fitzgerald, Darnell Dockett and even a major project like QB Logan Thomas – are a fascinating team. I’ve already called them a deep Super Bowl sleeper, and it all hinges on QB Carson Palmer. They’re like the Bengals of the NFC, which is, incidentally, where Palmer used to play.

Good news. From the Golf Channel:

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After a month’s absence while recovering from a recent heart attack, Notah Begay will rejoin Golf Channel’s broadcast team next week, serving as an on-course reporter for Golf Channel’s coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships (Monday, May 26 – Wednesday, May 28).  Begay, a Stanford University golf alum, also will serve as an analyst for Golf Central’s news coverage surrounding the tournament.  His first order of business will be to join his fellow analysts on a Golf Channel media conference call today at 2 p.m. ET to discuss the NCAA Championships.

“I’m feeling great and completely ready to get back to Golf Channel and NBC to do what I love best,” he said.  “The whole experience was a bit surreal, but it’s given me a new perspective on my health and I feel even more motivated to use my foundation to help educate kids about their own health and make a positive difference in their lives.”

Begay suffered his heart attack on April 24, caused by what doctors at Methodist Hospital in Dallas diagnosed as a 100 percent blockage of his right coronary artery.  A stent was inserted to unblock the artery and, at the time, his prognosis for a full recovery was very good.  Begay has a history of heart disease in his family, and says he’s looking forward to expanding his NB3 Foundation’s mission to address health and wellness issues among Native American youth, as well as working more closely with the American Heart Association.

Yesterday was ribbon-cutting day for ESPN’s new $175 million Digital Center in Bristol. Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was on hand. ESPN is big business in his state.

Below, ESPN president John Skipper and Malloy did a mock SportsCenter from the new studio. Skipper should keep his day job. Malloy, though, has some potential.

Dan Haar of the Hartford Courant reports on the new facility. It seems $175 million can buy a few bells and whistles.

Haar writes:

Once you get past Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and other politicians talking about jobs, and you’ve heard ESPNPresident John Skipper talk about how the network’s new Digital Center 2 brings amazing technology and people together, listen to Hannah Storm describe what the production palace will mean for viewers.

The longtime anchor and celebrity face of ESPN grows animated, striding out toward the main “SportsCenter” desk — where a huge video display built right into the floor shines light upward, toward a camera on a circular ceiling track.

Sure, it will be more fun and more efficient for ESPN’s personalities to broadcast from the $175 million building, with 6 million feet of fiber optic cable, 25,000 square feet of studio space, and a huge glass wall that looks out onto a glass “cube” with graphic artists sending images onto studio screens.

But, I ask Storm, will the viewers really see a change?

“It’s vastly different,” Storm said. “It will be a significant change, unlike anything on sports TV.”

Later Haar writes:

It’s twice as big as the old digital center, which will remain in use for several shows. And the new look ties together with the ESPN app and website.

Highlights of the studio include two giant vertical video screens — dynamic backdrops for studio anchors, reporters and guests. But, King said, the idea isn’t more complexity, it’s more boldness.

“We want to make sure that we’re not letting the screen dissolve into a lot of little type,” King said. “What happens on these screens is complementary to what the anchors are doing.”

What they’ll do is move around a techno-environment, perhaps a bit like the CNN interactive studio, only more so. It’s best left to ESPN’s press release to describe: “virtual technology, two touch screens, a 56 LED multidimensional monitor wall and the ability to do live and pre-produced segments simultaneously.”

“We always felt that the smaller set kept us sitting behind the desk,” King said. “The point really is to give people more of a sense of who we are.”

“I’m told it’s future-proofed,” Skipper crows, as the building has room for technology not yet invented.

No such thing, Mr. Skipper, but the new facility should suffice for quite a while.

The latest Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO, tonight, 10 p.m. ET) looks at the “White Elephants” that are popping up throughout Brazil for the World Cup. They are lavish stadium with no practical use after the big event is done.

It really makes you wonder if things have gotten out of hand for these international spectacles. I think we know the answer.