Early Entrants: a bi-weekly series of sports business “rumblings” before the news breaks.
NFL Leaning In To Amazon’s Pitch
The NFL appears ready to split its out of market broadcast rights package between a satellite provider (DirecTV) and an online streaming service. Commissioner Roger Goodell recently told Bloomberg that the league plans to deliver its NFL Sunday Ticket “on several different platforms.” While it’s reasonable to assume DirectTV Now would be the front-runner to acquire the streaming rights, multiple sources tell JohnWallStreet that the NFL “is leaning in to Amazon’s pitch.” Prime Video can provide the league with the widest reach (relative to DirecTV Now, DAZN) and the NFL sees value in the e-commerce giant’s ability to facilitate merchandise and ticket sales.
Turner Sports Can’t Get Enough of the AAF
Back on March 5th, Turner Sports announced that TNT would exclusively televise 2 additional regular season Alliance of American Football games – they’d initially agreed to place just a single regular season game and one playoff game on the cable network (B/R Live carries 1 game/week). But the AT&T/WarnerMedia subsidiary was pleased with viewership for its March 9th contest – it was the 2nd most watched show on the network that day – and sources tell JohnWallStreet that the company is looking to add additional broadcasts as the league’s season winds down (3 regular season, 2 post-season games remain). It’s worth mentioning that CBS has also decided to move 2 games from the CBS Sports Network to the CBS broadcast network; a regular season contest on April 6th and one of the Conference Championship games on April 27th.
Digital-Only Service Set to Buy Linear Network
There are rumors floating that DAZN is “set to buy” Fox Sports (Brazil), an acquisition that would accelerate the company’s rise in the country given the “premium rights” that would come along with it. The purchase would certainly run contrary to the company’s digital-only strategy, but in a market where TV is the preferred viewing platform and digital consumption remains an afterthought (particularly relative to the U.S. or Japan) it makes sense.
Vivid Seats Sniffing Around StubHub Acquisition
We mentioned in Early Entrants Vol. V that eBay was exploring the sale or spinoff of StubHub. Questions surrounding inclusion of the company’s foreign offices (via Ticketbis) had insiders doubting within the last week whether the company would move forward with the split, but we’re hearing separation of the 2 companies is now considered “almost a near certainty”; the “eBay elite” have tired of the fluctuations caused by StubHub in their quarterly earnings reports. Vivid Seats is said to be sniffing around a potential acquisition.
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