Tonight in Unpacks: Twenty years after MLB became the first pro sports league to livestream a regular-season game, MLB.TV's steady ascent continues. SBJ's Erik Bacharach looks at the development of the service and what challenges remain. Other headlines:
In today's Morning Buzzcast, SBJ's Abe Madkour examines what is likely a new day for tennis players and their commercial rights. Also, Amazon Just Walk Out is an early hit, the gridiron comes to Ireland and what was going on 20 years ago in sports business.
MLB.TV hits its 20th anniversary today, and this season, the streaming service is on pace for 11 billion minutes watched by September, after reaching 10 billion minutes for the first time over the course of last season, notes SBJ's Erik Bacharach.
Twenty years after MLB became the first pro sports league to livestream a regular-season game, MLB.TV's steady ascent continues, and the league also has buoyed the streaming industry at large with its influence and direct impact in helping power other platforms over the past two decades.
A hurdle that continues to cap its streaming potential, however, is the blackout policy, which forbids the livestreaming of in-market broadcasts. MLB has a territorial rights system to determine what qualifies as in-market around the country; all of Iowa, for example, is within the blackout region of six different clubs: the Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Royals, Twins and White Sox.
League officials wouldn’t delve into specifics regarding how or when they see the policy either ending or being relaxed, but MLB CRO Noah Garden offered a nugget about what could be looming on the horizon: “I would say there's going to be more to come on that front. … I hope at one point to have in-market [streaming] available on the product as well.”
With blackout clauses included in existing deals that the league has with its broadcast partners, Kenny Gersh, MLB’s exec VP/business development, emphasized the complexity in finding a solution. “It's like a Rubik's Cube, where you change one dynamic and it has four other ripple effects," he said. "But we are laser focused on that topic and are trying to see how we can navigate the rights landscape to ensure that anybody around the globe who wants to watch a Major League Baseball game has a seamless-as-possible way to do so.”
Read a retrospective on how the service first started all those years ago as part of an Early Access look at Monday's magazine.
After the initial Rangers-Yankees webcast back in 2002, then-MLBAM CEO Bob Bowman told the Chicago Sun-Times: "If you get 30,000 or 40,000 people watching the games and watching the ads, that's a good thing. Why wouldn't White Sox fans around the country want to check in to see what the White Sox are doing?" Somone who was not so bullish at the time was then-Leafs TV and Raptors NBA TV Executive Producer John Shannon, who told the Globe & Mail: "The bottom line of all of this is revenue streams. ... I'm not sure [MLB is] going to be very successful. We're a ways away from having the computer and the television be the same electrical image in your house. Until that time, (the Internet) is a complement."
A hurdle that continues to cap MLB.TV's potential is the blackout policy
Audi will enter F1 as an engine manufacturer starting in 2026, reports SBJ's Adam Stern. An announcement was made at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit in Belgium with F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, Audi Chair Markus Duesmann, Audi Chief Technical Officer Oliver Hoffmann and FIA President Mohammed bin Sulayem.
Audi did not make a team announcement today, but media reports in Europe suggest that it is closing in on buying Alfa Romeo Racing (which would then be re-branded), so it will be both an engine manufacturer and a team owner by the time it debuts. Audi indicated that it is joining F1 because of the series’ commitment to become carbon neutral by 2030 and because its new regulations that will begin in 2026 will make the sport more sustainable.
The car manufacturer left the all-electric racing series Formula E after 2021.
Audi was attracted to F1 in part by its plan to reduce carbon emissions
The Nationals are debuting two Anheuser-Busch-branded reverse vending machines tonight, reports SBJ's Erik Bacharach. The machines, which were built by tech startup Cycle and give fans the chance to win rewards in exchange for recycling their empty beverage containers, will be located near the Budweiser Brew House in center field at Nationals Park and next to the Budweiser Terrace on the second level.
It represents the first time Cycle has had its reverse vending machines installed at an MLB ballpark. “The hope is that D.C. will be a test market for these machines and Cycle can then grow and bring the technology to other stadiums through (A-B's) partnerships with other sports teams around the country,” Nationals Director of Sponsorship Activation Sarah Perucci told SBJ.
A-B, a longtime Nationals and MLB sponsor, earlier this year launched the National Recycling League, a multi-sports league coalition aiming to reduce waste on game day. In addition to the Nationals, other MLB members of the coalition include the Cardinals, Astros, Padres and Rangers. The Nationals will have the machines in place through the end of the season before potentially exploring ways to expand the program. The club will begin running a public-service announcement during pregame ceremonies tonight, in addition to an in-game PSA, to drive awareness of the machines’ location and what the technology is.
Fans insert empty beverage containers at the machines and scan a QR code to receive a unique transaction ID. After entering information in the web app, users will find out instantly if they have won a prize, along with instructions on how to redeem it. Each home game, one grand prize winner will win two tickets to a future Nationals game, with other prizes including koozies and keychains. “Part of this is trying to gamify recycling and make it fun and engaging for fans,” Perucci said. Earlier this year, MLS club Inter Miami partnered with Cycle, which was co-founded by two Univ. of Miami students, to bring four reverse vending machines to DRV PNK Stadium.
The reverse vending machines, with A-B branding, will debut at Nationals Park tonight
There were key items on Lew Sherr’s to-do list when he took over as CEO of the USTA in April, maybe none as important as rehabbing the central office’s relationship with its 17 geographic sections. Those critical connections suffered during the pandemic for various reasons, including travel restrictions that prevented face-to-face meetings between Sherr’s predecessor, Mike Dowse, and local tennis leaders.
Sherr has visited six of the sections already and plans to hit the road again to see more after the two-week U.S. Open, which starts next week in New York. Those meetings are key because the sections differ in almost every way imaginable: geographically, in membership and participation numbers, and the tennis-friendliness of their weather. A uniform approach will not work. “I very much would like to recast this organization as a bottom-up-driven enterprise as it relates to growing the game,” said Sherr, who is based at the USTA’s Lake Nona national campus in Florida. “I firmly believe those closest to the ground are best equipped to make the decisions and set the strategies and how to implement those strategies for how we’re going to grow participation in different regions.”
SBJ's Bret McCormick talked to Sherr about what else is on the USTA leader's agenda as part of Monday's magazine.
Sherr has visited six of the USTA sections already and plans to hit the road again to see more
The Professional Tennis Players Association named Ahmad Nassar as the first executive director of the group started by Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in the fall of 2020, as well as the launch of a for-profit business to benefit pro tennis players called the Winners Alliance, reports SBJ's Bret McCormick.
The PTPA also now has $26 million to fund its efforts for the foreseeable future after a funding raise co-led by Winners Alliance Chairman Bill Ackman (via his Pershing Square Foundation), private equity firm Prysm Capital and Nassar. Nassar, who will serve as CEO of Winners Alliance, founded OneTeam Collective in 2016 and later led OneTeam Partners, before stepping down in June. He was an SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree in 2014. Winners Alliance will try to emulate OneTeam’s success for tennis players, starting with the establishment of a sustainable group licensing program for video games, trading cards, and related areas. Ackman, Djokovic, and Pospisil reached out to Nassar before he sold his equity stake in OneTeam seeking advice on how to move the PTPA forward. The week after Nassar divested his OneTeam stake, he flew out to Wimbledon and had a three-hour dinner with Djokovic and Pospisil. “It’s one of those surreal moments in your career where you’re like, ‘what am I doing here?’” Nassar said, chuckling. “I wouldn’t have guessed we’d be having this conversation a year ago, or even six months ago.”
TurnkeyZRG aided in the executive search.
In this week's SBJ Football newsletter, Ben Fischer gathers tributes to former Texans President Jamey Rootes, who passed away this week.
Execs such as LA28's Brian Lafemina, 49ers/Elevate's Al Guido, OneTeam Partners' Eric Winston, AMB Sports & Entertainment's Tameka Rish, Jaguars' Mark Lamping, NFL's Bobby Gallo and Fanatics' Gary Gertzog recounted their respect and fond memories of Rootes from throughout the years.
Also, Fischer looks at how the NFL has quickly and quietly become a leader across pro sports leagues in diversity at one often-overlooked position: Team president.
In this week's SBJ Esports newsletter, Jason Wilson, Hunter Cooke and Kevin Hitt look into:
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