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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏈 Bidding on Brazil. The NFL is shopping a mini media rights package that will include the Week 1 NFL Brazil game on September 5 and potentially other games that are not yet assigned to a current broadcast partner, per Ben Fischer and Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. YouTube TV, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Amazon have all “shown interest” in the rights, with YouTube being the front-runner.

🏀 Apology requested. Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia has formally asked First Take host Stephen A. Smith for an apology after the ESPN frontman claimed he was “the worst owner in the history of basketball,” before mentioning, “Donald Sterling once owned an NBA franchise.” Perhaps it’s best to keep comparisons between someone who is simply bad at his job and someone who is a known racist to a minimum.

👋 Bidding farewell. Legendary College GameDay analyst Lee Corso's television career is coming to an end. On Thursday, ESPN announced that Corso will work one final episode of college football pregame show on Aug. 30 before officially retiring. “My family and I will be forever indebted for the opportunity to be part of ESPN and College GameDay for nearly 40 years,” Corso said in a statement. More on this below…

️‍🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

NBA’s slight ratings decline a ‘victory,’ per Adam Silver

The NBA’s ratings discourse this season has arguably generated more headlines than the actual play on the court.

That’s a bit of hyperbole, but the sentiment is true. This year, more than usual, the NBA’s “declining” ratings sparked a disproportionate amount of discussion.

At first, it was at least somewhat warranted. The league found its viewership down about 20% earlier this season, but turned it around thanks to a strong Christmas Day and some late-season storylines that garnered attention.

All told, the league finished the season down just 2% in the viewership department versus last year (or 5% if you count games that aired on NBA TV). That’s pretty insignificant in today’s day and age, when overall viewing on traditional television is declining at a much faster rate than that on account of cord-cutting.

That type of decline puts it right in line with its peers. The almighty NFL slipped by 2% during last season. College basketball was down even more, 7% this season versus last.

Awful Announcing has now debunked the NBA ratings hysteria numerous times. But on Thursday, we heard directly from NBA commissioner Adam Silver about the league’s ratings narratives.

Silver did what any good sports figure does when they want to spin a narrative: he appeared on The Pat McAfee Show. And the commish had quite the rosy tale to tell.

“Remember the narrative earlier in the season was that the ratings were down and, in fact, they were down,” Silver began. “There was a competitive World Series, a presidential election. There were a bunch of factors I think that led to our ratings being down early on. But in order to end up down 2%, or relatively flat for the season, which is a victory these days, especially with declining television viewership from traditional television, that’s a victory.”

A “victory” to be down just 2%. It sounds ridiculous, or like he’s trying to put McAfee through the spin cycle, but Silver is actually bang on the money.

Last year, media research firm MoffettNathanson estimated that the pay TV industry lost 2.37 million subscribers in just the first quarter alone. That’s good for nearly a 7% decline in total pay TV subs in one quarter. Other estimates show pay TV subscriptions declining by about 5% per year, which is a bit more bearable. But either way, the number is much higher than 2%, which is the amount of viewership the NBA lost compared to last season.

Now, it should be noted that there were a couple factors working in the NBA’s favor. For one, the league had five Christmas Day games air on broadcast television versus just two last year; a reality that almost single-handedly erased the league’s early-season slump but was only possible because ABC wasn’t airing an NFL game like it did in 2023.

Second, viewership post-trade deadline, which was up 16% versus pre-deadline games, benefited from Nielsen’s expanded out-of-home viewing measurements.

So while the league is fighting the very real headwinds of declining television viewing, there were a couple key things helping them out.

But ultimately, whether the NBA declined by 2% or 10% this year, it’s all trivial. The league is about to start its highly lucrative media rights deals with Amazon, ESPN, and NBC that will net them a cool $7b per year for the next 11 years.

In his appearance on McAfee, Silver, more than anything, was making a case to change the perception of the league rather than making an earnest business argument. Does the NBA care about ratings? Sure. But what they really care about is changing how people view the NBA. Right now, the NBA is seen by many as a league in decline, and it’s Silver’s job to change that narrative.

👀AROUND AA📰

Aaron Rodgers is not desperate for attention

Free agent quarterback Aaron Rodgers finally broke a months-long silence regarding his football future yesterday in an appearance on, you guessed it, The Pat McAfee Show. And in a shocking turn of events, the 41-year-old spent 45 minutes blabbering with McAfee, but making zero commitments about his playing career or possible retirement.

But let’s get one thing straight, Aaron Rodgers is not asking for all of this attention.

Awful Announcing’s Brandon Contes laid it out perfectly:

Taking more than three months to decide on your playing future can certainly be seen as attention-seeking. But the 41-year-old quarterback says he hasn’t decided on his future because he’s helping people through some personal issues. Okay, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt there.

What about the constant media battles and calling out NFL insiders, even when those same insiders tend to be proven right. Is that Rodgers trying to avoid attention? What about continuing to join The Pat McAfee Show every Tuesday after tearing his Achilles to repeatedly tease the bogus idea that he can be a medical anomaly by returning to play in record time? Was that just Rodgers wanting to keep a low profile? What about the Netflix documentary? Being the last person desperately trying to turn every conversation into a discussion about COVID-19? Or listening to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about potentially being his vice-presidential running mate a year ago? None of that was for attention, right?

Even when Rodgers thinks he’s not seeking attention, he still seems to be seeking attention.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

📈💰INDUSTRY INSIGHTS🧐

• Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of TNT Sports, is reportedly considering a split of its linear television assets from its digital and studio businesses. According to Alex Sherman of CNBC, WBD has hired bankers to work out options that include a potential separation of its legacy assets from the company’s future-looking streaming and studio entities. The Financial Times first reported the possibility last year, but it was quickly shot down as a bad idea by WBD CEO David Zaslav. However, the company currently operates within these factions internally after a restructuring announced late last year, simplifying a potential spinoff. Should WBD go this route, it’d be the second major media company to announce this type of arrangement after Comcast announced it would spin off most of its cable networks last year.

• Netflix is staying mum about acquiring live sports rights. The streamer’s co-CEO, Ted Sarandos, declined to comment directly on the company’s plans when it came to live sports during an earnings call on Thursday. “Our live event strategy is unchanged, and we remain really focused on the big breakthrough events,” Sarandos said. “Our audiences love them, and so anything, anything we chase, in the event space or the sports space, is a deal that has to make economic sense as well.” Netflix has, of course, been more active recently in acquiring live sports with properties like the NFL’s Christmas Day games and the next two FIFA Women’s World Cups.

• The PGA Tour has indefinitely suspended Wesley Bryan for participating in a YouTube event partly organized by LIV Golf prior to the breakaway golf league’s event in Miami earlier this month. Bryan’s suspension is the latest chapter in the ongoing saga between the warring tours, and perhaps a small signal that there’s still no resolution in sight. Interestingly, Grant Horvat, a popular YouTube golfer who hosted the LIV-associated event on his channel, has received a sponsor’s invitation to play in the PGA Tour’s Barracuda Championship later this season. Horvat is seemingly exempt from the same restrictions as Bryan as he had no prior status on the PGA Tour.

🔥 THE CLOSER 🔥

‘College GameDay’ sits on a razor’s edge

College GameDay is about to feel a lot different after the legendary Lee Corso dons his final mascot head in just over four months’ time. It’s been a minute since Corso has been an overly active member of the show; his role has been pared down in recent years as his age finally caught up with him. But the one they affectionately call “coach” still nailed the show’s grand finale more weeks than not. That, of course, is the famous headgear selection that has defined the show for its entire modern history.

There’s something that will feel a bit empty without it. In the past, when Corso’s had to miss weeks here and there, one of GameDay’s fresh faces, Pat McAfee, has taken the reins of the show’s final moments. And, despite having big shoes to fill, he’s done exceptionally well.

It’s unlikely that ESPN will get someone else to do the headgear pick. In fact, if someone does try to do it, they’ll have to go through Rece Davis first.

But beyond how GameDay decides to close its show every week, Corso’s retirement puts some other aspects of the program into focus.

Don’t get me wrong, College GameDay is still in a very strong spot without Corso. The recent additions of McAfee and Nick Saban have breathed new life into the show. And Davis, Desmond Howard, and Kirk Herbstreit are still bona fide stars at the Worldwide Leader. But how stable is that core?

McAfee famously nearly backed out of GameDay last offseason after a fan poll conducted by The Athletic showed him rather unpopular among viewers. Add to that a degree of uncertainty surrounding McAfee’s contract status for the show, and there’s just enough question marks to wonder whether or not the former West Virginia Mountaineer is in it for the long haul.

Then there's Saban who, at 73, is no spring chicken. It’s not out of the question to think that the legendary Alabama coach might not want to be doing television all the way into his late 70s and 80s, though there’s certainly plenty of counterexamples in sports broadcasting to suggest that he might have another 10-15 years left in him.

Regardless, if either one of McAfee or Saban left, it’s a wonder who ESPN would tap to replace them. The Saban spot would be especially tricky; coaches with that type of name recognition don’t grow on trees. And McAfee is one of one.

Looking to ESPN’s bench of college football talent, not many people stand out. From a name recognition standpoint, Tim Tebow is an option, though he hasn’t overly impressed during his time on SEC Network. They could bring someone like Greg McElroy from the booth to the studio. He’s a polished and knowledgeable broadcaster, but would be a pretty uninspiring replacement for McAfee or Saban. The same logic probably applies to the likes of Booger McFarland or Jesse Palmer.

ESPN could maybe dip into its NFL talent pool and slot in a Ryan Clark or Marcus Spears if they were interested. But really, the network would likely need to think outside the box. As controversial as it’d be, the ESPN should probably be looking at popular media figures like Barstool’s Dan “Big Cat” Katz as a backup plan if the McAfee situation goes belly up.

It’s unlikely that ESPN would have to make any major changes for this upcoming season, assuming McAfee is planning on returning. But in terms of a long-term plan, the Worldwide Leader might have to do some thinking, because there really aren’t many obvious choices to fall back on should any of College GameDay’s core cast decide to call it quits.