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🎤 QUICK START ✍️

🏈 The ESPN-NFL partnership is continuing with a new bundle joining together the ESPN app with the NFL+ streaming service. ESPN also re-signed Alex Smith and Field Yates to new contracts.

🏈 Former FS1 star Chase Daniel is on his way to ESPN as a new college football analyst in what could be a great fit for both parties.

🏈 Phil Simms is back with NBC Sports after over 25 years away from the network. He will call a few college football games on Peacock.

🚨LEADING OFF 🚨

MLB's big swing could be a grand slam

When ESPN and Major League Baseball opted out of their long-term relationship, it sent alarm bells ringing around the national pastime. ESPN wanted out, MLB rights were being seriously devalued, and the future of some of baseball’s top events were up in the air.

But facing an 0-2 count and trailing by three in the bottom of the ninth, MLB may have just found a way to hit a walk-off grand slam to salvage the situation.

According to a report from Yahoo’s Kendall Baker, MLB is close to making the following moves: Apple bowing out of Friday Night Baseball, NBC and Peacock picking up that package and Sunday Night Baseball from ESPN, Netflix snagging the Home Run Derby, and ESPN buying MLBTV.

That’s a lot to take in. But here’s why it could be in the best interest of all parties.

ESPN - While it is still a staggering blow to see Sunday Night Baseball leave ESPN and the worldwide leader in sports without a presence in the game nationally, the MLBTV purchase is maybe even more significant than linear rights. It brings MLB local games under the new ESPN DTC streaming umbrella and offers another huge tentpole in addition to NFL content and WWE premium live events. Jimmy Pitaro clearly wants ESPN involved on the local level and this is a great way to get there in addition to their existing NHL package.

NBC/Peacock - The MLB deal continues to establish Peacock as the go-to platform for sports fans in addition to the NBA, college sports, EPL, Olympics, and so much more. It also now has a stranglehold on Sunday nights for 52 weeks a year from the NFL to NBA and now MLB.

Netflix - The Home Run Derby fits perfectly into Netflix’s event-centric sports strategy alongside the NFL Christmas Day games, WWE Raw, and more. It’s not a huge commitment, but opens doors between the streamer and baseball.

Apple - Let’s be honest, the Apple deal never really made sense for anybody and was not working out. A singular night of MLB action doesn’t really fit in with Apple’s strategy for owning sports brands and it was just another ancillary platform for baseball fans to try to navigate. Both sides are probably better off shaking hands and wishing each other good luck in future endeavors.

MLB - Baseball gets everything they could want here and more. They will likely recoup a good chunk (if not more) of the rights fees from the original ESPN package. They get to add two new partners in NBC and Netflix, bringing them into relationship with more media powers like the NFL and NBA. And they get to continue their relationship with ESPN, albeit under a totally new dynamic.

📣 SOCIAL EXPERIMENT 🌟

You have to admire the dedication of “Bring Your Laptop to the Ballpark Day” in both being a responsible student/employee and dedicated Cubs fan.

Getting crushed by the New York media is one thing, but getting called out by a Little Leaguer has to be a new low for Juan Soto.

We’ve seen a lot of weird things in college football realignment the last several years, but Nebraska winning the SEC would definitely top the list.

🔦 IN THE SPOTLIGHT ☀️

It was five years ago this week that Thom Brennaman saw his Cincinnati Reds career end with his viral apology for uttering a homophobic slur being interrupted by a Nick Castellanos home run. The two men have been intertwined ever since even as their careers have taken much different paths.

🗣️ NOTABLE QUOTABLES 🗣️

“They want to compete. I like those guys. To me, our competitor has been the NBA on TNT because we’re always battling against them for the Sports Emmy.” - Desmond Howard on not seeing Fox’s Big Noon Kickoff as true competition.

"If he had done something like that when he was a player, he would have gotten his ass kicked." - Nick Saban did not seem to appreciate Greg McElroy sparking coaching rumors this summer.

“And then you also get off some other calls and you’re like, ‘They have no clue. They’re just making sh*t up.’ And it’s amazing at the NFL level, but that’s real.” - Greg Olsen on being able to see through NFL coaches who are out of their depths.

🔥THE CLOSER🔥

5 more SportsCenter cameos for old times’ sake

Rich Eisen’s surprise return to SportsCenter was an awesome moment, especially for sports fans of a certain age that fondly remember the glory days of ESPN’s flagship program.

It’s the easiest thing in the world to be a nostalgia merchant and claim that everything was better when you were younger and in your prime. But there’s a whole lot of sports fans who clearly feel that is the case with what they remember SportsCenter to be and what it represented. If anything, maybe we’re longing for a simpler time that exists only in our minds as more pure and more perfect.

But whether that’s fully true or not, the success of the Eisen cameo should encourage ESPN to welcome back some more of their former stars as a way to reach out to those who could have become disenchanted with the social media age. Maybe ESPN could do a SportsCenter “Old Timers’ Week” that could be a hit. While this list could easily be 25 names, here is just five we would love to see take up the desk one more time.

Bob Ley - The General retired from ESPN retired from ESPN in June 2019 after serving as one of Bristol’s longest tenured employees. He should have a lifetime invite to return to the desk whenever he wants.

Robin Roberts - Roberts was a mainstay on ESPN for 15 years before successfully transitioning to morning television at ABC’s Good Morning America where she still works today.

Charley Steiner - The venerable SportsCenter anchor led some of the program’s funniest moments and would have been a viral sensation before viral was even a thing. He’s been the radio voice of the Los Angeles Dodgers since 2005 and recently overcame a battle with cancer.

Craig Kilborn - We can’t talk about vintage SportsCenter without talking about the unique delivery of Craig Kilborn. The sports anchor turned comedian last appeared on ESPN in 2004 for ESPN’s 25 year anniversary celebration, so another cameo is long overdue.

Josh Elliott - Elliott was once one of the future stars of the industry after turns at ESPN and NBC. But it’s been years since he was on the national landscape. And at least a return cameo to SportsCenter would finally answer the question of what he’s been up to all this time.