sports

Incomplete data, a variety of new factors and an odd 2020 mean it’s way too early to know why Americans are watching less of some of the most popular leagues.

Veteran sports news executive David Morgan will lead Sinclair’s digital sports news strategy across 21 RSN brands and Stadium.

Mike “Doc” Emrick, a veteran broadcaster for the National Hockey League and eight-time Sports Emmy award winner, has announced his retirement after 47 years. NBC Sports made the announcement on Monday morning, with Emrick reminiscing on the early days of his career.

In a different era, the sportscasterer winding down after a long night of calling balls, strikes, first downs, field goals or what have you might be eager to get to the bar. Joe Buck of Fox Sports yearns merely for a steaming bowl of chicken noodle or creamy tomato. Buck’s head is no doubt crammed with baseball stats and football maneuvers, but he has reason these days to keep a little space in his mind for the condition of his throat. His current Fox Sports schedule may have him talking to fans for 17 of 18 consecutive days.

The Atlanta Falcons shut their facility Thursday following one new positive test for Covid-19. The team remains scheduled to play at Minnesota on Sunday. Defensive tackle Marlon Davidson was placed on the Covid-19/reserve list this week, and the addition of a second unidentified person caused the Falcons to act out of caution. All team activity will be done virtually.

Amazon has struck a deal with the National Football League to stream a playoff game this season, people familiar with the matter said. The agreement, which the league disclosed to team owners Wednesday during a video meeting, deepens the relationship between the nation’s premier sport and the online retail and entertainment giant. The wildcard playoff game will also be available on ViacomCBS platforms.

YouTube has supplanted Facebook as the most popular social media platform for viewing sports highlights, according to a new survey from Ring Digital. The research firm surveyed 1,400 sports video highlights viewers in August and found that 53% of respondents use YouTube for sports highlights on a regular basis, compared to 45% of respondents who said they use Facebook regularly.

Joe Morgan, the Hall of Fame second baseman and sparkplug of the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine who went on to spend more than two decades as an ESPN analyst alongside Jon Miller,  died Sunday. He was 77.

ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC averaged 1,836,000 viewers for 16 broadcasts in Major League Baseball’s expanded wild-card round, drawing far more viewers for 16 games but an average down vastly from the single-knockout contests in previous years.

Some theories on why viewers have unexpectedly turned away in droves.

Streaming services need to offer a synchronous, interactive livestream of sports options if they want to hold on to the cord cutters they’ve gained since the pandemic.

In a memo sent to NFL teams Monday after a conference call involving the league and club executives, Commissioner Roger Goodell reiterated the need to adhere fully to all of the league’s health and safety guidelines. The NFL was forced to reschedule Sunday’s game between the Steelers and Titans when Tennessee had the league’s first coronavirus outbreak, which has affected 20 organization members, including 10 players. That game was moved to Week 7, causing adjustments that also impacted the Baltimore Ravens.

The NFL has postponed Sunday’s highly anticipated game between the New England Patriots and the Kansas City Chiefs to Monday or Tuesday after Cam Newton, the Patriots’ star quarterback, and the practice squad quarterback on the Chiefs tested positive for the coronavirus.

Dwayne Johnson, who teamed with Dany Garcia and RedBird Capital Partners to acquire the XFL over the summer, says the football league will take 2021 off but plans to return in 2022. “It’s an uphill battle,” Johnson wrote in a tweet, “but we’re hungry, humble and no one will outwork us.”

President Donald Trump claimed credit Thursday for the Pac-12 Conference restarting its college football season, the week after the Big Ten made the same call. “You’re welcome!!!” the president tweeted, following a unanimous vote by university officials to allow Pac-12 football teams to begin seven-game, conference-only seasons on Nov. 6, as long as they get approval from state and local health authorities.

The seven-year agreement will take effect in 2022 and includes a Tuesday night game as well as additional postseason games. It also includes expanded digital rights for Bleacher Report and other WarnerMedia platforms. Turner will pay an average of $470 million per season.

Pete Bevacqua, who joined NBC Sports in 2018 as its first president in nearly a decade, has been elevated to the top role at the NBCUniversal-owned unit. Bevacqua, the former CEO of the Professional Golf Association, was named chairman of NBC Sports Group, filling a role that was vacated when Mark Lazarus took on a bigger role within the parent company.

Post- and end-of-the-season action for TV sports franchises has seen sharply lower overall viewership as a result of sports competition caused by disruptions in scheduling due to COVID-19, as well as lower persons using television (PUT) data. MoffettNathanson Research says the returning NBA and NHL have been impacted by lower PUT data in August and September versus the April and May periods — the former period being one that traditionally sees lower PUT data.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has battered the live sports industry, including broadcasting and cable networks, creative minds have been working on a variety of new cross-platform opportunities to attract fans and advertisers.

On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus said that NFL ad sales at this point are “pacing at the exact level we paced at last year, and last year was an incredibly successful year for us.”