sports

Upfront ad sales spending by agencies reaches $2.4 billion. That’s about $300 million more than last season at this same time, and is largely because every one of those networks saw regular season ratings increases for their NFL telecasts last season.

This season, NBC’s Sunday Night Football will open with the original “Waiting All Day for Sunday Night” song, but now Carrie Underwood will be joined by Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joan Jett. Jett’s band, the Blackhearts, perform on the studio tracks.

ViacomCBS-owned AVOD platform Pluto TV has partnered with the NFL to create a new free-to-consumer channel that will stretch the league’s brand out even further. The NFL Channel will “celebrate seasons past” with season recaps, classic games and archival episodes of Hard Knocks.

Jack Whitaker, whose Hall of Fame broadcasting career ranged from the first Super Bowl to Secretariat’s Triple Crown to short essays from major sporting events, died Sunday morning at 95.

Ad sales chief Jo Ann Ross says that NFL CPMs are up mid-to-high single digits from last year, with insurance and tech giants leading the charge.

The unit of Fox that for more than a decade has sold the national inventory for all the nation’s major RSNs — including soon-to-be owner Sinclair — is a favorite not only of RSNs, but also of sports-minded media agencies because it’s a one-stop shop, allowing them to easily buy major professional and college on a national basis.

Published in 1970, Ball Four detailed Yankees great Mickey Mantle’s carousing, and the use of stimulants in the major leagues. Bouton’s revealing look at baseball off the field made for eye-opening and entertaining reading, but he paid a big price for the best-seller when former teammates and players and executives across baseball ostracized him for exposing their secrets.

The U.S. national women’s soccer team achieved a spectacular World Cup repeat yesterday, beating the Netherlands in a tense final in Lyon, France. If the early figures are anything to go by, the game also provided a strong finish for Fox in the ratings. Sunday’s final posted a 10.0 overnight metered market rating. For comparison, the semifinal scored a 5.5 in the same demographic and went on to a total of just over 7 million viewers

Tuesday’s Women’s World Cup semifinal, which saw the U.S. team emerge with a hard-fought victory over England, was a ratings score for Fox. The game was watched by just over 7 million total viewers, making it the most watched soccer match on U.S. TV since the 2018 World Cup final. Yesterday’s game also posted a 5.5 household rating in overnight metered markets, meaning it was the highest rated match of the tournament so far.

AT&T Inc. is weighing a sale of its regional sports networks as part of a plan to cut as much as $8 billion in debt by the end of the year, according to people familiar with the matter. Sinclair Broadcast Group, which agreed in May to buy 21 Fox regional sports networks from Disney for $9.6 billion, could be among the potential buyers, the people said.

The league — which will begin play the week after Super Bowl 54 — is in the middle of conducting “Summer Showcases” in the eight cities where it will have teams. The showcases are similar to pro days on college campuses and the NFL Scouting Combine as coaches get to work with prospects.

Major League Baseball and YouTube on Wednesday released details of the first three matchups under their agreement to stream a package of 13 live games every week on the video-sharing website.

“They put you in the best seat in the house,” said Drew Esocoff, who has directed NBC’s Triple Crown telecasts since 2011. “These cameras, whether they’re high-def or 4K, also allow for better manipulation of video: zooming in, zooming out without major degradation of the video quality. It just makes the viewing experience better and you’re also looking at it on high-def monitors. Compared to what you saw 25, 30 years ago, it’s night and day.”

Katie Nolan, analyst Jay Williams, Snapchat SportsCenter host Gary Striewski and Mike Korzemba, a YouTube influencer who specializes in basketball-related content, will hold forth on a special Game 2 broadcast available only on the ESPN App. ESPN is taking a swing at what is likely to be a growing challenge for sports purveyors of all sizes: A rising generation of viewers is growing accustomed to watching their games in a very different way.

KCTV, Meredith’s CBS affiliate in Kansas City, is doubling down on sports coverage with a daily, half-hour sports show called The Locker Room Show. It’s hosted by Dani Welniak, a former women’s professional football player, and produced by Nikki Rushing. “I don’t feel an immense amount of pressure, like: oh, two women are in charge. I think it adds to the product versus adding pressure,” Rushing says.