Recapping Disney’s Eventful Sports Year
Do you love live sports?
Honestly, I don’t even need to ask you. I’ve seen the data and know how many Americans watch live sports each week.


Families Streaming Disney+
This past year, we witnessed the explosive growth of several different sports, especially collegiate ones.
Women’s college basketball, women’s college volleyball, and men’s college football all garnered historic ratings.


Walt Disney Company
Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes strangeness kept ESPN and The Walt Disney Company in the headlines all year.
Let’s discuss the most memorable topics from Disney’s eventful sports year.
Disney Secures NBA Rights
THE sports story of the year, at least behind the scenes, was the negotiation of a new NBC rights deal.
I wrote about the old deal on a once popular site that doesn’t even exist anymore, which speaks volumes about how much has changed.


Photo: Washington Post
In October 2014, ESPN and TNT signed a nine-year broadcast licensing contract that paid the NBA $2.67 billion annually.
The total cost of $24 billion absolutely stunned analysts, but what nobody could have imagined then was the incoming streaming disruption.


Photo: English Jargon
Even a decade ago, analysts were still underestimating how much streaming would disrupt network and cable television.
Since then, Warner Bros. Discovery took control of TNT from the former Warner Bros. leadership.


Photo: Variety.com
The new CEO, David Zaslav, is a notorious penny-pincher who tried to hardball the NBA.
From Zaslav’s perspective, TNT Sports had a relationship with the NBA dating back to the 1980s.
The executive foolishly dared the NBA to pick another partner, which is akin to cheating on your partner and then saying, “What are you gonna do, break up with me?”
The NBA quickly replied, “Welcome to Dumpville! Population: you.”


Photo: Deadline
Meanwhile, Disney CEO Bob Iger watched his entire streaming strategy shake at its foundation.
ESPN and ABC live sports anchor the modern Disney flywheel, as sporting events are how Disney markets its products.


Photo: Variety
So, ESPN and ABC took the odd approach of paying more to receive less.
Disney signed an 11-year deal that guarantees NBA rights through 2035.


Photo: skillastics.com
The company will pay $2.6 billion for fewer games because there was more competition during the bidding war.
Overall, the NBA made out exceptionally well by increasing its annual take to $6.9 billion. Yes, that’s nearly triple.
Disney Trades for Inside the NBA


Photo: ESPN
By choosing to maintain the NBA, Disney secured its streaming growth plans, a critical benefit during the slow spring sports season.
However, the hidden benefit came from WBD’s mistake. Inside the NBA has been an anchor part of TNT Sports since 1990.


Photo: Getty Images/Ringer illustration
Few programs in the interim are as universally revered and popular as this broadcast.
The team of Ernie Johnson Jr., Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O’Neal has become an iconic part of the NBA.


Photo: ESPN Press Room
When TNT Sports lost NBA rights, the company no longer had a need for Inside the NBA.
Recognizing an opportunity, ESPN CEO Jimmy Pitaro contacted WBD executives and worked out a trade.


Photo: Disney
From now on, ABC and ESPN will air Inside the NBA programming in exchange for TNT Sports airing roughly 25 college football and basketball games.
That’s the deal of a lifetime for Disney, as the collegiate events in question aren’t even ones likely to air in primetime on ESPN/ABC.
In short, the NBA and Disney won, while WBD lost, but fans get to watch Inside the NBA on ESPN and ABC, which has always been the dream.
Importantly, Disney doesn’t own Inside the NBA. It’s simply licensing the content from TNT Sports.
Presuming the deal works as expected, a future acquisition remains a strong possibility, though.
Caitlin Clark: Rainmaker


(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
A recent media buzzword is the needle-mover. It refers to the few quantifiably impactful personalities in the media.
Examples are athletes like LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes II, and (still) Tiger Woods.


Tiger Woods, 1996
When these athletes appear on a broadcast, more viewers tune in.
Even casual observers know them and want to watch.


Photo: Jeffrey Becker/USA TODAYSports/NPSTrans/troppic
In the annals of sports, we’ve perhaps never witnessed any female athlete as impactful as Caitlin Clark at such a young age. She’s only 22.
However, Clark’s 2022-2023 in-season ascension as the best college women’s basketball player garnered interest.


Photo: Yahoo
Her repeat performance during the 2023-2024 season proved that she was no fluke, making her a sports icon.
Ratings for Iowa basketball games grew so much that ESPN started airing many of the team’s games.


Photo: AP
ESPN and ABC reaped the rewards during spring 2024, as Iowa made another run to the women’s basketball finals.
Once again, Iowa fell short of a national championship, but that’s not the point here.


Photo: AP
More people watched the women’s basketball national championship than the men’s game.
Not only was this unprecedented, but I’d also describe it as unimaginable as recently as five years ago.


Photo: Disney
Clark has become one of the most famous female athletes of all time…and she was born in this century!
Superstardom came early for her, and Disney reaped the rewards in a multitude of ways.


Credit: Michael Hickey/Getty Images
Since ABC and ESPN broadcast the WNBA, the Caitlin Clark Ratings Windfall didn’t stop with the end of the season.
Instead, Disney quickly marketed the WNBA Draft and the WNBA season.


Photo:Dreamstime
Ratings tripled for the former and dramatically increased for the latter as well.
Even better, Disney’s NBA contract also extended its WNBA rights through 2035.
So, Disney will cover the entirety of Caitlin Clark’s WNBA career for a paltry $60 million a year.
New Heights Indeed


Photo: USA Today
Jimmy Pitaro loves to hire big names, something we’ll discuss again in the next section.
In 2024, Disney secured a long-term contract with Jason Kelce, who became a media sensation during his final season in the NFL.


Photo: Taylor Swift
Kelce’s popular podcast, New Heights, almost accidentally chronicled the relationship between his brother, Travis, and Taylor Swift.
Generally, offensive linemen don’t get famous once they retire since the position is so anonymous.


Photo: People
Also, many linemen instantly drop 50 pounds, as it’s genuinely hard work for them to stay around 300 pounds in the NFL.
So, they’re unrecognizable to boot. In Kelce’s case, he went from an All-Pro few knew to superstardom in a matter of 12 months.


Photo: People
Now, Kelce will host an ESPN late-night show and appears likely to enjoy a career similar to that of Michael Strahan.
The larger point here is that ESPN values potential celebrities as hires, which leads us to…
The Pat McAfee Tantrum


Photo: Taylor Swift
As unheralded as offensive linemen are, they’re basically Taylor Swift compared to NFL punters.
That’s what makes Pat McAfee’s post-NFL career ascension so unlikely.


Credit: Disney
During his career, McAfee was an All-Pro kicker who was most famous for his marginal part in the worst play in NFL history:
McAfee was also friends with his team’s quarterback, Peyton Manning, which helped his post-NFL career.


Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images
The former punter garnered acclaim for his podcasts – Jimmy Pitaro has a type – and his work as a WWE announcer/wrestler.
Recognizing his drawing power with the next generation of sports fans, Pitaro hired McAfee to bring his streaming show to ESPN.


Peyton Manning and Phil Simms
That program now airs every weekday at noon, a coveted lineup spot once reserved for the flagship program, Sports Center.
This fact alone reinforces Pitaro’s ambitions and expectations for McAfee.


Photo: Fox News
The problem is that McAfee can be a bit…combustible. And his temper led to an on-air tiff with Norby Williamson.
For those of you unfamiliar with Williamson, he had a reputation akin to that of The Godfather. He was ESPN’s final boss, so to speak.


Photo: Awful Announcing
Everyone dutifully avoided Williamson for many years. The ones who didn’t found themselves unemployed.
However, the fearless, recently empowered McAfee picked a fight with Williamson…and won.


Photo: ESPN
Williamson left ESPN soon after the conflict, while McAfee acted above the law.
To wit, McAfee “apologized” to ESPN for several events and made a promise that his buddy, Aaron Rodgers, wouldn’t appear on the show again for a year.


(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
McAfee broke that promise…in one day. He can do this because McAfee has become arguably the second-most powerful ESPN worker.
The only one objectively more powerful is Steven A. Smith, and the concern here is that McAfee knows he’s above the law.


(Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)
So, this year’s tantrum hints that ESPN will side with talent any time the ratings justify the move. It’s a dangerous precedent.
VENU Fails to Launch


Venu
Venu Sports is something MickeyBlog has discussed a lot, and I’m starting to wonder why.
I say this because it may be vaporware, not by choice but by circumstance.


Image: Disney
Early in 2024, Iger and Zaslav recognized they needed to solve the same problem.
With cable and network television ratings in decline, both companies needed a soft landing.


(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Iger owns Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+, while Zaslav controls Max and Discovery+.
So, both companies have a streaming future, but the future hasn’t fully arrived yet.


Photo: Getty Images
To solve the problem, the two companies agreed to start a skinny bundle service featuring all the linear channels like ESPN, TNT, and so forth.
Fox also joined the project, which is significant since it’s the only network with Sunday NFL football.


Photo: Deadline
However, an existing skinny bundle service, FuboTV, understandably viewed this new entity, Venu Sports, as an existential threat.
So, FuboTV sued, claiming antitrust issues.


Photo: Fubo
Even though FuboTV has a market cap that is about two percent of Fox, the smallest of the three other companies, it won in court.
Now, Venu Sports cannot launch due to these court rulings and won’t be able to do so until the fall of 2025 at the earliest.


Photo: Venu
Since Disney plans to launch a full version of ESPN on streaming later this year, there won’t be a need for Venu at that point.
Therefore, this joint venture of three different heavyweights may be remembered as vaporware.
If that happens, it’ll be because Disney, WBD, and Fox lost in court to a $450 million company. David will have beaten Goliath.
But it won’t happen because Disney just swallowed Fubo whole. In corporate America, Goliath always wins.
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