Sports and TV
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Sports provide a scenario for what TV does
best -- live, dramatic, suspenseful action
Televised sporting events (Super Bowl, World
Series and Olympics) often rank among the
highest viewed programs of all time
Broadcast sports touch almost every American
household
Sports and Culture
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Sports provide entertainment
Sports affect civic “pride”
Sports impact community development and
economic fortunes – every Notre Dame home
game generates over $7 million in the SB
community
Sports often provide a backdrop for other
forces in society
Sports and TV
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200 million Americans call themselves sports
fans (seven out of eight adults)
In 2005-06, Americans spent $15 billion on
tickets to sporting events ($9 billion on movies)
Companies spent $8.31 billion on sponsorships
of sporting events (out of $12 billion overall
total)
Sporting events took in $18.6 billion in revenue
Sports Broadcasting History
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Major college football games were broadcast
on WEAF in 1925.
Every Chicago Cub baseball game was
broadcast on radio beginning in the late ‘20s.
NBC, with one camera, produced the first
telecast of a sporting event, a PrincetonColumbia baseball game, in 1939.
Sports Broadcasting History
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The telegraph provided baseball scores to
subscribers around the nation in the early
1900s
The first radio broadcast of the sporting event
was a prize fight in Pittsburgh on KDKA,
April 11, 1921.
KDKA broadcast a Davis Cup tennis match on
August 4, 1921, and a Pittsburgh Pirate
baseball game a day later.
Sports Broadcasting History
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Invention of videotape (1956) and satellite
transmissions (1962) spurred the growth of
television sports.
Monday Night Football (ABC) began in 1970.
ESPN debuted in 1979. The all-sports network
reaches over 85 million households.
Sports Provide Television:
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A programming base for broadcast networks
on weekends
A promotional vehicle for other network
programming
An image builder for networks and local
stations
A lure for non-regular viewers
A community tie-in for local stations
A venue for advertisers
Television Provides Sports:
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Exposure
Public Relations
Money
However. . .
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Nearly every entity that televises a sporting event loses
money
ESPN is the only network to turn a profit in sports
Morgan Stanley estimates total sports programming
losses of $1 billion annually.
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$500-$600 million at broadcast networks
$400-$500 million at cable networks
Sports and Television
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Television networks spent $6.7 billion in television
rights fees in 2005-06. Production costs run into the
millions
The ESPN networks telecast 51,000 hours of
programming this year – triple the amount in 1994.
ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC spent more than $1 billion
on sports in 2005-06, compared with $750 million on
series and entertainment programming and $400
million on news.
Sports and Television
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Over 94 million watched the 2007 Super Bowl
Sports and Television
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Advertisers – from Budweiser to General Motors,
from McDonald’s to Cialis – will spent $7.4
billion to purchase commercial time in telecasts of
2006-07 sporting events.
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Auto: $1 billion
Beer: $412 million
Financial Institutions: $372 million
Telecommunications: $354 million
Sports and Television
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Traditional Commercial Spots
Product Placement
Promotional Tie-ins-Contests
Sponsorships of
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Pregame/Halftime/Postgame shows
Players of the Game
Plays of the Game
Events
Sports and Television
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Commercials
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$2.6 million in Super Bowl
$200,000 spot in MNF
$350,000-$400,000 on NBC’s Football in America
game
Fundamentals of Sports Television
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RIGHTS’ FEES -- Whoever owns, creates or
stages the sporting event also makes the
decision of who gets to televise (or broadcast
via radio, the internet, pay-per-view, etc.) that
event.
No one can televise or broadcast an event
without securing those rights.
Fundamentals of Sports Television
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The owner determines the market value of the
television rights and then seeks the highest
bidder for those rights. The owner may be an
individual team, a league, a conference, etc.
Rights’ Fees have escalated over the last
decade. These fees help pay salaries for
athletes and provide income for teams, leagues
and conferences or the event promoter.
Rights’ Fees
NFL
 ESPN -- $8.8 billion ($1.1 billion annually) for Monday
Night Football through 2013
 Fox -- $4.27 billion ($712.5 million annually) for NFC
Sunday afternoon package. Super Bowl in 2008 and 2011.
Pro Bowls in 2008 and 2011
 CBS -- $3.73 billion ($622.5 million annually) for AFC
Sunday afternoon package. Super Bowl in 2007 and 2010.
Pro Bowls in 2007 and 2010
Rights’ Fees
NBC: $3.6 billion ($600 million annually) for
Thursday night season opener, Sunday night
package, Super Bowls in 2009 and 2012; Pro
Bowls in 2009 and 2012
 Direct TV: $3.5 billion ($700 million annually)
for NFL Sunday Ticket
TOTAL VALUE: $23.9 billion ($3.7 billion a year)
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Rights’ Fees
The Olympics
 $793 million for Athens Games
 $2.2 billion for 2010 and 2012 games (NBC bid
$1 billion more than the next highest bidder)
Rights’ Fees
NCAA Men’s Basketball:
 CBS paid $6 billion for the NCAA sports package
over 11 years ($545 million annually)
 NBC pays about $5 million annually for ND
home football games
Rights’ Fees
NHL:
 NHL’s deal with NBC was based on profit sharing
plan – split advertising revenue after NBC
deducted production costs
Television Sports
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Regional/Cable Networks
League/Team Owned Networks (YES, Big Ten
Network)
Local TV Station Sports
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News
Locally Produced Events
Pay-Per-View
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HBO pioneered this concept with boxing
matches.
Now, many leagues offer game packages
through satellite services.
Sports Production
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Televising sports is expensive.
Costs often can’t be recouped through
advertising.
Problems of Televised Sports
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Pressure to win
Creation of inflated sports environment
Control over starting times and time outs
Advertising sponsorships
Sports created for television (XFL, WWF,
WCW, Extreme Games)
Cross Promotion
Ownership Issues
Why Don’t We See. . .
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More women’s sports. . .
Horse racing. . .
College “Olympic” sports. . .
High school sports. . .
Little league games. . .