A Winning Formula is Disrupted
Issue #146 — NFL Network's Good Morning Football's move to the West Coast disrupts the chemistry the show has built.
A Winning Formula Is Disrupted
With the NFL offseason in full swing, teams are busy in prep mode for the upcoming season. New coaches are now settled in with their teams, the combine has taken place, free agency has hit its slow period, and all eyes are now focused on the NFL Draft, which is a month away.
The volume of NFL-centric stories decreases sharply during this period, which makes it a natural point for NFL-based shows to take some much-needed time off and hit the reset button in anticipation of the upcoming season.
Good Morning Football (GMFB) airs from 7 -10 a.m. ET on NFL Network is one of those NFL-based shows undergoing a reset. However, its reset has caused concern for many of its loyal fans accustomed to waking up to a light-hearted, entertaining, and at the same serious show dedicated to football.
Beginning Friday, March 29, GMFB will be going on a months-long hiatus that sees the popular morning talk show decamp from its longtime base in New York City and move out west to Los Angeles with a new air time of 8-10 a.m. ET.
The NFL’s media operations NFL Media are based in Los Angeles, and much of its studio programming outside of GMFB originates from a brand new facility that recently opened. This facility is situated in the same area as SoFi Stadium, home to the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams in Inglewood, CA.
From a financial standpoint, the move to LA makes sense as the NFL would use its own studio space and not have to rent out space like it did for the GMFB.
But this is where the advantage ends, as the LA move raises uncertainty about whether the show’s four regular cast members, Jamie Erdhal, Jason McCourty, Kyle Brandt, and Peter Schrager, will make the move.
Amidst that, there is also the issue of the NFL Network and its owner, NFL Media, being divested from the NFL. The league is interested in offloading its media assets, including NFL.com, NFL RedZone, NFL Films, and NFL Plus, with ESPN being the most likely suitor.
The foursome found out about the show’s relocation at the very last moment, the day before it was publicly announced, and so have had minimal time to digest and wrestle with the decision.
Erdhal this past Wednesday committed to the LA move, while Schrager who made his final appearance on the show on Friday, played the will he or won’t he tease with viewers, so his status remains uncertain.
The same can be said for McCourty and Brandt, who have not indicated which way they will go.
With the show leaving the airwaves nearly four weeks before the draft, viewers have also been denied an opportunity to hear from the quartet during the NFL’s pinnacle offseason event.
In its short existence since launching in 2016, GMFB has remained a popular destination for sports viewers despite experiencing a lot of commotion. It has moved studio locations within New York City multiple times and saw a significant cast change with the departures of Kay Adams and Nate Burleson.
Erdahl and McCourty's arrival in 2022 and quick bonding with Brandt and Schrager allowed GMFB not to miss a beat and keep doing what it does best: talk about football.
But this West Coast reset that begins in July could see the return of all cast members, which would be the best possible outcome for the morning show, or just the return of one member, which could be the worst outcome, meaning the show would quickly need to find its footing with new cast members in a new location.
Good Morning Football’s reset is pretty daunting even by NFL off-season moves standards.
(The Athletic, Jamie Erdah/X, Deadline)
RECAP
ESPN At Crossroads
At one point, ESPN could proudly boast that it was available in 100 million cable homes, signifying its dominance in the cable space. That number has now shrunk to 71 million and is continuing to head downward, forcing Jimmy Pitaro, the network’s head, to think outside the box in reshaping the network for what lies ahead. Top of his mind is how to blunt the cable subscriber exodus and generate new revenue. One way is to meet the cord-cutters halfway by launching a stand-alone direct-to-consumer product offering the linear networks, which comes with all its signature programming and marquee sporting events and leagues. This product, separate from the ESPN Plus app, would retail between $25-30 a month and is set to launch in 2025. In addition, ESPN has teamed with Fox Sports and TNT Sports to launch a “skinny bundle” direct-to-consumer product that should be priced around $40-$50 per month. The skinny bundle has not been received well by the leagues, especially by the NFL, which felt like they were blindsided, considering they are media partners and ESPN is one of the potential equity partners for NFL Media. These tricky waters are what Pitaro must navigate currently as he steers ESPN away from a linear model towards a hub and spoke model, with the hub being the sports content it offers. The spokes are the various ways consumers can access said sports content. (The Athletic, The Washington Post)
The Tussle for Paramount Global
CBS Sports is knee-deep in its coverage of the 2024 March Madness Tournament, and it could not have come at a better time as it distracts from the parent company’s Paramount Global ownership quagmire. The majority shareholder, Shari Redstone, and her board of directors are listening to offers that could see an ownership switch of the media conglomerate that the Redstone family has controlled for decades. Paramount Global is currently deliberating an offer from the production company Skydance Media, owned by David Ellison, and this past week, it received an $11 billion offer from the private equity firm Apollo Global Management. Apollo’s offer is a very healthy one as it comes way above Paramount Global’s market value, which stands at $7.7 billion. CBS News and Paramount Plus’ parent company has been put in a rock and hard place as it must acknowledge Apollo’s aggressive while still considering and veering towards the one from Sky Dance Media. Redstone believes that aligning Paramount Global with Sky Dance Media would better position the media company for the future, considering that its positioning and stature within the media universe has shrunk considerably as more competitors, including Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, have entered the field. The more this lingers on, the possibility of another bidding entering the foray seems possible, creating more headaches for Redstone and her board members and providing all those within the Paramount Global umbrella in search of another distraction. (The Wall Street Journal, The Finacial Times)
QUICK RECAP
Kate Middleton: How the news outlets relayed the news about her cancer diagnosis. (TVNewser)
Health: ESPN's Hanna Storm reveals her breast cancer diagnosis. (ESPN Front Row)
Out: Bianca Nobilo signs off from CNN. (Bianca Noble/X)
Haiti: Here’s how the new networks are covering the crisis in the island nation. (TVNewser)
Real Estate: Now that the CNN Center is empty, tenants are being sought after. (Bisnow)
Advertising: Fox Sports and Netflix struck an ad deal that didn’t involve TV ratings. (Variety)
March Madness: The basketball tournament brings good fortunes for TV networks. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Q&A: The anchors and executive producers of PBS NewsHour talk about how things are going in year two. (TVNewser)
Streaming: Netflix to debut Receiver sports docuseries later this year. (Netflix/X)
Award: ESPN EVP, Creative Studio & Marketing, Tina Thornton named Multichannel News' Wonder Women New York honoree. (Next TV)
Award: CBS News’ Ingrid Ciprián Matthews, President of CBS News, and Adrienne Roark, President, Content Development and Integration, CBS News and Stations and CBS Media Ventures named Multichannel News' Wonder Women New York honorees. (CBS News PR/X)
Legal: ABC News and George Stephanopoulos sued by Donald Trump. (Los Angeles Times)
Legal: UK’s GB News, according to Ofcom, breached impartiality rules. (The Guardian)
Paris Olympics: NBC Sports to debut whip-around show on Peacock called Gold Zone. (NBC Sports Press Box)
Paris Olympics: NBC Sports will use Peacock to try new food and drink ordering ad model. (Variety)
Programming: Encore episodes of Real Time with Bill Maher will air on CNN on Saturdays. (CNN Press Room)
Programming: MSNBC Films debuts spring and summer lineup featuring four new feature and short documentaries. (Deadline)
Don Lemon: Former CNN anchor says his interview with Elon Musk wasn’t a “gotcha” interview. (Mediate)
Don Lemon: Former CNN anchor debuts his online show, The Don Lemon Show. (TVNewser)
Ratings: ESPN's NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC is the most-watched in five years. (Sports Media Watch)
Ratings: CBS Sports has the most-watched Men’s College Basketball season in five years. (CBS Sports PR/X)
Profile: ESPN's Ryan Clark is more than an ESPN analyst for the sports media giant. (Awful Announcing)
Profile: Fox News’ Steve Doocy is now Fox and Friends’ voice of dissent. (The Washington Post)
Sports: The WNBA could seek a separate media rights deal from the NBA. (Front Office Sports)
Sports: Tennis Channel's T2 to be available free over the air in 43 markets. (Broadcasting+Cable)
Sports: ESPN extends College Football Playoff TV rights through the 2031-32 season. (ESPN Press Room)
In: Former MLB manager Buck Showalter is returning to the MLB Network. (The Athletic)
In: Rhona Tarrant named by CBS News executive editor of CBS News Confirmed. (Paramount Press Express)
In: Hallie Jackson named new anchor of the Sunday edition of NBC Nightly News. (NBC News PR)
In: Former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel joins NBC News as an analyst. (The New York Times)
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A MarkHenry Media LLC publication - Issue #146 - 2024