Mark Cuban is good for basketball and has been quite kind in terms of accessibility. Hey, he's even suggested FanHouse could sponsor his Mavericks in the future! But sometimes he bleats ideas and stances so unbelievably backwards you wonder how he ever got to where he's at.
Take his latest screed against sports blogs, for example. He bemoans the invention of rumors, which leads so-called "real reporters" to chase down dead ends. Cuban's solution to end this vicious cycle of, um, reporting work? To have ESPN create a blacklist of blogs which have reported inaccurate information, and which shall never be taken seriously again.
Last summer, the SEC signed a new $2.25 billion television rights deal with ESPN. The amount was staggering. ESPN is now on the hook for $150 million per year for the next 15 years. Now we know that every SEC football game will be televised on the network's broadcast partners, infinitely more basketball games will arrive on the network, and sundry lesser sports will also be featured.
It's a deal of tremendous implications that catapults SEC sports coverage into the realm of professional sports. What's been left unexamined is how this will change ESPN's news coverage of the league, and how that resulting coverage is going to make the SEC the de facto national college league of choice. Why? Because ESPN has spent so much money on the rights packages, the SEC has to be front and center.
What's your No. 1 fear if you subscribe to cable and you're a sports fan? Aside from the signal dying on the first day of the NCAA basketball tournament or on any Saturday or Sunday in the fall, it's that through no fault of your own you might not be able to watch your favorite teams play because of rights disputes between major companies.
We've seen it with the Big Ten Network and several cable companies, and we've seen it with the NFL Network and virtually every cable company. Nothing sucks more as a sports fan than being a paying subscriber, being willing to pay whatever you have to for the games you want to see, and still not being able to watch your favorite team play from the comfort of home. It's a constant dance between content providers and cable distributors over how much channels should cost, and fandom is the collateral damage.
The latest rights dispute that seemed likely was between ESPN and Comcast. Only it never materialized.
On Tuesday night, ESPN's E:60 investigative reporting show profiled UFC President Dana White, behind the central question: "Can UFC get to the next level with Dana White being Dana White?"
I have a question, too: At what point can we all just admit UFC has already reached "the next level" while corporate America was sleeping on the job?
The fallacy these days is that UFC somehow needs to be legitimized by mainstream media or major advertisers. The fact is that either or both would enhance their position rather than validate it.
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.
You Can't Be Bad All of the Time -- First-year Tennessee football coach Lane Kiffin has built up a tremendous amount of antagonism this offseason. There's nobody to blame but himself, of course, but sometimes you have to give the Devil his due. For all his transgressions, try not to read too much into the story that Tennessee has been witness to 11 player departures. Wherever possible in college athletics, you want to look out for the best interest of the athletes but healthy, successful coaching transitions at big-time football programs almost require a good dose of roster turnover. Whether he's handled it right is up for debate but the raw numbers themselves should not be an indictment of Kiffin.
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September. Mr. BCS Goes To Washington -- Except I have a feeling Jimmy Stewart would find some way to rail against the BCS, however wrongheadedly. You see, the big word in the halls of Congress on Friday was "fair" but don't let that confuse you. While the Mountain West and certain members of Congress are using the fairness term to stoke public support, their real concern is about money.
So Steve Phillips has done two games in the booth for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, and I think he deserves a big round of applause from baseball fans everywhere. It's not easy to make Joe Morgan sound smart and Phillips has been doing it with ease since joining him and Jon Miller. Congratulations, Steve.
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.
CBS has held the television rights to the NCAA Tournament since 1982. CBS has paid handsomely for them over the years. The most recent extension was for $6 billion over 11 years that runs through 2013.
CBS smartly included digital media rights -- which includes the streaming of the games over the internet. This has created a new revenue stream for CBS. And as it has invested in and improved the live streams, CBS has seen its ad revenue grow from it. This year, CBS expects ad revenue from the online streaming to be around $30 million, an almost 30 percent increase from last year in spite of the recession.
The crystal football is here through at least January of 2015. Its not exactly the most shocking news around, but certainly a burr in the side of college football playoff advocates as the Rose, Orange, Fiesta and Sugar bowls will remain with the BCS through 2014. This effectively shelves any possibility for a playoff until the 2014-2015 college football season at the earliest.
The agreement provides for at least one more BCS Championship Game at each of the four venues once the old agreement runs out after the 2009-10 season. This news, paired with the crossover from Fox Sports' woeful BCS coverage to ESPN/ABC after next season should perk up the BCS after a rough few years.
Mark Cuban is good for basketball and has been quite kind in terms of accessibility. Hey, he's even suggested FanHouse could sponsor his Mavericks in the future! But sometimes he bleats ideas and stances so unbelievably backwards you wonder how he ever got to where he's at.
Last summer, the 
What's your No. 1 fear if you subscribe to cable and you're a sports fan? Aside from the signal dying on the first day of the NCAA basketball tournament or on any Saturday or Sunday in the fall, it's that through no fault of your own you might not be able to watch your favorite teams play because of rights disputes between major companies. 
On Tuesday night, ESPN's E:60 investigative reporting show profiled UFC President 
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, 
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, 
So 
Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.
CBS has held the television rights to the NCAA Tournament since 1982. CBS has paid handsomely for them over the years. The most recent extension was for $6 billion over 11 years that runs through 2013. 
The crystal football is here through at least January of 2015. Its not exactly the most shocking news around, but certainly a burr in the side of college football playoff advocates as the 
