- Shaquille O’Neal and TNT Sports will launch a new league dubbed “Dunkman” this summer. The first pro dunking league, with backing from Eli Lilly & Co., aims to build on the success of last year’s TV series, with Shaq as commissioner. The live events will air on TNT, TBS, truTV and HBO Max. Additional content will be on Dunkman social channels, Bleacher Report, House of Highlights and YouTube.
- Range Sports has hired FanDuel Sports Network VP and Head of Content Partnerships & Acquisitions Ben Berchuck as SVP/Media Rights Consulting. He will report to Range Sports Head of Media Rights Consulting David Sternberg. Prior to FDSN, Berchuck worked on live sports partnerships and programming for Facebook/Meta, and also had a stint working on Wasserman’s media rights team.
- For Opening Day games, 15 of 29 U.S.-based MLB teams saw local viewership increases compared to 2025.
- The latest episode of the SBJ Sports Media Podcast features my chat with my colleague Richard Deitsch on Big Data’s effect on March Madness viewership. We also discuss the implications on TGL media rights with Tiger Woods stepping away from golf.
- With Augusta National celebrating the 90th Masters, the media industry is also marking a milestone for this year’s tournament: It’s the 70th Masters on TV. My SBJ colleague Josh Carpenter looks at the evolution of the Masters broadcast in this week’s magazine.
- SBJ’s Mike Mazzeo reports on a growing trend — MLB teams investing in content studios to produce shorts on social media.
- ESPN on-air personality Marty Smith signed what he called a long-term contract with the network, writes Carpenter.
- NFL owners signed off on a series of changes to the league’s internet resolution and related policies that determine what teams can and cannot do in terms of distributing digital content and making money online, writes Ben Fischer in his latest SBJ Football newsletter.
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