Morning Buzz

Elle Duncan’s recent move to Netflix to serve as an on-air host across sports and live events for the streaming giant drew significant attention within sports media circles. The host will make her Netflix debut Friday on “Skyscraper Live,” a two-hour global event where free solo climber Alex Honnold will attempt to scale Taipei 101, the tallest building in Taiwan.

As SBJ reported on Jan. 15, Duncan has the the freedom to do other assignments and SBJ has learned that Duncan will be officially announced on Thursday as the studio host for USA Sports’ upcoming inaugural season of WNBA coverage. That assignment includes WNBA pre-and-postgame coverage on USA Network.

Last September, the WNBA and Versant announced an 11-year media rights agreement for USA Network to air WNBA games, including the regular season and portions of the playoffs and WNBA Finals in select years. The deal begins with the 2026 WNBA season and runs through 2036. As part of the deal, USA Sports will present at least 50 WNBA games annually on USA Network. Wednesday nights will feature WNBA doubleheaders on USA Network and will include dedicated pre-game and post-game studio programming.

Duncan found a nice niche at ESPN in women’s basketball as the host of “WNBA Countdown” alongside Chiney Ogwumike and Andraya Carter. That trio also had a significant presence during ESPN’s women’s Final Four coverage, earning audience praise for the chemistry among the group as well as a collective passion for the sport.

CBS drew the best Saturday NFL Divisional playoff audience on record last weekend, as the Broncos’ OT win over the Bills delivered 39.6 million viewers in the late afternoon slot. That passes the prior record of 37.5 million set by a prime-time 49ers-Packers matchup on Fox back in January 2024. Broncos-Bills is up 17% from 33.8 million for Chiefs-Texans in the same time slot last season on ABC/ESPN. The game peaked at 51.3 million viewers in OT. Bills-Broncos also is the best Saturday telecast on any network since the 1994 Winter Olympics on CBS.

Meanwhile, Fox drew 32 million viewers for the Seahawks’ 41-6 drubbing of the 49ers on Saturday night, which saw Seattle jump out to a 17-0 first quarter lead. That’s down 8% from Commanders-Lions in the same window last year, and the least-watched Saturday prime-time Divisional game since Fox drew 28.6 million for Eagles-Giants in January 2023.

Figures for the Sunday Divisional playoff games should be out later Thursday.

Oak View Group is aligning with Kraft Heinz in a sponsorship that splashes many of the food giant’s top brands across more than 50 OVG-managed venues. The five-year deal incorporates staple brands like Heinz Ketchup and Mustard, and Kraft Mac & Cheese, within OVG buildings, including Allegiant Stadium, UBS and Climate Pledge arenas, and the Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix. K-H gets a wide assortment of marketing assets within those venues, among them logo placement on menu boards, branded condiment bars, digital and fixed venue signage, along with concourse LED and video displays. Team IP rights are included in some venues. Branded K-H menu items are also expected in some locations.

OVG President of Global Partnerships Dan Griffis said the agreement took around a year to complete. “It’s a way to build relevance at scale among our customers for Kraft Heinz and to enhance the food offerings in our buildings,” he said.

K-H, which held entitlement to the Steelers’ home field from 2001-2022, has been getting more active in pop culture and sports since hiring former PepsiCo brand CMO Todd Kaplan as its North American CMO in Aug. 2024. The OVG tie-up follows a similar K-H entertainment deal last July across 80 Live Nation venues, which included designation as “official condiment and mac and cheese provider.”

While condiments are a focus of the OVG deal, the wide- ranging agreement cuts across multiple K-H foods, including BBQ sauce, cheese, cheesecake, cream cheese, gelatin, honey, hot sauce, jelly, ketchup, mac and cheese, mayo, mustard, pickles, pudding, ranch dressing, relish, relish, salad dressing, steak sauce, syrup, tomato paste, tomato sauce and vinegar.

The Lightning are “set to stay at Benchmark International Arena until at least 2043” after Hillsborough County Commissioners “unanimously approved a six-year lease extension” Wednesday. It is the “first of what could be a few stadium funding requests to come before the county this year.” Commissioners said that their Lightning decision should “not be considered an expectation, praising the team for exemplary commitment to Tampa.” The extension features a $250M “commitment from the county for renovations to the arena, money drawn from its tourist development tax.” The team is “required to spend an additional” $75M on “arena renovations to fully unlock the county’s contribution.” If the team “were to decide to leave Tampa, it would have to pay millions in penalties” (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 1/21).

Honda on Thursday unveiled “This is The Power of Dreams” -- its debut marketing campaign as official automotive partner of Team USA -- which features 10 Team Honda athletes competing in the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games. Team Honda Winter U.S. Olympians and Paralympians featured include:

• Kendall Coyne Schofield, ice hockey
• Audrey Crowley, para alpine skiing
• Declan Farmer, sled hockey
• Ilia Malinin, figure skating
• Madison Chock and Evan Bates, figure skating
• Brenna Huckaby, para snowboarding
• Kaysha Love, bobsled
• Brody Roybal, sled hockey
• Jordan Stolz, speed skating

Team Honda Drivers are also featured in the campaign, namely:

• Kyle Kirkwood, Honda IndyCar driver
• Dai Yoshihara, Honda sports car driver

Honda plans to incorporate same-day footage from Team Honda athletes competing in Milan-Cortina in select versions of two 60-second television spots, “Ideas Into Action” and “A Flawless Performance.” The full 60-second “This is The Power of Dreams” creative will debut during the Opening Ceremony on NBC, with 60-, 30-, 15- and six-second versions running across broadcast, streaming and digital platforms leading up to and throughout the Games (Honda).

The NFL Scouting Combine will remain in Indianapolis through at least 2028 as announced by ESPN’s Pat McAfee and Visit Indy at the city’s annual State of Tourism on Wednesday. The city of Indianapolis and Visit Indy signed an extension with the NFL to keep the Combine in Indy for 2027 and 2028. The event has been held in Indianapolis since 1987 (SBJ).

On this week’s pod, host and SBJ media reporter Austin Karp looks into what a potential CFP format expansion would mean for interested media. Sticking with college, the hardwood is heating up and so are audience numbers, as Karp shares why the Big Ten Network isn’t just relying on football for a record start. Plus, with the NFC and AFC championship games set for Sunday, NFL media chief Hans Schroeder dishes on the matchups, plus where things stand on media rights and Nielsen’s Big Data.

Tennis player Naomi Osaka did not “make quite the same entrance” for her second-round match as she did for her debut match at the Australian Open, “dispensing with the couture wide-brim hat, veil and parasol but still wearing the jellyfish-inspired dress” into Margaret Court Arena on Thursday. She matched a “warmup jacket in the same blue and green aquatic hues” as her Nike dress and wore a visor. Two women in the crowd wore “replicas of the wide-brim hat and veil” that Osaka wore for her walk-on in the previous match (AP, 1/22).

Osaka after her second-round win over Sorana Cirstea said that she did not expect there to be so much conversation about the outfit. She said, “It’s something fun I like to do on the court. I don’t really talk that much but I like to express myself through clothes.” She added, “I thank you guys for also relating to the outfits that I wear and I love seeing the recreations” (“2026 Australian Open,” ESPN2, 1/22).

T’Wolves fans will see “price increases” for season tickets next year as renewals went out to season-ticket holders Wednesday. Two different fans “who have season tickets in the lower bowl said they saw increases of 25% and 37%, respectively.” Fans with upper bowl tickets “reported smaller increases.” The “cheapest season ticket, in the upper level,” is now $21 per game. T’Wolves CEO Matt Caldwell indicated that the increases “reflect multiple realities: The Wolves were so bad for so long that they had to keep prices low just to get anyone in the building.” Even with next year’s season ticket increases, the T’Wolves will “be in the bottom third of the NBA in terms of pricing.” The team currently has roughly 9,000 season-ticket holders, about half of Target Center’s capacity (MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE, 1/21).

In a deal befitting a tech-infused golf outfit, TGL is working with mobile gaming studio HypGames to appear in PGA Tour Pro Golf on Apple Arcade. This is the first time TGL has been in a video game, on mobile, consoles or PC.

The first four TGL holes coming to PGA Tour Pro Golf are:

• The Plank
• Pick Yer Plunder
• The Spear
• Alpine

PGA Tour Pro Golf is also adding Hammer-style tournaments, reflecting how TGL plays by forcing players to race the clock, as scores multiply the longer you take to play the hole. It also features a solo campaign mode, with challenges and rewards crafted around TGL teams and gear.

HypGames launched PGA Tour Pro Golf in 2025. It features courses such as Pebble Beach, Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass.

The X Games will announce later today that Stake will serve as the official online casino and sports betting sponsor for the upcoming X Games League, which debuts later this year. Real-time odds, utilizing data from existing X Games partner Alt Sports Data, will be integrated into live broadcasts. The deal, which kicks off at X Games Aspen this weekend, will also include the creation of an Athlete Ambassador Fund to support the creation of “exclusive, co-branded content.”

The new action sports league will also announce today that all XGL events and team drafts will be available on livestreaming platform Kick. ESPN, which created the X Games and has been a minority investor since selling a majority stake to MSP Sports Capital in 2022, remains the property’s linear broadcast partner.

“This 1653 work includes information on the care & use of proper equipment including lines, floats & rods.”