Morning Buzz

NEW YORK -- Sports has slowly crept in and become a focal point of the annual TV Upfront week in recent years, and that theme continued on Monday afternoon as both Fox and Amazon leaned into both live and scripted sports programming.

Both football (mostly the NFL) and futbol (via the World Cup) drove the conversation for Fox and Amazon, as NBC earlier in the day mostly focused on its entertainment programming. At the New York City Center, Tom Brady opened and closed the ceremonies for Fox, teasing its college and NFL programming, including breaking news that the Eagles would go on the road to face the Cowboys on Thanksgiving Day.

Brady was joined by his former teammate Rob Gronkowski, who along with Jameis Winston announced a weekly soccer show, “The Other Football,” that will air on the Fox-owned streaming platform Tubi around this summer’s World Cup.

Michael Strahan also promoted Fox’s World Cup coverage, spanning 70 matches on Fox and 34 more on FS1. Strahan even dove into viewership, noting the network was expecting around 15 million viewers for each match involving Team USA. Strahan introduced comedian James Corden, who’s joining Fox to host a daily World Cup show, “After Hours,” following the completion of each day’s play.

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The Bills will hold their first regular-season game in their new Highmark Stadium against the Lions in Week 2 on Sept. 17, which “will kick off” Amazon Prime Video’s “Thursday Night Football” schedule. The matchup was “one of three announced by the NFL” on Monday as NBC, Fox and Prime Video made their upfront presentations to advertisers. The Cowboys “were part of the other two unveilings,” as the team will visit the Giants in the first NBC “Sunday Night Football” game of the season on Sept. 13 and will host the Eagles on Fox on Thanksgiving Day. The NFL has “traditionally used Week 2 to showcase new stadiums in a primetime game.” This is also the “eighth time in the past 15 years the Cowboys and Giants are opening the season against each other” and the “15th time the NFC East rivals are meeting on NBC’s Sunday night package” (AP, 5/11).

In Buffalo, Lance Lysowski wrote the Bills-Lions Week 2 game “guarantees us a heavyweight matchup between two contenders.” But while the NFL “could have done far worse with the opponent,” it also “could have done better with the timing.” Lysowski noted the grand opening should not “have to wait until Week 2.” The league’s “preference” to put the Cowboys in primetime of Week 1 each season “is one factor that cost the Bills a home game on opening weekend.” But Lysowski wrote the Bills “should have gotten the Sunday treatment in Week 1,” and the game should not “have gone to Amazon Prime Video.” Lysowski: “The NFL robbed the people who can actually attend of turning the first regular-season game at the new stadium -- which was partially funded by taxpayers -- into an event that lasts all day” (BUFFALO NEWS, 5/11).

Eighteen Univ. of Nebraska football players “have lost their arbitration case” against the College Sports Commission, which denied the approval of $1M in NIL deals through Nebraska’s multimedia partner, Playfly Sports. The arbitrator “agreed that Playfly -- authorized by the NU Board of Regents to divert $8 million of its payment to the department toward student-athlete NIL -- met the House settlement’s definition of an associated entity.” The CSC noted the deals “did not satisfy ... a valid business purpose,” as they “did not include goods or services offered to the general public for profit.” Nebraska can now “either resubmit the deals with a reframed purpose, await the House settlement plaintiffs’ challenge, set forth earlier this spring, or go through with the payments, allowing a standing Nebraska state law to protect the players from being punished by the NCAA for taking the NIL payments” (OMAHA WORLD-HERALD, 5/11).

Speaking to media at the ACC meetings in Florida, CSC CEO Bryan Seeley said that he did not “consider the deal to be a precedent.” Seeley: “Even if it’s not precedential, the fact is it’s influential, and it’s influential in people’s minds about how they think about enforcement.” Some observers are “curious to see whether the university or the state will sue over the decision,” something the CSC was “hoping to avoid” when it sent out a participation agreement for schools to sign that forbade them from suing the commission. In acknowledging the decision, Nebraska AD Troy Dannen said that the school would “continue to operate under the CSC process ‘while monitoring changes in the collegiate landscape’” (AP, 5/11).

Cisco and the USGA have extended their longstanding technology partnership for an additional five years and are plotting new, artificial intelligence-focused initiatives together. With the renewal, Cisco will use its “Cisco AI Defense” platform to secure and validate a new AI function within the USGA’s handicap scoring app, GHIN, that lets users quickly query the USGA rulebook. Cisco will also deploy Wi-Fi 7 access points, Meraki cameras (for security and crowd flow monitoring), and customized dashboards to monitor network performance at USGA events, including the upcoming U.S. Women’s Open (at The Riviera Country Club) and U.S. Open (at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club).

“Being able to showcase how our technology works in a temporary environment -- and sometimes in a really difficult and challenging environment -- is important for us,” said Cisco VP/Global Sponsorships Rob McQueen. “It’s really [about] showcasing that in person, and it always has been with this relationship.”

The renewal continues Cisco and the USGA’s history of collaborating on operational innovations since first partnering in 2018. One notable example was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Cisco used WebEx to facilitate remote fan engagement opportunities like meet-and-greets with athletes.

“We look at Cisco not just a sponsor, but a strategic IT partner,” said Bryan Miranda, the USGA’s Managing Dir/Partnerships & Hospitality. “Our tech team will look at Cisco and say, ‘OK, we need to solve some problems here that we can’t solve alone. How does Cisco help?’ We engage Cisco real-time in how they can help solve X, Y, Z problem.”

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Game 5 of the PWHL Walter Cup Playoffs between the Minnesota Frost and Montréal Victoire will be played Tuesday at 7pm ET at Place Bell after the game, originally scheduled for Monday, was postponed due to player safety concerns related to illness (PWHL). The PWHL made the announcement to postpone the decisive Game 5 “just hours before” the scheduled 7pm ET puck drop on Monday. The league also indicated that “all tickets for the game will be honored for the rescheduled date.” Sources said that the illness is “currently contained to the Montreal Victoire, with nobody on the Minnesota Frost sick as of Monday evening.” Players who are sick have been separated from the team. The league “first became aware of the player illness on Monday and made the decision to postpone the game after numbers continued to increase.” The league did “not disclose the nature of the illness, nor did it reveal how many players were sick.” However, the league said, “Medical assessment determined that the symptoms are not consistent with hantavirus” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/11).

Chicago aldermen on Monday “advanced a $54.7 million tax break” for the $7B 1901 Project plan by owners of the Bulls and Blackhawks to redevelop parking lots around the United Center. Members of the council Economic Committee “unanimously advanced the abatement in a voice vote.” It is expected to “face a final vote by the full council next week.” United Center CFO Steve Rucks said that the abatement is “necessary in order to lock down the remaining 80% of private financing needed to move the plan forward.” The tax break is “tied to the $500 million initial phase of the seven-phase project.” That phase is set to include a “6,000-seat music hall, a boutique hotel, several parking garages with ground-level retail space and nearly 10 acres of green spaces.” The project is “set to be finished in an about 15 years.” City planners and developers on Monday did “not give a clear answer when asked if they would return to the City Council to ask for further tax breaks as the next phases of the project move forward” (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 5/11).

U.S. Ski and Snowboard has signed an eight-year sponsorship with The North Face, bringing in the popular brand as its official apparel partner. The agreement will see The North Face providing competition outerwear across U.S. Ski and Snowboard’s 11 teams through the Utah Games in 2034. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though CEO Sophie Goldschmidt called it one of the biggest in the national governing body’s history. USSS negotiated the deal directly with The North Face.

“As we look ahead to Utah 2034, we thought the opportunity to go with a brand that has sort of the scale and broader distribution network like The North Face, both in the U.S. and globally, was a really good opportunity for us just to take our brand and the licensing opportunity to a new level,” Goldschmidt told SBJ.

The North Face previously outfitted the freeski teams in the 2014 and 2018 Games. In 2022, USSS signed a four-year deal with Italian sportswear company Kappa, marking the first time it has had the same apparel provider across all teams. The North Face deal again covers all teams, and with 270 athletes in 11 disciplines it will allow the brand to appeal to different demographics based on the culture of each.

The deal will see the Colorado-based apparel company providing performance apparel for off-mountain training, as well. It will launch a commercially available collection in the fall, putting USSS-branded apparel in stores around the globe. That type of collaboration has proven popular for USSS in the recent past, with a line created with J.Crew selling out within 24 hours before the Milan Cortina Games earlier this year.

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The Java House Grand Prix of Arlington is “coming back to North Texas in 2027,” with the event returning to the streets around AT&T Stadium for a March 19-21 race weekend. The inaugural race was held this March to “wide praise from the drivers, organizers and fans.” Event president Bill Miller said that the race “will be more dynamic for the 2027 edition.” Dow notes details around ticket renewals, premium hospitality options and public ticket sales will be released this summer (FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM, 5/11). The inaugural race was a “resounding success as the sprawling street course welcomed a large volume of fans to see the first-ever IndyCar Series race in the city,” using a layout that incorporated the Cowboys and Rangers stadiums (RACER, 5/11).

The race “drew favorable reviews from drivers and teams, making a return inevitable.” Over 20,000 fans filled the grandstands for the race, which also received 1.336 million viewers on Fox. A source said that IndyCar has “not yet confirmed the length of its deal to return” to the city, “but the series ‘looks forward to a bright future on the streets of Arlington.’” Given the “success of this year’s event, the Grand Prix of Arlington -- which retains Java House as its presenting sponsor in 2027 -- seems to be a mainstay on the IndyCar calendar for the foreseeable future” (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 5/11).

“In 1454 the future Pope Pius II saw the work of this man at the Frankfurt Fair & marveled at the ‘extreme elegance & accuracy.’”