Media Rights. Who is going to broadcast the Brand New Shield?
OK, we are nowhere near that point yet and may never get to that point to be quite honest with you all. However, in the wake of Major League Baseball's new media rights deals, let's talk about how such deals would be important to theoretically launch the Brand New Shield.
The best place to start would be a brief history of media in sports. Originally, radio was king for live broadcasts. Local radio was the original lifeblood of sports media. Today, local radio still plays an integral part with both live broadcasts and shows where listeners can call in to talk about the current happenings with their local teams. In addition to local radio there is now satellite radio where the major sports leagues themselves each have nationwide channels people can listen to anywhere. While radio is still integral, it hasn't been the king in decades thanks to the advent of television. Originally, TV just had 3 broadcast networks and over time has grown where most TV packages have hundreds of channels. Cable TV and comparable (satellite, YouTube TV, etc...) subscriptions have a variety of sports channels that air everything from football to pickleball. In the current marketplace, you can even get specific apps on your Smart TV to watch what specific sports you want to watch.
Speaking of apps, apps have become a major part of media rights deals in sports recently. The NFL has exclusive games on Amazon Prime and Netflix. The NBA now has exclusive games on Peacock and Amazon Prime. The packages formerly known as MLB.tv and NHL Center Ice have now been folded into ESPN Unlimited. Streaming is becoming as integral as cable and comparable services in the sports media landscape. This needs to be capitalized on. There is an opportunity to be seized here that unfortunately no one has seized yet. Speaking of seizing said opportunities, what does someone look for in a media rights partner?
Every entity looking for a media rights partner really just wants a couple of things. First, they want a real partner that will help them grow their brand. You're going to want to have your league aired on a channel and/or app that most people have access to. I know this sounds obvious but I'm typing it out because it is a primary consideration for a media rights deal. Second, they're going to want a partner that is stable. Stability can mean a network or app that has been around for a while or it can mean something new that has proper backing to last for a while. Speaking of backing, next is money. Yes, profit does matter and if the deal is not going to help the bottom line, it's not really worth signing. Lastly is ownership of the channel/app. If the ownership can't be trusted, do you really want to go into business with that media rights partner? There are also some ethical questions as well in regards to some of these media conglomerates if we're being fair.
So, what would a media deal look like for the Brand New Shield? There is no way to predict the future but I do have a couple of ideas. One idea I previously discussed when I was doing SixOn6FB was to go the FAST (Free Ad-Supported Television) route. FAST services are on every Smart TV, so they provide a really wide reach. They are also free to consumers and are funded exclusively by advertising dollars, which helps create an easy entry point for fans to get on the consumption escalator. There is a question on whether the income portion of going with that model is sustainable, but I believe that is wholly dependent on the deal with the FAST providers (Pluto, Xumo, Roku Channel, etc..) themselves. Another possibility would be to go with a partner like TrillerTV. TrillerTV are live streaming experts and give people/entities the ability to charge for subscriptions and to air pay-per-view events. What was once mainly a combat sports platform now airs all sorts of sports, including being the former home of the A7FL. TrillerTV is available on most streaming platforms so reach wouldn't necessarily be an issue, the issue would be getting people to download the app and pay for the subscription. There are other options such as creating an app, traditional media rights deals and using more well-known apps such as Amazon Prime. The issue with the traditional media rights deals and the use of apps like Amazon Prime is that they seem to be of the small fish in the big pond variety which is what plagued the Arena Football League at the end. I purposely did not mention YouTube because the financial model for YouTube is nowhere near as good as it used to be and you're likely going to get something sustainable going the FAST and/or TrillerTV routes. Really, a combination of the options I mentioned will likely be the best route to go if the Brand New Shield ever gets there truthfully.
Speaking of media, the Brand New Shield Podcast will be launching soon. The first major topic on the podcast will be sports betting although there will likely be some form of an introductory episode before that. Let's give Write.as some well-deserved credit for being a great platform to launch this blog on. The podcast details are being ironed out but I will have them soon. Until the next post and/or podcast episode, enjoy some football!