SportsTV: A Torturous Broadcasting Hypothetical for CBS

[Joe Hass]

Over at The Athletic, Richard Deitsch interviewed Jim Nantz about The Masters not being held this weekend (I can't tell if it's behind the paywall or not):

https://theathletic.com/1735297/2020/04/09/jim-nantz-reflects-on-a-missed-masters-weekend/

Near the end, Deitsch notes that if the rescheduled dates hold (November 12-15), that drops the tournament smack dab into the middle of the NFL season. As CBS's number one play-by-play guy, where would Nantz be?

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that I will be anywhere other than Augusta National.”

While I don't doubt Nantz, here is the *MUCH* bigger broadcasting problem for CBS:

Traditionally CBS goes on the air Masters Sunday at 2:30 PM ET. The NFL's regularly scheduled game windows on Sunday start at 1:00 PM ET and 4:05/4:25 PM ET.

The NFL may be the biggest financial player in American sports, but The Masters is by a country mile the most prestigeous. CBS and Augusta National Golf Club have run on a year-to-year contract since 1956, allowing ANGC to have a level of control on the broadcast that the NFL *wishes* it has.

If the world is at a point in November when both of these events can happen, what the hell is CBS gonna do?

[Jim Ellwanger]

> On Apr 12, 2020, at 11:58 AM, Joe Hass <hassg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Traditionally CBS goes on the air Masters Sunday at 2:30 PM ET. The NFL's regularly scheduled game windows on Sunday start at 1:00 PM ET and 4:05/4:25 PM ET.
>
> The NFL may be the biggest financial player in American sports, but The Masters is by a country mile the most prestigeous. CBS and Augusta National Golf Club have run on a year-to-year contract since 1956, allowing ANGC to have a level of control on the broadcast that the NFL *wishes* it has.
>
> If the world is at a point in November when both of these events can happen, what the hell is CBS gonna do?

During this pandemic, we've seen organizations rise to unprecedented levels of flexibility and reasonableness. Assuming that continues into the "cleanup" stage, and Augusta National and the NFL (and the advertisers) are on board, I can foresee the following:

1. The NFL schedules no late games for CBS.

2. As few early games as possible on CBS (i.e., Fox taking as many as they can).

3. Early games airing on CBS only in the home regions of the teams involved, with no game on CBS in other areas (e.g., a hypothetical Dolphins-Bengals matchup would air in south Florida and southern Ohio, but a Falcons-Panthers game on Fox means there would be no game on CBS in Georgia and the Carolinas).

4. The Masters beginning on CBS (in markets that aren't getting a CBS NFL game) AND on CBS Sports Network (and perhaps other Viacom/CBS cable channels as well).

5. In markets getting a CBS NFL game, the Masters starts airing on CBS when the game is over.

[PGage]

As you say, The Masters is uniquely important  to CBS, beyond its stature as one of the 4 most important golf events each year. More important than ad revenue (they run limited commercials, though probably charge a premium) I suspect is the benefits they get from getting sponsors into the event and schmoozing at the VIP tents and evening parties. 

I don’t think it would be too hard to schedule a National game at like 11:00 Eastern time (maybe even fiddle with the start time of one of those London games). Evan if they had to sacrifice the NFL completely that day (and maybe let NBC carry their games) I’m pretty sure CBS will carry the Masters.

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[Doug Fields]

The Masters is a once-a-year event (and a pretty important one at that).  A November tournament would fall right in the middle of the NFL’s 17-week regular season.  I’m sure the scheduling gurus at the NFL and the networks could figure out a way to shoehorn golf and football into one weekend. 

 

But, on the off chance that they couldn’t come to an agreement and push came to shove, CBS goes with the Masters for that week, and pays whatever penalty they’ve agreed to in the contract with the NFL.  I doubt it would even be a difficult call.

 

Doug Fields

Tampa, FL

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[Brad Beam]

-----Original Message-----
From: tvor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Jim Ellwanger

>During this pandemic, we've seen organizations rise to unprecedented levels of flexibility and reasonableness. Assuming that continues into the "cleanup" stage, and Augusta National and the NFL (and the advertisers) are on board, I can foresee the following:

If we're going for corporate flexibility, give NBC the AFC slots that weekend, allowing a special Sunday night presentation of the NFL on CBS.

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[daniel anderson]

I'd say that the second possibility  is most likely, with  Fox taking as many as they can and getting Tim Brando or Gus Johnson to help out or Brian Custer. Or Joe Davis maybe?

[two...@gmail.com]

Regarding the Athletic paywall, they are currently offering a free 90 day subscription.

The NFL website and Yahoo Sports have offered limited free streaming games the last couple of years. CBS could show the games only in their cities and put a crawl directing people to the streaming version.

> On Apr 12, 2020, at 4:23 PM, Brad Beam <b.b...@suddenlink.net> wrote:
>

[Joe Hass]

These are all great ideas! Here's my completely blind guess:

1. CBS will air the Masters at 2:30 and no NFL.

2. The NFL will configure the schedule to give six AFC teams bye weeks that week, which take care of three games. They'll also make sure there's no spectacularly obvious "must see" game that week (think Cowboys/Washington or Patriots/Chiefs).

3. The Thursday, Sunday, and Monday night games will all be games that would normally air on CBS.

4. That leaves 10 games, which you could split five and five in the two slots on Fox. Call up a couple of the college broadcast teams, and you're set.

[John Edwards]

Since there is now the ability to "crossflex" games from CBS to Fox, they wouldn't even need to configure the schedule obscenely to remove games from Fox.

One thing I don't think we have considered is that the 2:30 p.m. broadcast start is predicated on a finish at about 7, to lead into 60 Minutes. That works in April because the sun sets in Augusta at about 8.  But in mid-November, sunset is going to be just before 5:30. So regardless of TV coverage, the Masters is going to have to shift its start times to at least 2 1/2 to 3 hours earlier in the day.

What I could see happening is a shift to a schedule that would see the Masters scheduled to finish at 4, allowing CBS to run late games starting at 4:25. That would also give the tournament an hour to play with if need be for playoffs, etc. CBS would need to come up with a Plan B for NFL markets with late games, but I suspect secondary affiliates wouldn't be too hard to find in that situation.

John

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[Joe Hass]

That is an *outstanding* point, sir. Per timeanddate.com, daylight ended at 7:56 yesterday. On November 15, it's 5:24.

With that data point in mind, I still think the NFL would minimize the number of possible CBS games using bye weeks and the Thursday/Sunday/Monday games. As for the risk of overlap as you suggest, the NFL could live stream the first quarter of all the CBS games on NFL.com. That should cover enough time to guarantee that any golf coverage could wrap up in time.

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[JW]

I don't see the NFL allowing CBS to abandon it. With the early sunset, the most likely scenario would seem to be putting all the games on CBS in the late slot, and scheduling the golf and presentation to be over by 4:30. (Not unlike the US Open tennis days, when CBS wouldn't have late games so they could show the men's final.)

[stannc]

Can Augusta National petition congress to allow Daylight Saving Time to end a few weeks later for this year, in order for the Masters to have as much playing time in prime TV hours as possible?

[PGage]

The NFL released its tentative schedule. Looks like CBS has 2 games scheduled for 11/15,  both late games (Chiefs/Raiders & Dolphins/Jets). If Masters still intends to finish that Sunday, I guess plan is to start early in morning, and do any tie breaking Monday.

I guess CBS could get permission to start football on its cable sports channel if necessary.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2020-nfl-schedule-matchups-kickoff-times-tv-channel-every-matchup-for-all-32-teams/

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[daniel anderson]

If read the rules right, WCBS would have to show Dolphins/Jets in it's entirety, because of contractual obligations. But the Masters is a pretty big event, so, maybe they would delay that game and  Chiefs/Raiders.

[daniel anderson]

FOX has same issue with US Open and Redskins/Cardinals as well. My guess: FS1 for final round, with FOX broadcast simulcasting after assigned game ends. But in Washington D.C. and Phoenix, the US Open would air on both to start, then switch exclusively to FS1 when Redskins/Cardinal;s begins.

On Sunday, April 12, 2020 at 2:58:38 PM UTC-4, Joe Hass wrote:

[Joe Hass]

With everyone's combined wisdom (and this was an *awesome* thread, by the way), here's my new blind guess:

ANGC would shift everything back with an aim for a 3:30 PM ET finish. If The Masters ran past 4:00, the six NFL home markets (Buffalo, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, New York, and Miami) would peel off to take their appropriate games. CBS Sports Network and Masters.com would then simulcast the end of CBS's coverage.

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[daniel anderson]

I forgot Phoenix and Buffalo, since they have a CBS game too.

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[PGage]

So, last year for the first time the final round of the Masters was played on split tees (getting ahead of bad weather). First group went off around 7:30, the leaders in the final group around 9:30. According to the linked article below they were expected to finish around 2:00 (couldn’t find actual finish time).  the Masters settles due with sudden death extra holes, so seems unlikely even with a tie they would go past 4:00. So looks like they could just repeat this in November and CBS could still carry their late NFL game with little problem (except finding a replacement for Mr. Nantz, much as Fox has to do when NFL bumps up against World Series.

https://www.sbnation.com/golf/2019/4/13/18309204/masters-sunday-tv-schedule-final-round-tee-times-weather-forecast

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[daniel anderson]

i was wondering who CBS would get to replace Nantz(who by the way, in my opinion is golf's best anchor) on the NFL that week. Greg Gumbel? 

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[Brad Beam]

Per a Golf.com tweet:

The third round of the Masters is scheduled to end around 5:30 in time for the Alabama/LSU kickoff at 6ET, while the final round on Sunday is scheduled to end sometime during the 2:00(ET) hour. 

https://twitter.com/GOLF_com/status/1303458035088711680

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[danieland...@gmail.com]

I'd say the NFL would delay the late games rather than have  the six NFL home markets (Buffalo, Phoenix, Denver, Las Vegas, New York, and Miami)  peeling off  to take their appropriate games.  once the horn sounds, or there's a winner, they'd switch. 

[Joe Hass]

Here, now, an insane report from Sports Business Journal that I wouldn't believe if it wasn't John Ourand:

CBS goes on the air at 10:00 AM ET Sunday. The plan is the tournament will wrap by 3:00 PM. CBS allowed for an hour padding for the three late NFL games at 4:05 PM. If, for some inexplicable reason, the tournament is not done by 4:00 PM, the broadcast will shift to...

...ABC.

https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2020/11/12/Masters-ABC.aspx

[danieland...@gmail.com]

Really? ABC? so that CBS can show Bills/Cardinals????

[Bob Jersey]

The pre-weekend rights (still) belong to ESPN, so this is feasible.

Look on the bright side... at least the Romo-haters don't have him to kick around...   B

daniel anderson, to Joe Hass, Nov 12:

Really? ABC? so that CBS can show Bills/Cardinals????

[Karen Owen]

I just checked CBS News website.  Sunday Morning will

be on for 1 hour at 9 am Eastern with Masters Golf starting at

10 am.




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[PGage]

Since we have been covering this thread since April, I will report that Fox Sports has been breathlessly hyping their half time show throughout the first half of the 10:00 am games (yes, that is how I and God refer to them) that ALL of the games currently being played are on Fox. Since. Have been almost all RedZone all the time for several years, I can’t recall for sure, but how much difference does this really make? My memory s Fox updated the AFC games and CBS the NFC games, but I guess maybe they have more video to show?

Perhaps that was also an attempt to stop fans from flipping to CBS, and perhaps staying for the Masters ..........<Spoiler Space>....................

Scott Hanson on Red Zone told us The Masters is a runaway, so no need to miss football.

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[danieland...@gmail.com]

I was shocked that Fox to went their postgame instead of the ending of Redskins-Lions. Or maybe that game ended before Bucs-Panthers did.

[danieland...@gmail.com]

Not to mention that 49ers-Saints is "America's Game of The Week" where i live(NC) rather than Bengals-Steelers.

[John Edwards]

On Sun, Nov 15, 2020 at 3:37 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

Since we have been covering this thread since April, I will report that Fox Sports has been breathlessly hyping their half time show throughout the first half of the 10:00 am games (yes, that is how I and God refer to them) that ALL of the games currently being played are on Fox. Since. Have been almost all RedZone all the time for several years, I can’t recall for sure, but how much difference does this really make? My memory s Fox updated the AFC games and CBS the NFC games, but I guess maybe they have more video to show?

I am also muchly amused by the fact that we have a "double witching hour" today on RedZone, and the high number of late games (1:00 or 1:25 starts in God's Country) meant they could go to the rarely-seen Six Pack.

John

[JW]

> the 10:00 am games (yes, that is how I and God refer to them)

No such thing as 10:00 games in my part of the world. Stick to 'early' and 'late' if we want to avoid silly religious wars.

> My memory s Fox updated the AFC games and CBS the NFC

> games, but I guess maybe they have more video to show?

There was a point, decades ago, when networks could only show highlights from the games they were showing. Now, they can all show plays from every game; I can't find when that changed.

> I was shocked that Fox to went their postgame instead of the ending of
> Redskins-Lions. Or maybe that game ended before Bucs-Panthers did.

We went from the end of Texans-Browns to the end of Jaguars-Packers to Football Team-Lions just in time for the last field goal.

> Not to mention that 49ers-Saints is "America's Game of The Week" where i
> live(NC) rather than Bengals-Steelers.

Bengals-Steelers had "America's Game of the Week" graphics, too. I guess that's what Fox calls every late game they have, even in this rare case where they were exclusive for the early game.

[PGage]

On Mon, 16 Nov 2020 at 3:44 AM JW <redb...@gmail.com> wrote:

> the 10:00 am games (yes, that is how I and God refer to them)

No such thing as 10:00 games in my part of the world. Stick to 'early' and 'late' if we want to avoid silly religious wars.

I was just poking fun at what I have always experienced as East Coast temporal bias by the network sports departments. Apologies, did not mean to offend.

[Adam Bowie]

Anyway, they're the 1800 and 2100 games over here, and that's how I think of them... 

(The Masters *not* finishing around midnight felt very strange. The [British] Open has almost run later in the past than the Masters did this year!)

[Joe Hass]

FINALLY! Someone talking in 24-hour time for me to relate to.

(I have my mobile set for that time, and it blows my seven-year-old's mind when he looks at my clock and sees "14:01". I amuse easily.)

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[JW]

> Anyway, they're the 1800 and 2100 games over here, and that's how I think

> of them...

I think you have the final word on the subject. (And no offense was taken to the west coast times.)

[Doug Eastick]

A couple years ago, I was in San Diego on a Sunday.   We were looking for a place for brunch and I saw bunches of people wearing Chargers clothes (incl face paint) heading into restaurants.   I thought it was weird to be so prepared for a game hours away.

Then I realised the Early game is at 10am local time. So weird to me.

Who the hell can eat wings and drink beer at 10:30 am?

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[Joe Hass]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2020 at 6:46 AM Doug Eastick <eas...@mcd.on.ca> wrote:

A couple years ago, I was in San Diego on a Sunday.   We were looking for a place for brunch and I saw bunches of people wearing Chargers clothes (incl face paint) heading into restaurants.   I thought it was weird to be so prepared for a game hours away.

Then I realised the Early game is at 10am local time. So weird to me.

Who the hell can eat wings and drink beer at 10:30 am?

This sounds like a *wager* to me... 

[danieland...@gmail.com]

Did you get part of Bucs-Panthers because of lightning in Cleveland?

[Brad Beam]

From: tvor...@googlegroups.com [mailto:tvor...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Doug Eastick

>A couple years ago, I was in San Diego on a Sunday.   We were looking for a place for brunch and I saw bunches of people wearing Chargers clothes (incl face paint) heading into restaurants.   I thought it was weird to be so prepared for a game hours away.

> 

>Then I realised the Early game is at 10am local time. So weird to me.

 

I had the opposite situation when dear alma mater (WVU) switched from the Big East to the Midwest-centric Big 12 eight years ago: After years of being used to noon and 3:30 starts (for TV purposes), my visit to Lubbock forced me to adjust to a 2:30 kickoff instead.

 

Indeed, all announcements tweeted out from the conference regarding game times are in CT only.

 

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