Fang's Bites

ESPN Family of Network Takes 52 Sports Emmy Nominations

I had to step out earlier and from the time I posted the Sports Emmy Award nominations until now, a few networks have been sending press releases touting the number of nods they have received. We begin with ESPN’s Family of Networks which received a total of 52 Sports Emmy Awards noms, the most of any network group. The NBC Sports Group consisting of NBC Sports, Golf Channel, Versus (now NBC Sports Network) and nbcsports.com had the closest amount with a total of 32.

ESPN’s group includes ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN 3D, espn.com and ABC.

ESPN received nominations in many categories including Live Sports Special (Women’s World Cup), Live Sports Series (Monday Night Football), Outstanding Playoff Coverage (Big East Tournament and NASCAR’s Chase), Outstanding Sports Documentary, Weekly Studio Show (College GameDay & Sunday NFL Countdown), Daily Studio Show (multiple nominations), Sports Journalism, Studio Analyst (inexplicably including Skippy Bayless of ESPN2) and Game Analyst (Jon Gruden).

We have ESPN’s press release on the nominations.

ESPN, Inc. – Industry Leading 52 Sports Emmy Nominations

Outside the Lines, E:60, NFL Programming, NASCAR & FIFA Women’s World Cup Lead the Way
Two Nominations for ESPN 3D, First Nominations for NASCAR Now, SportsNation, Bayless & Dilfer

For the 12^th consecutive year, ESPN, Inc. led the industry with the most Sports Emmy Award nominations for 2011, 52 across its platforms (ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN 3D, ABC and ESPN.com), it was announced today by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The bulk of ESPN’s nominations honor the company’s efforts in enterprise journalism and storytelling, along with technical excellence in both studio and event production, including ESPN 3D. The winners will be announced Monday, April 30, in New York.

ESPN’s nominations were led by 30 for its studio, news and journalism efforts, capped by eight for Outside the Lines, seven for E:60 and four for ESPN Films documentaries:

• ESPN earned four nominations in three different categories – Short Features, Long Features and Studio Show Daily (four-time winner SportsCenter, 2010 winner Pardon the Interruption and first-time nominees NASCAR Now and ESPN2’s SportsNation).
• ESPN grabbed three nominations each in Sports Documentary (ESPN Films’ Catching Hell, The Marinovich Project and Unguarded, which was also cited for Editing) and Sports Journalism (all for E:60).
• College GameDay – winner of Studio Show Weekly three of the last four years – was again nominated, as was seven-time winner Sunday NFL Countdown. The latter was also nominated in Production Design/Art Direction.
• Among studio commentators, College GameDay’s Kirk Herbstreit – named Best Studio Analyst the last two years – is nominated again, alongside first-time nominees Skip Bayless of ESPN2’s weekday morning  FirstTake and NFL analyst Trent Dilfer.

In Event Production, multiple nominations were earned by Monday Night Football, FIFA Women’s World Cup, motorsports, the Winter X Games, golf and Grand Slam tennis:

• MNF was nominated in Live Series, its analyst Jon Gruden was nominated for the third time in his three years with the series, and it was cited for Graphic Design and Music.
• In the wake of the honors last year for ESPN’s ground-breaking presentation of the FIFA World Cup from South Africa – three Sports Emmys including Outstanding Live Special for the final match – ESPN earned three nominations for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Germany, including another nod in the Live Special category, for the U.S. vs. Japan final.
• NASCAR’s Chase for the Cup received a nod in the Playoff Coverage category, the on-site NASCAR studio presence received mention in Tech Team Studio and the Indianapolis 500 on ABC received a nomination in Opens/Teases.
• The Winter X Games received three nominations, for Live Sound, Short Feature, and for ESPN 3D in Tech Team Remote.  ESPN 3D’s presentation of The Masters was nominated for the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award.
• In addition to the ESPN 3D nomination, ESPN’s golf team received two other nods – in Opens/Teases and Writing (the Dick Schaap Award), both for The Open Championship – Day Three.
• ESPN’s coverage of all four of tennis’ Grand Slam events was cited for excellence in its features and bumps/teases in two categories, Editing and Camerawork.

ESPN.com was nominated in New Approaches – Sports Programming for Sports Science. The TV version of the show was also nominated in Graphic Design, which it won last year. Also, the “It’s not crazy, it’s sports” brand awareness promotional campaign is a nominee in Promotional Announcement – Institutional category for the “Fanwiches,” “Proposal” and “Towel around the World” spots.

In addition, as previously announced, Jack Whitaker, who covered all of sports’ biggest events during his remarkable long career with CBS and ABC, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Overall, ESPN has won 142 Sports Emmy Awards in 24 years of eligibility. ABC Sports won 160 from 1980 – 2008.

We’ll have another Sports Emmy Award nominations-related post next.

Bringing You Tuesday Links

I give you some linkage on this Tuesday. Finished some paperwork and now it’s time for the links on this date.

First, Michael Hiestand of USA Today looks at NBC going with tape delayed coverage of the Ryder Cup all day Saturday. Ten hours of taped golf. That’s just great. I can see people looking at Justin.TV for BBC’s coverage.

Michael has the weekend TV ratings including some very bad news for NASCAR and the PGA Tour Championship. 

We have a couple of articles from Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated. First, Richard discusses ESPN’s plans to go all-LeBron James, all the time during Miami Heat training camp.

Next, Richard talks with “The Tenth Inning” director Ken Burns about doing the sequel to the comprehensive “Baseball” documentary. 

Alex Belth of SI reviews “The Tenth Inning.”

Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times also reviews “The Tenth Inning” for the Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center. 

In Sports Business Journal, Eric Fisher looks at Fantasy Sports Ventures rebranding itself to Big Lead Sports. Fang’s Bites is part of the Fantasy Sports Ventures blogging network.

Brian Lowry of Fox Sports praises Fox’s Howie Long for trashing the proposed 18 game NFL season.

A.J. Perez of Fanhouse writes about Versus going into this NHL season and preparing for contract talks with the league.

SportsbyBrooks reports that ESPN will hire Cleveland Plain Dealer NBA beat writer Brian Windhorst and one other reporter to cover LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

Alex Weprin at SportsNewser says the NFL is launching a site geared at women.

CNBC’s Darren Rovell says Michael Vick’s jersey has become a hot seller once again.

Darren discussed this on the Dan Patrick Show today, how the Seattle Seahawks have become an enabler of gluttony with their free food deals and promotions.

Andrew Wallenstein of the Hollywood Reporter says the combined Comcast/NBC is getting ready to bid for the 2014/2016 Olympics.

Mike Reynolds of Multichannel News writes that NFL RedZone is readily available throughout the new Meadowlands Stadium.

In Pro Football Weekly, the Miami Herald’s Barry Jackson reviews NFL Week 3 on TV. 

At the New York Daily News, Bob Raissman says Giants coach Tom Coughlin has a pass from the media for his troubles this season while the New York Jets problems have received the lion’s share of coverage.

Pete Dougherty of the Albany Times Union says football topped the weekend ratings while golf bottomed out.

Pete criticizes NBC for tape delaying the Ryder Cup on Saturday.

In the Schenectady Gazette, Ken Schott has the NBA TV preseason schedule.

Jerry DiPaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writes about the local ESPN Radio affiliate shutting down local programming as of Monday. 

Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette also looks at the ESPN Radio format flip.

Dan Steinberg in the Washington Post’s DC Sports Bog says it took just three games for DC NFL analysts to turn on coach Mike Shanahan.

Greg Cote of the Miami Herald looks at the increased media presence at the Miami Heat’s Media Day.

Barry Horn of the Dallas Morning News explores the Texas Rangers’ new rights deal with Fox Sports Southwest. 

Tim Colishaw of the Morning News says the new deal gives the Rangers some more leverage.

David Martindale of the Fort Worth Star Telegram talks with two time NBA MVP Steve Nash about his directorial debut for tonight’s ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Terry Fox.

In the Houston Chronicle, David Barron also looks at the new lucrative deal signed by the Rangers with Fox Sports Southwest.

David also notes the big ratings for the Cowboys-Texans game.

John Kiesewetter of the Cincinnati Enquirer says the Bengals got an astounding audience share on Sunday.

John says it’ll be a tough viewing choice tonight between the Reds and Ken Burns’ The Tenth Inning.

Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel says it’s the Jon Gruden Show on Monday Night Football.

Robert Feder notes that the Chicago Sun-Times has a new sports media columnist.

Speaking of whom, new Chicago Sun-Times sports media columnist Dale Bowman speaks with Windy City sports radio host Dan McNeil.

Dan Caesar in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch talks about another week of tremendous ratings for the Rams in the Gateway City.

Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star says next week, the Pac 10/12 Conference athletic directors will meet to talk about how to divvy up TV rights money with two new members coming into the league. 

Bill Goodykoontz of the Arizona Republic reviews the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary on Terry Fox. 

Bill also talks with Steve Nash about the 30 for 30 doc.

The Phoenix Business Journal says Oregon-Arizona State did very well in the ratings for Fox Sports Arizona. 

Jay Posner of the San Diego Union-Tribune says ESPN Radio has found a new home.

Tom Hoffarth of the Los Angeles Daily News looks forward to the second season of HBO’s Eastbound and Down.

Tom writes about the Ryder Cup TV coverage.

James Day of the Statesman Journal (OR) writes about where College Gameday will be parked on Saturday.  

Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star talks with former Montreal Canadiens enforcer Georges Laraque about his participation in CBC’s Battle of the Blades.

The Toronto Sun says CBC is distancing itself from a reporter who Tweeted his opinion about Montreal fans who booed goaltender Cary Price.

Sports Media Watch has news about three longtime ESPN executives leaving Bristol, CT.

SMW says Red Sox-Yankees on Fox did not draw ratings as normal.

SMW notes the final round of the PGA Tour Championship took a huge ratings fall.

SMW says Notre Dame’s loss to Stanford did not do well for NBC.

SMW says Boise State is not quite yet a ratings draw.

Emmett Jones of Sports Business Digest asks if approval of the NFL 18 game schedule is just a formality.

That will do it for today.

Fantasy Sports Ventures To Rebrand As Big Lead Sports

Back in June, noted sports blog The Big Lead was purchased by Fantasy Sports Ventures for the now famously reported “low seven figures”. As mentioned back then, Fang’s Bites is available for purchase for $3 if the right buyer is around. Anyway, it was big news back then and it came shortly after Fang’s Bites became a part of the Fantasy Sports Ventures Network.

I’m happy to say that FSV has been wonderful to me and the blog since I became part of the network.

In any event, we have news about Fantasy Sports Ventures as it rebrands and relaunches to become “Big Lead Sports by FSV”. Not only does FSV continue to keep its roots in fantasy sports, it also shows it’s been branching out into other sports areas.

It also showcases The Big Lead which has been in the forefront of the sports blogosphere along with Deadspin in shaping the way sports has been covered over the last four years. 

We have the press release from Big Lead Sports.

FANTASY SPORTS VENTURES LAUNCHES “BIG LEAD SPORTS” by FSV

 

 Leading Independent Digital Sports Property Unveils New Brand Identity

 

“Big Lead Sports” Features Unparalleled Depth and Breadth of Content in All Major Sports; Reaches More than 15 Million Users

 

NEW YORK, September 27, 2010 – Fantasy Sports Ventures (“FSV”), a top 5 online sports destination, today unveiled a new brand identity. The property will now be called Big Lead Sports by FSV and will continue to provide breaking news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive features from more than 1000 independent sports journalists. While FSV was founded four years ago with a focus on fantasy sports, the new branding reflects the company’s move into all areas of sports coverage, while maintaining a leadership position in fantasy sports. 

 

“We are very excited about our new brand positioning and believe that we can better serve our users, advertisers, and partner sites as Big Lead Sports,” said Chris Russo FSV CEO.  “When we launched Fantasy Sports Ventures in 2006, we never expected to become a top 5 sports property or reach 15 million users. Given the growth and evolution of our business, the re-branding will help us communicate our distinctive products and leadership position to the marketplace.”

 

FSV consistently ranks in the top 5 of all online sports properties.  In July, 2010, the company reached its highest ranking to date, #4 in the U.S., according to comScore.

 

Top 10 Sports Sites                                        Unique Visitors

Site                                                                    (000s)

1. Yahoo Sports                                                   39,064
2. ESPN.com                                                       27,197
3. Fox Sports.com                                                25,951
4. BIG LEAD SPORTS by FSV                         15,420
5. CBS Sports.com                                               14,702
6. MLB.com                                                        12,136
7. SI.com                                                               9,923
8. NFL.com                                                           9,744
9. AOL Sports                                                        9,666
10. NBC Sports.com                                                7,845

 Source:  comScore, July, 2010

 

FSV worked with New York based branding company SME Inc. to create the new “Big Lead Sports” brand identity.  SME is a global strategic brand development firm with a wide range of brand building services and over 20 years of expertise in sports and entertainment, higher education and non-profits.

Congratulations to FSV and Big Lead for the new rebranding.

The Big Lead Purchased By Fantasy Sports Ventures

We learned about this last night in a story by Richard Sandomir of the New York Times. When a blog is bought out by a big company, it always has other bloggers seeing dollar signs. In this case of The Big Lead being purchased by Fantasy Sports Ventures (Fang’s Bites is a member of the FSV network as you can see from the banner above), it makes me quite happy. First, I know Jason McIntyre who’s run the blog for about a year now and he’s become a friend. Second, I’m glad to see a blog do well as in the case of The Big Lead which has over 3 million page views a month. Third, Jason proves that if you provide good content, you will be recognized. And fourth, I like when a blogger gets “F.U.” money. Jason will definitely have that as he will continue to run the site for Fantasy Sports Ventures.

We have a release and you can read it below.

FANTASY SPORTS VENTURES (FSV) ACQUIRES THE BIG LEAD,

ONE OF THE WEB’S MOST INFLUENTIAL SPORTS SITES

 

Enhances FSV’s Leadership Position as #1 Independent Online Sports Property in U.S.   with more than 15 Million Unique Users  

 

NEW YORK, June 2, 2010 – Fantasy Sports Ventures (“FSV”), the largest independent online sports property in the U.S., today announced that it has acquired The Big Lead.com, one of the web’s most influential sports sites.  Founded and published by Jason McIntyre, The Big Lead provides distinctive coverage of sports news, personalities, and media.   The Big Lead joins a family of other FSV owned and operated web sites such as Hoopshype.com, the leading independent voice for pro basketball news, Baseballhq.com, the top fantasy baseball analysis site, and Kffl.com and TheHuddle.com, two of the most respected and followed independent fantasy football content sites.  In total, audience from FSV’s owned and affiliated web sites now exceeds 15 million unique users per month (comScore,  April 2010), placing FSV #5 in the U.S. among all sports sites and #1 among sites not owned by major media companies/sports leagues.

 

“Jason McIntyre has created one of the most compelling sports news and pop culture sites on the web, and we are very excited to work with him and his team at The Big Lead,” said Chris Russo, CEO of Fantasy Sports Ventures. “FSV continues to evolve beyond our fantasy roots into a destination where sports fans now enjoy the best independent coverage on any topic.  The Big Lead furthers this evolution and enables us to provide fans with a truly original and creative perspective on sports.”

 

“I look forward to working with FSV to take The Big Lead to a new level.” McIntyre added.  “With the added resources of FSV, we will bring new elements and features to the site while preserving The Big Lead’s independent spirit.”

The Big Lead has become the quintessential example of an independent blog that grew well beyond its original incarnation, both in terms of content and popularity.  McIntyre, who previously worked in newspapers and magazines, founded the site in February of 2006 as a hobby, focusing on coverage of sports media personalities.  He ran the site anonymously until March, 2008 when his identity was finally revealed in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

 

Over the past few years, The Big Lead has grown dramatically in traffic and popularity via its coverage of sports news and events, sports media, and off-the-field pop culture and personalities.  McIntyre, an award winning journalist, has freelanced for ESPN.com, CBS Sports.com, ESPN Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News and was a staff writer at The Record newspaper in New Jersey. 

 

One of the sites’ most popular features are its interviews with high profile figures in sports and media, ranging from sitdowns with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NBC broadcaster Al Michaels, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, the Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon and Fox broadcaster Joe Buck and many others.  The site has also been a lightning rod for controversy at times, most notably in 2007 when ESPN’s Colin Cowherd was scolded publicly by ESPN Ombudsman Leanne Schrieber after Cowherd implored listeners to crash the site following a critique of ESPN by McIntyre on the blog.    

The Big Lead has earned high praise and a high level following from the sports media world, and was selected by Sports Illustrated in 2009 as one of the five most influential sports blogs of the decade.

 

Following the acquisition, McIntyre will continue to run The Big Lead, serving as its Editor and General Manger.

Congratulations to Jason and this makes Fantasy Sports Ventures even stronger. Now if I can up my asking price to $3, I think someone may be able to buy me out…….