August 29, 2025 • 38 mins
Join hosts Michael Barr, Damian Sassower and Vanessa Perdomo for a look at some of the latest headlines and stories in the business of sports.
This week we focus on how streamer continue to look to live sports programming to boost their platforms. Recently, Netflix picked up the rights to show the 2026 World Baseball Classic to viewers in Japan in a deal announced Monday by the streaming service and Major League Baseball. Plus, ESPN said a package bundling its new online service with the RedZone highlights program and NFL Network games will debut on Sept. 3 and cost $40 a month. Bloomberg News media and entertainment reporter Hannah Miller joins to discuss these new deals and how streaming platforms are leaning into sports.
Then, we take a deep dive on streamers and sports with Bloomberg Intelligence senior media analyst Geetha Ranganathan.
Plus, we speak with RotoWire's founder and president Peter Schoenke on the rise of fantasy sports and some of the latest emerging trends ahead of the new NFL season.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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Speaker 1 (00:35):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (00:38):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explored
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael
Barr along with Damian Sassaur and Vanessa Perdomo. Coming up
on the show, we'll talk a little fantasy football. Rotor
Wire founder Peter Shanky joins us to talk about the
booming industry of fantasy sports as we head into another
NFL's easy.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
The number one thing I could tell any fantasy whether
they're a new person or advanced, is really study up
on the rules in the format you're playing a game
you're not trying to actually, you know, play the real NFL.
Speaker 7 (01:09):
That is on the way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
But first we will take a look at a few
recent headlines in the sports media world. Netflix is continuing
its push into live sports and just inked a deal
to broadcast the twenty twenty six World Baseball Classic. Plus
ESPN is creating a new bundle that could get football
(01:29):
fans red Zone at about forty dollars per month. Joining
us to discuss all that and more is Bloomberg News,
Media and Entertainment reporter Hanna Miler. Hannah, Welcome to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (01:42):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 7 (01:43):
This is gonna change the way this old geezer watches TV.
ESPN online bundle with red Zone NFL network to cost
forty dollars a month. Is this the way now we're
gonna watch TV and the cable that's gone?
Speaker 8 (01:58):
You know, they're they're putting out this option for people
who are cord cutters and coord nevers, you know, people
who are not interested in cable, but they still want
to have these cable options for people. So it's not
going to go away completely. But you know, if you're
young in your twenties you're looking for a way to
watch sports, this might be the best option for you.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I just it's so interesting to me, Hannah, because I
feel like this conversation still keeps coming up, so pops
up every single time these deals are signed. Now we
have all these fractured different things that we have to buy.
Do these leagues and the commissioners and the owners just
not care that their fans have to now go to
five different places to watch the games.
Speaker 8 (02:41):
You know, it's all about the dollar signs for them.
And I think some of these deals they might not
be the most convenient for fans. And it's not like
you know, you're switching channels going from you know, sport
sport game to game. You have to like log out
of the app, pick a new one, go in. It's
not going to be the same experience for people. And
you know, you've seen like ESPN has tried to have
(03:03):
a portal to show like where you can watch stuff.
I think the big money maker would be having some
kind of tool that would allow you to transition between
streaming platforms easily and that would really help people.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Hannah. There's just really one channel that matters. That's Channel
eight thirty five. That's the Red Zone network where you
get seven hours of commercial free football. What happens Tomman
Scott Hanson after this deal, I mean, is he going
to get paid? I mean what goes on?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (03:28):
So you know there there definitely are changes happening. But
I know that they're really trying to, you know, keep
the Red Zone culture, keep things familiar to fans. It's
really just going to be this bundle add on that
you can have with the ESPN streaming package. So instead
of just paying thirty dollars flat for you know, getting
all of the ESPN's networks, you can add an additional
(03:50):
ten dollars and get access to Red Zone.
Speaker 7 (03:53):
Major League Baseball is doing the happy dance because they
scored a lot of great new TV deals. Talk more
about that.
Speaker 8 (04:01):
So it's not finalized yet. The ink is not dry,
but we're hoping to get more information next month. But
there's been a lot of speculation, a lot of reports
out there, and the way things are looking right now,
it's a huge win for Major League Baseball. They are
getting a lot of money from a lot of different partners,
(04:21):
and even ESPN, who's the reason that these rights went
up for grabs. You know, they did that early opt out.
They are still working with MLB and they're working on
this out of rights package and that's been out of
market rights package and that's been a huge deal ESPN.
You know, Jimmy Pataro, the head of ESPN, he said
(04:43):
multiple times that he wants this focus on you know,
regional rights when it comes to MLB. So there's you know,
it's been reported that they're still going to pay the
same amount of money that they had with the original deal,
but it's a different kind of reach.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
What was that original deal with ESPN five fifty?
Speaker 8 (04:59):
Is that fifty and that's that's what it's going to
be with this one.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's based on fifty million and then and so that
and but it's ESPN again, right, Yes, So they sold
it and buy it in the same I'm trying to.
Speaker 8 (05:10):
They shook things up, and it's just the focus on
regional rights, got it?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
So is it because they don't see ESPN doesn't see
the value of MLB as a premier property.
Speaker 8 (05:21):
Yeah, I think they wouldn't frame it that way because
I asked them about it, and I interviewed Jimmy Padaro
a few weeks ago, and he just said, you know,
we want these regional rights. That's the way that we're
really trying to help fans. We think this is going
to be an asset for a new streaming service. But
you know, it's just I think with this it's they're
(05:44):
both kind of getting what they want year and then
you see you know, special events like the home run derby.
Netflix has been in talks to get that and that'll
help them with their strategy and expanding you know, live sports,
these one off events.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And so ESPN's it's going to air the the out
of market games. I think that's there.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
That is it?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, I got you, I got it.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
So it's their their answer to regional the sport. The
problem with the regional sports networks, I mean, what's going
on with that is is this something still that they
see the value and then they need to figure out
that all these teams because there's five teams also that
are in market games also, right, yes, yeah, so what's
going on with the regional sports network problem?
Speaker 8 (06:25):
So you know, regional sports, it's a really problematic area
as I'm sure you know, we've seen multiple bankruptcies. You know,
they've had to kind of make these deals to get
out of bankruptcy. But you know they still see value
in this, Like you know, you have these local fans.
There are people who tune in like this is what
they want to watch. So I think ESPN and MLB
like they figured that this was a good way to
(06:45):
kind of both get positives from it, like you're having
a home for you know, these regional games. And then
ESPN is like, okay, this is yet another asset that
we can add to the streaming platform.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So, Hannah, is ESPN winning the streaming wars? I mean,
look what they've just done here with the NFL, right,
I mean MLB now, I mean WWE. I mean talk
to us about you know, who is winning the you know,
the wars for streamingum streaming premium sporting events today.
Speaker 8 (07:13):
Yeah, I mean this new offering from ESPN is you
know huge for them. This is a big deal. We
also saw the launch of Fox one, which is Fox's
streaming platform that's going to have Fox Entertainment, Fox News,
and Fox Sports offerings. So you know, you do see
a pretty full field obviously NBC Sports. They're continuing to
(07:34):
make a huge push with Peacock and the NBA is
going to be key for that in the fall. So
you know, I wouldn't say esp I think it's too.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Early to say sports Sports really is still at the
forefront of streaming, right, and it seems to me that
ESPN is still the alpha there for the most part.
I leave it's holding on. So it's just interesting to
see how this is all shaking out. I mean, you've
got players like Apple and Amazon knocking down their doors, right,
so it's it's still it's still interesting to see Disney there.
Michael Barr, what do you think.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
Well, I think speaking of Netflix, did you talk about
that they're going to broadcast the twenty twenty six World
Baseball Classic in Japan? And g I just wonder, there's
some guy on the Los Angeles Dodgers here sho hey,
oh Tani, I bet that that's going to explode in Japan.
Speaker 8 (08:23):
Oh, it's it's all about show hey, like they this
is a huge, huge event in Japan. It is a
big win for Netflix. There's a lot of excitement already
about this happening, and you know, Japan loves the World
Baseball Classic. They do very well in the World Baseball Classic,
so I think this is a great fit. And yeah,
(08:44):
it makes total sense. And yeah, I think it's the
first live event in Japan that Netflix is going to
be broadcasting, so very exciting.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Is there any like fear?
Speaker 9 (08:52):
Though?
Speaker 4 (08:52):
In these big tournaments some players opt out of playing
in them and show he has had his problem with
injury and things like that. So what if he doesn't play?
Did Netflix just spend a bunch of money that for
no reason?
Speaker 8 (09:06):
Oh god, no, I think it would be a huge disappointment.
For sure. He's you know, the biggest name. He is
a hero there. I mean, we saw with the World
Series last year that you know, there were some games
that had higher viewership in Japan than in the US.
You know, it was crazy. So you know, Netflix is
really capitalizing on that with this deal.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well to put some context around that, right, The World
Baseball Classic has consistently drawn massive national audiences, with some
games exceeding thirty eight million viewers. And listen to this.
The MLB Tokyo Series in twenty twenty five cent new
records with over twenty four million viewers per game, which
is just a massive number for Baseball, I mean, by
anybody's imagination, definitely.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
Well, they're going to also sell and I'm just you
talk about this deal with ESPN and Baseball, didn't they
just sell a ten percent stake in the Walt Disney
Company Sports Network involved in this to help with trying
to bring this to a great audience from an old
(10:10):
man who was trying to like hang on for dear
life with rabbit ears on his television.
Speaker 8 (10:16):
Yeah, no, And I mean that was a huge part
of the NFL deal, was that that stake. And you know,
this has been speculated about for a long time, so
for that to come through was pretty exciting. And yeah,
it just shows the closeness between you know, Disney, ESPN
and the league.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Is this going to be a big boon for the NFL?
Speaker 8 (10:37):
I mean, they're always killing it, so I think it's
just gonna continue that.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I mean, that's exactly right to have a teat at
that table, right to just be a shareholder in the
NFL in and of itself. I mean what Disney should
really be doing is selling off little bits and pieces,
you know, getting a big fat fee for it like
an inf's some banker would and you know, commoditizing it
and you know all that good stuff.
Speaker 7 (10:56):
Well that's your money, man, could get it. You got
you got the wall and I've seen you all this.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
This is a somethingthetic, you know, total return swamps be beautiful.
You and me, Michael Barb once again on a beach somewhere.
You know what, man, moh and.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
We both saying the same thing. Private equity. Here we go,
which brings me to the next question. Had a private
equity has changed the whole landscape of everything in sports ownership.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
And you know you could see that sort of play
out too with CBS Sports. You know, we have the
Paramount merger with sky Dance Media and you know Redbird
has huge involvement in that. So it's everywhere, you know,
and we're going to see it, I think more and
more in media.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Well, we've also seen the Bills, the Niners, the Fins,
they've all sold equity stakes, right, and it's really I
mean if you look at some of the numbers and
what it means for the Dallas Cowboys, for example, who
like ear N s Porticle had them at ten billion.
I think we have them at fourteen and a half.
Now if you revise everything up that is.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
I mean, it's interesting because the Cowboys will never or
seemingly they're not going to sell, but they will consistently
stay top no matter who else sells at their mistakes.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's right. And you know, we don't even have to
talk about how owners in the NFL have the ability
to write off the IP for their brands against gains
from other businesses. I'm just saying that is something we've
written about in the past here at Bloomberg. It's a fact.
It was actually in the Big Beautiful Bill and then
it got pulled out of there that they can't advertise
that IP over anyway.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Whatever.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
Aber Thanks to Hannah Miller for joining us. She covers
media and entertainment for Bloomberg News. Up next, we stick
with sports media and do a deeper dive on some
of the latest headlines with research from our friends at
Bloomberg Intelligence for Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Pernomo. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio
(12:44):
around the world.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael Barr,
along with Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Perdomo, streamers are going
big on live sports, with YouTube tv continuing to grow
its portfolio of live sports programming. Bloomberg Intelligence senior media
analysts Geitha Reganafat has all the research to back this
(13:18):
and more, and she's here now to break it all down. Githa,
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 9 (13:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 7 (13:26):
YouTube TV rising strength in sports programming. What are they
doing right?
Speaker 9 (13:30):
So?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
You know, this is the whole rise of what we
call the virtual PATV operators, and YouTube TV absolutely leads
in that space. So they basically provide you everything that
a traditional PATV operator like a Comcast or Verizon would provide,
except that this is going to be over streaming, so
it's over the top.
Speaker 9 (13:50):
And what people really.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Like about it is, you know, the ease of signing
on and signing off. Remember all the times that you
can never get through to your cable company or you
can never cancel service, Well, you don't really have that
problem here. You don't get locked in for years and years.
You can sign on, you can sign off whenever you want,
and the price up until this point, like now it's
(14:12):
getting a little bit pricey, but up until this point,
it actually was pretty economical and made a lot of sense.
And one of the reasons that people really like YouTube
tv is just because the user interface is top notch,
and especially if you're watching sports, it's absolutely great. So
that's kind of been one of the reasons why YouTube
tv has been such a popular service. And we actually
(14:32):
think it might be the third largest. They don't report
subscriber numbers very often, but we think they have close
to almost nine and a half to ten million subscribers,
which makes them possibly the third largest PATV operator in
the United States.
Speaker 9 (14:46):
Wow. I love YouTube TV.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I personally have it, and I feel that it's great
for game Day, especially you know, NFL Sundays, for multiviewer,
you know, the multiview service, which I definitely want to
talk to you about later on when we talk about
know how all these different games around streaming and things
like that. But right now they're in this problem with
Fox and they might not be able to have games
(15:09):
this weekend.
Speaker 9 (15:10):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Yeah, So, Vanessa, I mean, this is nothing new, So
ear in and ear out right before the start of
college football and right before the start of you know,
the all important NFL season. We typically have some high
profile carriage renewal that comes up. This year, it happens
to be YouTube TV and Fox, And basically what it
(15:32):
is is August twenty seventh, where actually is the carriage expiration.
Speaker 9 (15:36):
So that's when their.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Deal typically it's a three year deal kind of comes
up for expiration. Both sides are playing hardball this time.
YouTube TV is claiming that Fox is charging a whole
lot more than it was before, and Fox, of course
is holding its ground and saying that it has must
have programming and therefore is entitled to that kind.
Speaker 9 (15:58):
Of a price hike.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
So, you know, you have both sides that you know,
obviously they both wield a lot of power.
Speaker 9 (16:05):
Fox of course has the content.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
YouTube TV has the scale, and so it's it's going
to be a game of.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Chicken in the talk more about content. Fox holds the
NFL card, which ethan that's a very important card.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Well.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Absolutely, Fox has great, great sports lineup, Michael. So whether
we're talking college football, we're talking NFL, we're talking the
MLB playoffs and the World Series, Fox has it all,
so they absolutely know that they have a lot to
offer when it comes to their broadcast network, when it
comes to Fox.
Speaker 9 (16:39):
Sports, and then of course you have Fox.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
News, which you know is by far the biggest cable network,
so it's you know, it's it's their whole live TV
lineup sports and news and they have the best of both.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Which yeah, to that point, though, Geith, it doesn't doesn't
that give them Fox the upper hand in terms of negotiating.
I mean, if they have these dates blocked out and
you weren't able to watch, I'm I'm a Buckeye fan, right,
so if I can't watch to the howse say, football games,
so you know, I'll be really upset about it. So
if you have people like that who aren't able to
watch their games, You're not able to watch in the NFL,
(17:14):
Now we're not able to watch football on YouTube TV.
Don't you think they'll see YouTube TV would then see
like massive subscriber drops. So they need to get that
deal done for them really.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
Yeah, and you're right, Vanessa.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
So you know, in the past, we obviously used to
see the content owners. So a company like Fox or
a Disney or a paramount kind of wheeled all of.
Speaker 9 (17:36):
The power in this kind of an equation.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
What has happened though, is because we are having so
much of cord cutting. You know, losing subscribers is not
good for anybody. Of course, it's not good for the
PATV operator. But then remember YouTube TV here is really
you know, they're not a Comcast, they're not a charter,
They're owned by Google, one of the largest companies in
the world with very very deep pockets. And so yes,
(17:59):
YouTube TV, I mean, it is a big business. But
at the end of the day, even if they lose
a few subscribers this way or that way, it doesn't
necessarily break the business.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
So that's where.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
YouTube TV is a little bit different from let's say,
a dish or a direct TV. I still think that
Fox does hold a fairly good amount of power, as
most content owners do, but I also think at the
same time that the balance of power that whole equation
is changing a little bit.
Speaker 9 (18:26):
And now, especially if you're a.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Distributor like YouTube TV that has so much of scale,
that has millions of subscribers, nearly ten million subscribers, they
have a pretty loud voice as well. So that's why
these kind of skirmishes become really interesting because we then
get to know who really holds the trump card, if
you will.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Well, that goes to the subscribers. As you mentioned earlier,
right now they have about nine point four million YouTube
TV and they're about to increase, which has got to
throw fear now obviously in the cable providers. What can
they do to save themselves?
Speaker 9 (19:02):
Yeah, this is a really great question.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
I mean, what we're seeing, Michael, is more and more
content is moving away from the linear TV bundle to
the streaming outlets, and that's really bad news for you know,
a cable provider, it's bad news even actually for a
YouTube TV any provider who is basically redistributing linear TV content.
(19:25):
This comes at a really interesting time. And I say
that because just a few days ago, or maybe a
couple of weeks ago, we had both ESPN and Fox
debut their streaming services. And you know, this is huge
for the sports ecosystem because at the end of last year,
if you kind of just look at the sports ecosystem,
(19:47):
we had only about forty percent of US sports rights
that were available to stream, so you basically needed a
cable TV subscription to watch the remaining sixty percent but
with the introduction of both ESPN and Fox One, which
is Fox's streaming service, one hundred percent of US sports
(20:08):
are now available.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
To be streamed.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
And so this is kind of a really precarious time,
I would say for both the content owners as well
as the PATV distributors, because anybody who now wants a
streaming subscription can basically get one. They're no longer tied
to the traditional TV bundle. So again, that's why I
say this is a this is a really a wonderful
kind fight just because of the time at which it comes.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Yeah, I'm so glad you brought up that point because
I saw that in your report from the other day
that one hundred percent of sports viewership is available on streaming,
which which is absolutely insane, but it obviously does make
sense as we've seen all these different you know, Netflix
and Prime and Peacock and whoever all get into sports
in a different way. But YouTube TV does it basically
(20:53):
just make them obsolete? Do they even need to exist anymore?
Or is the next actual thing someone like a YouTube
TV we should really do is try and become the
platform in which you can flip through all these different
streaming platforms like someone needs to create that.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It feels like, oh.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
Yeah, And you bring up an excellent point of inness.
I think they are eventually kind of moving to that model.
I don't know whether it's going to be a YouTube TV,
or whether it's going to be an Amazon, or whether
it even is going to be a Netflix. I mean,
I think ESPN is trying to do that now for sports.
Speaker 9 (21:25):
They eventually want to do that.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
That's why they did the deal with NFL, That's why
they went after some MLB rights. They're trying to get
as much content as they can on their platform. But
it's going to be interesting to see how all of
that plays out. But you bring up an important point,
which is is YouTube TV or our PATV operators like
YouTube TV, like Comcast, going to become obsolete?
Speaker 9 (21:46):
I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
I think there is still that traditional viewer who kind
of likes everything in one place, you know, you don't
want to have to sign up for, you know, seven
or eight or ten different services, and so I think
there is always going to be a place for the
traditional cable bundle. So I don't necessarily think they're going
to become obsolete. But we are definitely in a very
(22:07):
very fragmented marketplace.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
That is for sure, and Hulu plus Live is saying, hey,
don't forget about us, because they've got a merger coming up.
Right now. They are behind YouTube tv. They only have
four point three million users, but this merger Keitha is
going to put them there a very close second.
Speaker 9 (22:25):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
And what's really interesting about the merger with Hulu and
Fubo is again that Fubo Michael is a very very
sports oriented service.
Speaker 9 (22:36):
They have everything.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
You know, they initially started trying to cater to the
football fan and now they've kind of, you know, they've
they've expanded to all of the different sports. So again,
it's going to be really interesting because again, YouTube TV,
we know, tends to be fairly sports centric. Fubo and
Hulu is also going to be sports centric. So I
think we're going to see more and more people kind
(22:57):
of gravitate to those services. And that's that's going to
be actually good I think overall for the consumer because
it just makes the process of signing on, signing off so.
Speaker 9 (23:07):
Much more smooth and seamless.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Most people who have any sort of live TV are
using it for sports. I mean, that's really what's keeping
live TV afloat in general.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
You know, people they just they do want to have
all of their sports in one place, and the only
way you can do that right now is through live TV.
Speaker 9 (23:28):
You can.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
You know, you have all these cable TV operators, you
have most PATV distributors basically selling you skinny packages and
packages just tailored for the sports enthusiast.
Speaker 9 (23:41):
So yeah, I mean you do have to still very
much rely on live TV.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
That may change three, four, five years down the road,
but right now it's still very much is tied to
the linear TV bundle.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Keith, I'd love to switch gears here and ask you
about the new Major League Baseball deal and what that
means for team valuations. And the reason I ask is
this where we freshing our numbers here with all the
private equity dealings in the NFL, the recent sales in
the NBA of the Celtics and the Lakers, and we're
trying to wrap our brains around what this new MLB
deal will mean for some of these baseball teams that
you know, we're so heavily reliant on local programming. Any
(24:16):
thoughts to share there?
Speaker 5 (24:17):
I think this deal Davian is really good for Major
League Baseball. Remember just you know, a few months ago,
they were really in a tight spot. They had lost
a lot of their deals on the local side because
of the bankruptcy of you know, Diamond Sports, and then suddenly,
you know, on the national side, they lost the ESPN contract.
(24:37):
ESPN basically opted out of its five hundred and fifty
million dollar deal, which kind of really left them in
a tough spot. And so what they did is they
went back to the drawing board, you know, rejiggered a
couple of the packages, and now they're basically making more
than what they were before. They have another deal with
ESPN in place, which focuses a little bit more on streaming,
(24:58):
and then they have new partners on so they now
have NBC and Netflix and that basically gives them over
two billion dollars in animal rights fees. And you know,
from our viewpoint, that's a great deal for the MLB,
and we think that finally trickles over or trickles down
rather to team valuations as well. So I think it's
good news actually all around, it's a win win for everyone.
Speaker 7 (25:19):
Here our thanks to Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Media analyst Getha
Raganathan for joining us up. Next, we turn to the
world of fantasy sports with roto Wire founder and president
Peter Shanky for Damian sas Hour and Vanessa Perdomo. I'm
Michael Barr. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports
from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (25:49):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
We explored the big funny issues in the world of sports.
Michael Barr along with Damian SaaS Hour and Vanessa Perdomo
just about fantasy football time. Fantasy sports is a multi
billion dollar industry and it continues to grow. Here to
take us through the latest and explore some of the
(26:10):
newest trends in the fantasy sports world is Peter Shanky.
He's founder and president of Rota Wire, a leading content
and tech provider fantasy sports consumers and media companies. Peter,
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Hey, thanks for having me.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
Okay, yes, I know we are the business of sports,
but there's no way in the world that I have
the founder and president of Rota Wire that I am
not going to ask this question, who would you take
in your first pick? I am my team is the
news bros. No man, come on, you want to know
(26:50):
Jamar Chase or Bijon Robinson.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Well, Jamar Chase is the consensus. But the one thing
I would always say is it really matters about your rules.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
The number one thing I.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Could tell any fantasy player, whether they're a new person
or advanced, is really study up on the rules in
the format you're playing a game you're not trying to actually,
you know, play the real NFL. You know, so if
you start five wide receivers or have extra bonus points
for this and that, it can matter. But generally speaking,
the most common league chases the best player to take
this year at number one. He's just consistent, and you know,
(27:25):
the Bengals offense is highly charged. They also have a
bad defense. This means it's gonna be a lot of shootout.
So just you know, he's done it a lot, and
all the factors point positive for him, and he's the
safe and most reliable option, and you know, so take him.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
It's an ombrainger.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yeah, Damian Vanessa, I kind of panicked because I did
get the first pick of my draft. This year, and
I like stress panic Saquon Barkley, and I probably, I
know I should have picked a wide receiver. I mean,
what are your thoughts there up here on like in
running back versus wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
First, well, that's not a terrible pick. Again, a lot
of it depends on the rules. But the thing about
the running backs is they have the most upside. They
catch the ball, they run the ball, they get the
ball at the end zone. If they're three down backs
like Barkley. So taking the running back early, you know, statistically,
if it works out, is the best choice you can make.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
The problem is they get hurt.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
And last year we saw an incredibly rare event where
there was not that many injuries among like the star
running backs. And so I think a lot of people
are drafting this year think that's going to happen again.
And there's some reasons to think that that might be
a trend that's going to happen a little bit because
NFL defenses are they're you know, they're they're not hitting
as hard, they're they're defending the pass lot more. So
maybe running backs are going to get injured at a
(28:34):
lower rate, you know, continued going forward, But Historically that
has not been the case. So you know, pick like
that is usually a big boom or bust, and that
might be the case.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
This year. Barkley had a tremendous workload.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
If you look at all the touches and carries he
goat both in the regular season and the postseason, it's
one of the highest numbers in NFL history. And generally
that's not a good sign for the next year because
they're you know, they're pretty worn out. So we'll see
what happens with him. He's obviously an amazing athlete that
could sort of break all those molds.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
In your expert opinion, having done this as long as
you have, if you were not a member of Road
to Wire, who would you be following? Who do you
believe is another provider of fantasy football information that you respect?
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Well?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
If I put my company hat on, it's hard for
me to say go anywhere else, right, but my industry
had on. I mean, there's a lot of good stuff
out there. I mean, most people who play fantasy sports
and buy a content product of any kind usually buy
on average, I think it's like two point two products.
So people like multiple points of view, and so that's
what we always say for Rodo war So, Matthew Berry,
(29:34):
he's you know at NBC, good friend of mine runs
runs a competitive website. But it's very good. You know,
but you want, you know, you want multiple opinions. You know,
you don't want to you don't want to just see
what he's saying. You know, you want to look around
and you know a lot of sites have pluses and minuses.
Our plus is that we have the real time information
that's updated twenty four to seven. It's what ESPN, Yahoo, DraftKings,
(29:57):
NFL dot com.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
They all rely on us.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
So when you go our website, in our app, this
new app that we just launched a football draftro to
our football Draft Cad app, you know the information is
going to be super fast. Everything's been updated. You know
you're never gonna take a guy that's injured. You know,
all the rankings are in real time. So and that's
big because when you're on the clock in the draft
and you've got thirty seconds, you know you can't.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
Be like this one up to date. Are you sure
this guy is the number three receiver?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I mean, for first, it was the ability to synk
your league into the website, right that came first, and
then it was the ability for that, you know, your
website to kind of you know, alongside your draft you know,
kind of have your little window up where it's kind
of feeding you, you know, here's the best pick, kind
of like we do when you have your draft simulator, right,
which is the other big thing. So you know, talk
to us about some of those innovations. What comes next
(30:44):
in the world of fantasy news, fantasy data, Like, what
are you guys working on? What's the new app look like?
What's special about it?
Speaker 7 (30:49):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (30:50):
So the real new app.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Everything's kind of moving too real time and you know,
effortly just getting the data set. Have to spend all
your time tracking your draft, which is being able to
analyze it more.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
And that's what our app does.
Speaker 9 (31:00):
It.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
It has live saying so if you're drafted in Yahoo
and some of the leagues, you know, it just clears
all the picks for you, has a recommendation for you
based on our algorithm, and then you're also able to
modify your draft strategy.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
That's more than just a cheat sheet.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Here's a couple of sleepers I like, But you know,
what things do you want to focus on? Is it
you know, how consistent they are. Do you want to
avoid health risks? Do you want to take high upside
players in the later round? You can kind of build
this draft strategy and then based on that, we build
a cheat sheet for you, and then it all updates
in real time in our app and on our website,
(31:32):
so that when you're doing a draft, and say, for example, Yahoo,
you know the first twenty picks are up and you're
on the clock, you know you have boom our recommendation,
the updated list of everyone that's there, and you know
you can spend your time trying to figure out the
best pick coming up, as opposed to, you know, still
trying to catch up on crossing everybody off.
Speaker 7 (31:49):
Emerging fantasy football trends for this year, where do you
see it going? In general?
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Well, fantasy is doing really well.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I think before the overturn of PASPA for that enabled
states to have sports betting, and now there's thirty five
plus state states that have sports betting in some format,
there was this notion that well, that's it for fantasy sports.
I mean, you know, people only playing fantasy sports because
they couldn't do sports betting. But that hasn't been the case.
I mean, it's its own distinct product and it's different
(32:18):
than gambling. I've always maintained that and that's been true.
I mean, the bigger companies ESPN, Yahoo, they have the
big free platforms. They're sort of the driver of growth
in the industry. They're growing, you know, they're growing at
a good clip. I think you know ESPN and think
last year record growth, and so you've seen companies like
FanDuel and Drafting still have you know, good prize pools
(32:40):
for their DFS products, a lot of growth, and you
know here ro to Wire same thing, you know the
last you know, since then, we've we've still continued to
do great and obviously that's why we're investing order the products.
So the fantasy ecosystem is still you know, going very strong.
You know, people just start super enthusiastic about fantasy sports,
especially fantasy football, and it's fantasy football time, but you know,
all other kinds of sports too. I mean, we do
(33:02):
at rod to Wire about twenty five sports, depending how
you define it. You know, college football is a great
one that I like to play. We have a lot
of English Fremer League soccer. So this time of year,
all that stuff is doing great. And pretty soon we'll
have hockey and basketball as well.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
One of the things you know that is I'm curious
to hear from your take, is what you guys do
to bring in new fans who are kind of not
used to playing, Like I have a lot of friends
who play that really don't know anything about football. I'm
pretty new to it, like three or four years ago
I first started playing, and I was trying to, you know,
listen to as much as I could check out different platforms,
(33:38):
but a lot of it's like fully cooked information. You
have to be a very you know, a savant already
to kind of understand what people are already talking about
on these platforms. So what do you do for people
who are new to the space.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I think one of the things we've really tried to
do with our new app is to really make make
it so the casual user isn't intimidated. Right, So if
you go in there and you low it in all
the presettings, it doesn't take that much time because you
can you kind of suck in everything from whatever site
you're on. If you're on ESPN or Yahoo or whatever,
you can import that league and then go through all
Like I talked about, all these recommendations and then it
kind of serves up advice to you.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
It's really easy for you to figure out.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
And I think that's been a way to sort of
as opposed to a way to help those have you know,
a more a newer user, newer player, and help them
on the path getting better, as opposed to having you know,
sort of just something really complicated that an advanced.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
User could use. And we have that too, but this
is really helping us there.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
And then we have a lot of series of articles
about how to play and how to get involved. You know,
those things are good, but yeah, I think you know,
it is kind of intimidating at first. But it's also
the great thing about fantasy sports and fantasy football in
general is that it doesn't take long to get to
be an expert. I mean, you don't have to get
a PhD and go through you know, three or four
years of training or something like that. You know, once
you start doing some drafts, especially mock drafts, like we
(34:50):
have the ability to do a lot of mock crafts
on our app and our new product, and it's much
improved and it really helps out a lot.
Speaker 6 (34:55):
You can just pick it up pretty quick.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
I mean people go from being total novices to somebody
that considered to be a fantasy football expert in like
a season or two. You know, so luckily it's pretty
easy to pick up.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
All right, Peter, it's go time talk to me about
the zero quarterback strategy here. I mean, c J. Stroud
isn't getting drafted in any league. You gotta be kidding me.
And then these tight ends. Look, I'm all for Brock
Bowers and you know, Trey McBride, but I mean, in
recent years you've seen Sam Laporta. These guys have disappointed man,
George Kittleedy get hurt. You know, like why, I mean,
talk to us. Where should tight ends go? You know,
(35:27):
where should you be looking at quarterbacks? I mean, what
do you like here?
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Well, it's here for like, generally speaking, I'm a weight
on the quarterback kind of guy. There's a lot of quarterbacks.
You can always usually pick up one up off the
waiver wire who's gonna have some productions, so you don't
have to be super secure there. Whereas you know, running
backs are usually pretty rare. You want to have all
those on your bench. And this year for quarterback it's
really flat. I mean there's just not a whole lot
of difference between you know, the fifth quarterback or sixth quarterback.
Speaker 6 (35:53):
And like the fifteenth one. I'm just waiting a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
You know, you want to get you know, some of
the top guys, you know her, you know, you know
the guys who run you know, the running quarterbacks. You know,
there's really a big a big four you know, cut
quarterback quarterbacks there. But then after that it's just a
lot of the same. So I'm waiting on quarterback a
lot tight end. But you know, similar dynamic, there's a
couple at the.
Speaker 6 (36:13):
Top that are obviously really really good.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
There's two, you know two in particular, the brock Boers
and Trade McBride, and then after that, you know, it
falls off pretty rapidly. And the problem with tight end
is just like I talked about running back, they get injured,
you know, you know, they're out there and they're block
and they're taking hits. They get injured at higher rates
than wide receiver and stuff like that. But yeah, this
year depending on and that's tight end especially is one
you really need to read your rules and figure out
(36:35):
your format. If you have a format that rewards extra
points for tight end receptions, which is something the leagues
do try to make it so that those players are
more pertinent and then therefore your uh, there's more players
to pick up during the season that can make a
big difference. Or how many players you start, so somebod
these don't even start tight ends. It's just you just
have receivers, so that makes a big difference. But yeah,
(36:56):
so those top two tight ends you could take it early.
But generally this year, I think it's a great year.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Just wait, a quarterback, and who's your favorite sleeper running back?
And don't say I'm Maria and Hampton the stor well,
I mean he would be the kind of the one.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
He would be the one at the top.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
But there's a couple of The thing I really like
to do for sleeper running backs is to find a
team with a bunch of you know, kind of aging
veterans at the top and find who the rookie is
and take them late and see if you know. And
that's that's how you get just a real difference maker.
So Jaden Blue and Dallas this year, it's it's an
unsettled backfield. We think they're going to be an offense
that scores a lot you know has you know, because
(37:29):
their defense is not good. I think we're playing at
a fast pace and so he if he emerges, he
could be great. Byshelle Touton, I don't know if I'm
not saying his first name is great On Jacksonville. Uh,
you know, he's similarly, you know, another another unsettled backfield
with an offense that's got a lot of potential. You know,
those are two guys in particular. They are pretty good
if you want a super late one. I mean you
(37:50):
could say the same thing about Woodie Mark's in Houston.
Another unsettled backfield at Washington.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I mean he's flying up the board.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Yeah, he's another one. He's got a little expensive because
everyone's like all excited about him, and he's similarly there.
You know, I don't know if he has you know,
quite maybe the where he's going to get all the work,
but he could be a phenomenal talent and sort of
take a takeover there. So that's another one as well.
Those are the kind of players that I like to
make sure that I have on my bench.
Speaker 7 (38:14):
Our thanks to Peter Shanky for joining us. He's founder
and president of roto Wire, and that does it for
this edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. For Damian
Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo, I'm Michael Barr. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
old money in the world of sports, and don't forget
to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms. You're
(38:36):
listening to The Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
This is the Business of Sports.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Sports are the greatest unscripted show owner.
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ever happened to go.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
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Speaker 6 (00:30):
If you're playing moneyball with a huge bag of money,
you're going to be really, really good.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (00:38):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports, where we explored
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael
Barr along with Damian Sassaur and Vanessa Perdomo. Coming up
on the show, we'll talk a little fantasy football. Rotor
Wire founder Peter Shanky joins us to talk about the
booming industry of fantasy sports as we head into another
NFL's easy.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
The number one thing I could tell any fantasy whether
they're a new person or advanced, is really study up
on the rules in the format you're playing a game
you're not trying to actually, you know, play the real NFL.
Speaker 7 (01:09):
That is on the way on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
But first we will take a look at a few
recent headlines in the sports media world. Netflix is continuing
its push into live sports and just inked a deal
to broadcast the twenty twenty six World Baseball Classic. Plus
ESPN is creating a new bundle that could get football
(01:29):
fans red Zone at about forty dollars per month. Joining
us to discuss all that and more is Bloomberg News,
Media and Entertainment reporter Hanna Miler. Hannah, Welcome to the
Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 8 (01:42):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 7 (01:43):
This is gonna change the way this old geezer watches TV.
ESPN online bundle with red Zone NFL network to cost
forty dollars a month. Is this the way now we're
gonna watch TV and the cable that's gone?
Speaker 8 (01:58):
You know, they're they're putting out this option for people
who are cord cutters and coord nevers, you know, people
who are not interested in cable, but they still want
to have these cable options for people. So it's not
going to go away completely. But you know, if you're
young in your twenties you're looking for a way to
watch sports, this might be the best option for you.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
I just it's so interesting to me, Hannah, because I
feel like this conversation still keeps coming up, so pops
up every single time these deals are signed. Now we
have all these fractured different things that we have to buy.
Do these leagues and the commissioners and the owners just
not care that their fans have to now go to
five different places to watch the games.
Speaker 8 (02:41):
You know, it's all about the dollar signs for them.
And I think some of these deals they might not
be the most convenient for fans. And it's not like
you know, you're switching channels going from you know, sport
sport game to game. You have to like log out
of the app, pick a new one, go in. It's
not going to be the same experience for people. And
you know, you've seen like ESPN has tried to have
(03:03):
a portal to show like where you can watch stuff.
I think the big money maker would be having some
kind of tool that would allow you to transition between
streaming platforms easily and that would really help people.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Hannah. There's just really one channel that matters. That's Channel
eight thirty five. That's the Red Zone network where you
get seven hours of commercial free football. What happens Tomman
Scott Hanson after this deal, I mean, is he going
to get paid? I mean what goes on?
Speaker 4 (03:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 8 (03:28):
So you know there there definitely are changes happening. But
I know that they're really trying to, you know, keep
the Red Zone culture, keep things familiar to fans. It's
really just going to be this bundle add on that
you can have with the ESPN streaming package. So instead
of just paying thirty dollars flat for you know, getting
all of the ESPN's networks, you can add an additional
(03:50):
ten dollars and get access to Red Zone.
Speaker 7 (03:53):
Major League Baseball is doing the happy dance because they
scored a lot of great new TV deals. Talk more
about that.
Speaker 8 (04:01):
So it's not finalized yet. The ink is not dry,
but we're hoping to get more information next month. But
there's been a lot of speculation, a lot of reports
out there, and the way things are looking right now,
it's a huge win for Major League Baseball. They are
getting a lot of money from a lot of different partners,
(04:21):
and even ESPN, who's the reason that these rights went
up for grabs. You know, they did that early opt out.
They are still working with MLB and they're working on
this out of rights package and that's been out of
market rights package and that's been a huge deal ESPN.
You know, Jimmy Pataro, the head of ESPN, he said
(04:43):
multiple times that he wants this focus on you know,
regional rights when it comes to MLB. So there's you know,
it's been reported that they're still going to pay the
same amount of money that they had with the original deal,
but it's a different kind of reach.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
What was that original deal with ESPN five fifty?
Speaker 8 (04:59):
Is that fifty and that's that's what it's going to
be with this one.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
It's based on fifty million and then and so that
and but it's ESPN again, right, Yes, So they sold
it and buy it in the same I'm trying to.
Speaker 8 (05:10):
They shook things up, and it's just the focus on
regional rights, got it?
Speaker 4 (05:14):
So is it because they don't see ESPN doesn't see
the value of MLB as a premier property.
Speaker 8 (05:21):
Yeah, I think they wouldn't frame it that way because
I asked them about it, and I interviewed Jimmy Padaro
a few weeks ago, and he just said, you know,
we want these regional rights. That's the way that we're
really trying to help fans. We think this is going
to be an asset for a new streaming service. But
you know, it's just I think with this it's they're
(05:44):
both kind of getting what they want year and then
you see you know, special events like the home run derby.
Netflix has been in talks to get that and that'll
help them with their strategy and expanding you know, live sports,
these one off events.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
And so ESPN's it's going to air the the out
of market games. I think that's there.
Speaker 6 (06:02):
That is it?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Yeah, I got you, I got it.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
So it's their their answer to regional the sport. The
problem with the regional sports networks, I mean, what's going
on with that is is this something still that they
see the value and then they need to figure out
that all these teams because there's five teams also that
are in market games also, right, yes, yeah, so what's
going on with the regional sports network problem?
Speaker 8 (06:25):
So you know, regional sports, it's a really problematic area
as I'm sure you know, we've seen multiple bankruptcies. You know,
they've had to kind of make these deals to get
out of bankruptcy. But you know they still see value
in this, Like you know, you have these local fans.
There are people who tune in like this is what
they want to watch. So I think ESPN and MLB
like they figured that this was a good way to
(06:45):
kind of both get positives from it, like you're having
a home for you know, these regional games. And then
ESPN is like, okay, this is yet another asset that
we can add to the streaming platform.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
So, Hannah, is ESPN winning the streaming wars? I mean,
look what they've just done here with the NFL, right,
I mean MLB now, I mean WWE. I mean talk
to us about you know, who is winning the you know,
the wars for streamingum streaming premium sporting events today.
Speaker 8 (07:13):
Yeah, I mean this new offering from ESPN is you
know huge for them. This is a big deal. We
also saw the launch of Fox one, which is Fox's
streaming platform that's going to have Fox Entertainment, Fox News,
and Fox Sports offerings. So you know, you do see
a pretty full field obviously NBC Sports. They're continuing to
(07:34):
make a huge push with Peacock and the NBA is
going to be key for that in the fall. So
you know, I wouldn't say esp I think it's too.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Early to say sports Sports really is still at the
forefront of streaming, right, and it seems to me that
ESPN is still the alpha there for the most part.
I leave it's holding on. So it's just interesting to
see how this is all shaking out. I mean, you've
got players like Apple and Amazon knocking down their doors, right,
so it's it's still it's still interesting to see Disney there.
Michael Barr, what do you think.
Speaker 7 (08:03):
Well, I think speaking of Netflix, did you talk about
that they're going to broadcast the twenty twenty six World
Baseball Classic in Japan? And g I just wonder, there's
some guy on the Los Angeles Dodgers here sho hey,
oh Tani, I bet that that's going to explode in Japan.
Speaker 8 (08:23):
Oh, it's it's all about show hey, like they this
is a huge, huge event in Japan. It is a
big win for Netflix. There's a lot of excitement already
about this happening, and you know, Japan loves the World
Baseball Classic. They do very well in the World Baseball Classic,
so I think this is a great fit. And yeah,
(08:44):
it makes total sense. And yeah, I think it's the
first live event in Japan that Netflix is going to
be broadcasting, so very exciting.
Speaker 4 (08:50):
Is there any like fear?
Speaker 9 (08:52):
Though?
Speaker 4 (08:52):
In these big tournaments some players opt out of playing
in them and show he has had his problem with
injury and things like that. So what if he doesn't play?
Did Netflix just spend a bunch of money that for
no reason?
Speaker 8 (09:06):
Oh god, no, I think it would be a huge disappointment.
For sure. He's you know, the biggest name. He is
a hero there. I mean, we saw with the World
Series last year that you know, there were some games
that had higher viewership in Japan than in the US.
You know, it was crazy. So you know, Netflix is
really capitalizing on that with this deal.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Well to put some context around that, right, The World
Baseball Classic has consistently drawn massive national audiences, with some
games exceeding thirty eight million viewers. And listen to this.
The MLB Tokyo Series in twenty twenty five cent new
records with over twenty four million viewers per game, which
is just a massive number for Baseball, I mean, by
anybody's imagination, definitely.
Speaker 7 (09:48):
Well, they're going to also sell and I'm just you
talk about this deal with ESPN and Baseball, didn't they
just sell a ten percent stake in the Walt Disney
Company Sports Network involved in this to help with trying
to bring this to a great audience from an old
(10:10):
man who was trying to like hang on for dear
life with rabbit ears on his television.
Speaker 8 (10:16):
Yeah, no, And I mean that was a huge part
of the NFL deal, was that that stake. And you know,
this has been speculated about for a long time, so
for that to come through was pretty exciting. And yeah,
it just shows the closeness between you know, Disney, ESPN
and the league.
Speaker 7 (10:32):
Is this going to be a big boon for the NFL?
Speaker 8 (10:37):
I mean, they're always killing it, so I think it's
just gonna continue that.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I mean, that's exactly right to have a teat at
that table, right to just be a shareholder in the
NFL in and of itself. I mean what Disney should
really be doing is selling off little bits and pieces,
you know, getting a big fat fee for it like
an inf's some banker would and you know, commoditizing it
and you know all that good stuff.
Speaker 7 (10:56):
Well that's your money, man, could get it. You got
you got the wall and I've seen you all this.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
This is a somethingthetic, you know, total return swamps be beautiful.
You and me, Michael Barb once again on a beach somewhere.
You know what, man, moh and.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
We both saying the same thing. Private equity. Here we go,
which brings me to the next question. Had a private
equity has changed the whole landscape of everything in sports ownership.
Speaker 8 (11:26):
And you know you could see that sort of play
out too with CBS Sports. You know, we have the
Paramount merger with sky Dance Media and you know Redbird
has huge involvement in that. So it's everywhere, you know,
and we're going to see it, I think more and
more in media.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Well, we've also seen the Bills, the Niners, the Fins,
they've all sold equity stakes, right, and it's really I
mean if you look at some of the numbers and
what it means for the Dallas Cowboys, for example, who
like ear N s Porticle had them at ten billion.
I think we have them at fourteen and a half.
Now if you revise everything up that is.
Speaker 4 (11:53):
I mean, it's interesting because the Cowboys will never or
seemingly they're not going to sell, but they will consistently
stay top no matter who else sells at their mistakes.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
That's right. And you know, we don't even have to
talk about how owners in the NFL have the ability
to write off the IP for their brands against gains
from other businesses. I'm just saying that is something we've
written about in the past here at Bloomberg. It's a fact.
It was actually in the Big Beautiful Bill and then
it got pulled out of there that they can't advertise
that IP over anyway.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Whatever.
Speaker 7 (12:23):
Aber Thanks to Hannah Miller for joining us. She covers
media and entertainment for Bloomberg News. Up next, we stick
with sports media and do a deeper dive on some
of the latest headlines with research from our friends at
Bloomberg Intelligence for Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Pernomo. I'm Michael Barr.
You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports Bloomberg Radio
(12:44):
around the world.
Speaker 1 (12:49):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (12:54):
This is the Bloomberg Business of Sports where we explore
the big money issues in the world of sports. Michael Barr,
along with Damian Sasaur and Vanessa Perdomo, streamers are going
big on live sports, with YouTube tv continuing to grow
its portfolio of live sports programming. Bloomberg Intelligence senior media
analysts Geitha Reganafat has all the research to back this
(13:18):
and more, and she's here now to break it all down. Githa,
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 9 (13:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 7 (13:26):
YouTube TV rising strength in sports programming. What are they
doing right?
Speaker 9 (13:30):
So?
Speaker 5 (13:31):
You know, this is the whole rise of what we
call the virtual PATV operators, and YouTube TV absolutely leads
in that space. So they basically provide you everything that
a traditional PATV operator like a Comcast or Verizon would provide,
except that this is going to be over streaming, so
it's over the top.
Speaker 9 (13:50):
And what people really.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Like about it is, you know, the ease of signing
on and signing off. Remember all the times that you
can never get through to your cable company or you
can never cancel service, Well, you don't really have that
problem here. You don't get locked in for years and years.
You can sign on, you can sign off whenever you want,
and the price up until this point, like now it's
(14:12):
getting a little bit pricey, but up until this point,
it actually was pretty economical and made a lot of sense.
And one of the reasons that people really like YouTube
tv is just because the user interface is top notch,
and especially if you're watching sports, it's absolutely great. So
that's kind of been one of the reasons why YouTube
tv has been such a popular service. And we actually
(14:32):
think it might be the third largest. They don't report
subscriber numbers very often, but we think they have close
to almost nine and a half to ten million subscribers,
which makes them possibly the third largest PATV operator in
the United States.
Speaker 9 (14:46):
Wow. I love YouTube TV.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
I personally have it, and I feel that it's great
for game Day, especially you know, NFL Sundays, for multiviewer,
you know, the multiview service, which I definitely want to
talk to you about later on when we talk about
know how all these different games around streaming and things
like that. But right now they're in this problem with
Fox and they might not be able to have games
(15:09):
this weekend.
Speaker 9 (15:10):
Tell us about that.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
Yeah, So, Vanessa, I mean, this is nothing new, So
ear in and ear out right before the start of
college football and right before the start of you know,
the all important NFL season. We typically have some high
profile carriage renewal that comes up. This year, it happens
to be YouTube TV and Fox, And basically what it
(15:32):
is is August twenty seventh, where actually is the carriage expiration.
Speaker 9 (15:36):
So that's when their.
Speaker 5 (15:37):
Deal typically it's a three year deal kind of comes
up for expiration. Both sides are playing hardball this time.
YouTube TV is claiming that Fox is charging a whole
lot more than it was before, and Fox, of course
is holding its ground and saying that it has must
have programming and therefore is entitled to that kind.
Speaker 9 (15:58):
Of a price hike.
Speaker 5 (16:00):
So, you know, you have both sides that you know,
obviously they both wield a lot of power.
Speaker 9 (16:05):
Fox of course has the content.
Speaker 5 (16:07):
YouTube TV has the scale, and so it's it's going
to be a game of.
Speaker 7 (16:11):
Chicken in the talk more about content. Fox holds the
NFL card, which ethan that's a very important card.
Speaker 4 (16:20):
Well.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Absolutely, Fox has great, great sports lineup, Michael. So whether
we're talking college football, we're talking NFL, we're talking the
MLB playoffs and the World Series, Fox has it all,
so they absolutely know that they have a lot to
offer when it comes to their broadcast network, when it
comes to Fox.
Speaker 9 (16:39):
Sports, and then of course you have Fox.
Speaker 5 (16:41):
News, which you know is by far the biggest cable network,
so it's you know, it's it's their whole live TV
lineup sports and news and they have the best of both.
Speaker 4 (16:54):
Which yeah, to that point, though, Geith, it doesn't doesn't
that give them Fox the upper hand in terms of negotiating.
I mean, if they have these dates blocked out and
you weren't able to watch, I'm I'm a Buckeye fan, right,
so if I can't watch to the howse say, football games,
so you know, I'll be really upset about it. So
if you have people like that who aren't able to
watch their games, You're not able to watch in the NFL,
(17:14):
Now we're not able to watch football on YouTube TV.
Don't you think they'll see YouTube TV would then see
like massive subscriber drops. So they need to get that
deal done for them really.
Speaker 9 (17:25):
Yeah, and you're right, Vanessa.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
So you know, in the past, we obviously used to
see the content owners. So a company like Fox or
a Disney or a paramount kind of wheeled all of.
Speaker 9 (17:36):
The power in this kind of an equation.
Speaker 5 (17:38):
What has happened though, is because we are having so
much of cord cutting. You know, losing subscribers is not
good for anybody. Of course, it's not good for the
PATV operator. But then remember YouTube TV here is really
you know, they're not a Comcast, they're not a charter,
They're owned by Google, one of the largest companies in
the world with very very deep pockets. And so yes,
(17:59):
YouTube TV, I mean, it is a big business. But
at the end of the day, even if they lose
a few subscribers this way or that way, it doesn't
necessarily break the business.
Speaker 9 (18:08):
So that's where.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
YouTube TV is a little bit different from let's say,
a dish or a direct TV. I still think that
Fox does hold a fairly good amount of power, as
most content owners do, but I also think at the
same time that the balance of power that whole equation
is changing a little bit.
Speaker 9 (18:26):
And now, especially if you're a.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
Distributor like YouTube TV that has so much of scale,
that has millions of subscribers, nearly ten million subscribers, they
have a pretty loud voice as well. So that's why
these kind of skirmishes become really interesting because we then
get to know who really holds the trump card, if
you will.
Speaker 7 (18:46):
Well, that goes to the subscribers. As you mentioned earlier,
right now they have about nine point four million YouTube
TV and they're about to increase, which has got to
throw fear now obviously in the cable providers. What can
they do to save themselves?
Speaker 9 (19:02):
Yeah, this is a really great question.
Speaker 5 (19:03):
I mean, what we're seeing, Michael, is more and more
content is moving away from the linear TV bundle to
the streaming outlets, and that's really bad news for you know,
a cable provider, it's bad news even actually for a
YouTube TV any provider who is basically redistributing linear TV content.
(19:25):
This comes at a really interesting time. And I say
that because just a few days ago, or maybe a
couple of weeks ago, we had both ESPN and Fox
debut their streaming services. And you know, this is huge
for the sports ecosystem because at the end of last year,
if you kind of just look at the sports ecosystem,
(19:47):
we had only about forty percent of US sports rights
that were available to stream, so you basically needed a
cable TV subscription to watch the remaining sixty percent but
with the introduction of both ESPN and Fox One, which
is Fox's streaming service, one hundred percent of US sports
(20:08):
are now available.
Speaker 9 (20:09):
To be streamed.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
And so this is kind of a really precarious time,
I would say for both the content owners as well
as the PATV distributors, because anybody who now wants a
streaming subscription can basically get one. They're no longer tied
to the traditional TV bundle. So again, that's why I
say this is a this is a really a wonderful
kind fight just because of the time at which it comes.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Yeah, I'm so glad you brought up that point because
I saw that in your report from the other day
that one hundred percent of sports viewership is available on streaming,
which which is absolutely insane, but it obviously does make
sense as we've seen all these different you know, Netflix
and Prime and Peacock and whoever all get into sports
in a different way. But YouTube TV does it basically
(20:53):
just make them obsolete? Do they even need to exist anymore?
Or is the next actual thing someone like a YouTube
TV we should really do is try and become the
platform in which you can flip through all these different
streaming platforms like someone needs to create that.
Speaker 6 (21:09):
It feels like, oh.
Speaker 5 (21:10):
Yeah, And you bring up an excellent point of inness.
I think they are eventually kind of moving to that model.
I don't know whether it's going to be a YouTube TV,
or whether it's going to be an Amazon, or whether
it even is going to be a Netflix. I mean,
I think ESPN is trying to do that now for sports.
Speaker 9 (21:25):
They eventually want to do that.
Speaker 5 (21:26):
That's why they did the deal with NFL, That's why
they went after some MLB rights. They're trying to get
as much content as they can on their platform. But
it's going to be interesting to see how all of
that plays out. But you bring up an important point,
which is is YouTube TV or our PATV operators like
YouTube TV, like Comcast, going to become obsolete?
Speaker 9 (21:46):
I don't think so.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
I think there is still that traditional viewer who kind
of likes everything in one place, you know, you don't
want to have to sign up for, you know, seven
or eight or ten different services, and so I think
there is always going to be a place for the
traditional cable bundle. So I don't necessarily think they're going
to become obsolete. But we are definitely in a very
(22:07):
very fragmented marketplace.
Speaker 7 (22:08):
That is for sure, and Hulu plus Live is saying, hey,
don't forget about us, because they've got a merger coming up.
Right now. They are behind YouTube tv. They only have
four point three million users, but this merger Keitha is
going to put them there a very close second.
Speaker 9 (22:25):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 5 (22:26):
And what's really interesting about the merger with Hulu and
Fubo is again that Fubo Michael is a very very
sports oriented service.
Speaker 9 (22:36):
They have everything.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
You know, they initially started trying to cater to the
football fan and now they've kind of, you know, they've
they've expanded to all of the different sports. So again,
it's going to be really interesting because again, YouTube TV,
we know, tends to be fairly sports centric. Fubo and
Hulu is also going to be sports centric. So I
think we're going to see more and more people kind
(22:57):
of gravitate to those services. And that's that's going to
be actually good I think overall for the consumer because
it just makes the process of signing on, signing off so.
Speaker 9 (23:07):
Much more smooth and seamless.
Speaker 4 (23:09):
Most people who have any sort of live TV are
using it for sports. I mean, that's really what's keeping
live TV afloat in general.
Speaker 9 (23:19):
You're absolutely right.
Speaker 5 (23:20):
You know, people they just they do want to have
all of their sports in one place, and the only
way you can do that right now is through live TV.
Speaker 9 (23:28):
You can.
Speaker 5 (23:28):
You know, you have all these cable TV operators, you
have most PATV distributors basically selling you skinny packages and
packages just tailored for the sports enthusiast.
Speaker 9 (23:41):
So yeah, I mean you do have to still very
much rely on live TV.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
That may change three, four, five years down the road,
but right now it's still very much is tied to
the linear TV bundle.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Keith, I'd love to switch gears here and ask you
about the new Major League Baseball deal and what that
means for team valuations. And the reason I ask is
this where we freshing our numbers here with all the
private equity dealings in the NFL, the recent sales in
the NBA of the Celtics and the Lakers, and we're
trying to wrap our brains around what this new MLB
deal will mean for some of these baseball teams that
you know, we're so heavily reliant on local programming. Any
(24:16):
thoughts to share there?
Speaker 5 (24:17):
I think this deal Davian is really good for Major
League Baseball. Remember just you know, a few months ago,
they were really in a tight spot. They had lost
a lot of their deals on the local side because
of the bankruptcy of you know, Diamond Sports, and then suddenly,
you know, on the national side, they lost the ESPN contract.
(24:37):
ESPN basically opted out of its five hundred and fifty
million dollar deal, which kind of really left them in
a tough spot. And so what they did is they
went back to the drawing board, you know, rejiggered a
couple of the packages, and now they're basically making more
than what they were before. They have another deal with
ESPN in place, which focuses a little bit more on streaming,
(24:58):
and then they have new partners on so they now
have NBC and Netflix and that basically gives them over
two billion dollars in animal rights fees. And you know,
from our viewpoint, that's a great deal for the MLB,
and we think that finally trickles over or trickles down
rather to team valuations as well. So I think it's
good news actually all around, it's a win win for everyone.
Speaker 7 (25:19):
Here our thanks to Bloomberg Intelligence Senior Media analyst Getha
Raganathan for joining us up. Next, we turn to the
world of fantasy sports with roto Wire founder and president
Peter Shanky for Damian sas Hour and Vanessa Perdomo. I'm
Michael Barr. You're listening to the Bloomberg Business of Sports
from Bloomberg Radio around the world.
Speaker 1 (25:44):
This is Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio.
Speaker 7 (25:49):
Thanks for joining us on the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
We explored the big funny issues in the world of sports.
Michael Barr along with Damian SaaS Hour and Vanessa Perdomo
just about fantasy football time. Fantasy sports is a multi
billion dollar industry and it continues to grow. Here to
take us through the latest and explore some of the
(26:10):
newest trends in the fantasy sports world is Peter Shanky.
He's founder and president of Rota Wire, a leading content
and tech provider fantasy sports consumers and media companies. Peter,
Welcome to the Bloomberg Business of Sports.
Speaker 6 (26:27):
Hey, thanks for having me.
Speaker 7 (26:29):
Okay, yes, I know we are the business of sports,
but there's no way in the world that I have
the founder and president of Rota Wire that I am
not going to ask this question, who would you take
in your first pick? I am my team is the
news bros. No man, come on, you want to know
(26:50):
Jamar Chase or Bijon Robinson.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Well, Jamar Chase is the consensus. But the one thing
I would always say is it really matters about your rules.
Speaker 6 (27:00):
The number one thing I.
Speaker 3 (27:01):
Could tell any fantasy player, whether they're a new person
or advanced, is really study up on the rules in
the format you're playing a game you're not trying to actually,
you know, play the real NFL. You know, so if
you start five wide receivers or have extra bonus points
for this and that, it can matter. But generally speaking,
the most common league chases the best player to take
this year at number one. He's just consistent, and you know,
(27:25):
the Bengals offense is highly charged. They also have a
bad defense. This means it's gonna be a lot of shootout.
So just you know, he's done it a lot, and
all the factors point positive for him, and he's the
safe and most reliable option, and you know, so take him.
Speaker 6 (27:37):
It's an ombrainger.
Speaker 4 (27:38):
Yeah, Damian Vanessa, I kind of panicked because I did
get the first pick of my draft. This year, and
I like stress panic Saquon Barkley, and I probably, I
know I should have picked a wide receiver. I mean,
what are your thoughts there up here on like in
running back versus wide receiver.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
First, well, that's not a terrible pick. Again, a lot
of it depends on the rules. But the thing about
the running backs is they have the most upside. They
catch the ball, they run the ball, they get the
ball at the end zone. If they're three down backs
like Barkley. So taking the running back early, you know, statistically,
if it works out, is the best choice you can make.
Speaker 6 (28:11):
The problem is they get hurt.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
And last year we saw an incredibly rare event where
there was not that many injuries among like the star
running backs. And so I think a lot of people
are drafting this year think that's going to happen again.
And there's some reasons to think that that might be
a trend that's going to happen a little bit because
NFL defenses are they're you know, they're they're not hitting
as hard, they're they're defending the pass lot more. So
maybe running backs are going to get injured at a
(28:34):
lower rate, you know, continued going forward, But Historically that
has not been the case. So you know, pick like
that is usually a big boom or bust, and that
might be the case.
Speaker 6 (28:41):
This year. Barkley had a tremendous workload.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
If you look at all the touches and carries he
goat both in the regular season and the postseason, it's
one of the highest numbers in NFL history. And generally
that's not a good sign for the next year because
they're you know, they're pretty worn out. So we'll see
what happens with him. He's obviously an amazing athlete that
could sort of break all those molds.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
In your expert opinion, having done this as long as
you have, if you were not a member of Road
to Wire, who would you be following? Who do you
believe is another provider of fantasy football information that you respect?
Speaker 5 (29:13):
Well?
Speaker 3 (29:13):
If I put my company hat on, it's hard for
me to say go anywhere else, right, but my industry
had on. I mean, there's a lot of good stuff
out there. I mean, most people who play fantasy sports
and buy a content product of any kind usually buy
on average, I think it's like two point two products.
So people like multiple points of view, and so that's
what we always say for Rodo war So, Matthew Berry,
(29:34):
he's you know at NBC, good friend of mine runs
runs a competitive website. But it's very good. You know,
but you want, you know, you want multiple opinions. You know,
you don't want to you don't want to just see
what he's saying. You know, you want to look around
and you know a lot of sites have pluses and minuses.
Our plus is that we have the real time information
that's updated twenty four to seven. It's what ESPN, Yahoo, DraftKings,
(29:57):
NFL dot com.
Speaker 6 (29:58):
They all rely on us.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
So when you go our website, in our app, this
new app that we just launched a football draftro to
our football Draft Cad app, you know the information is
going to be super fast. Everything's been updated. You know
you're never gonna take a guy that's injured. You know,
all the rankings are in real time. So and that's
big because when you're on the clock in the draft
and you've got thirty seconds, you know you can't.
Speaker 6 (30:18):
Be like this one up to date. Are you sure
this guy is the number three receiver?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I mean, for first, it was the ability to synk
your league into the website, right that came first, and
then it was the ability for that, you know, your
website to kind of you know, alongside your draft you know,
kind of have your little window up where it's kind
of feeding you, you know, here's the best pick, kind
of like we do when you have your draft simulator, right,
which is the other big thing. So you know, talk
to us about some of those innovations. What comes next
(30:44):
in the world of fantasy news, fantasy data, Like, what
are you guys working on? What's the new app look like?
What's special about it?
Speaker 7 (30:49):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (30:50):
So the real new app.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Everything's kind of moving too real time and you know,
effortly just getting the data set. Have to spend all
your time tracking your draft, which is being able to
analyze it more.
Speaker 6 (30:59):
And that's what our app does.
Speaker 9 (31:00):
It.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
It has live saying so if you're drafted in Yahoo
and some of the leagues, you know, it just clears
all the picks for you, has a recommendation for you
based on our algorithm, and then you're also able to
modify your draft strategy.
Speaker 6 (31:11):
That's more than just a cheat sheet.
Speaker 3 (31:12):
Here's a couple of sleepers I like, But you know,
what things do you want to focus on? Is it
you know, how consistent they are. Do you want to
avoid health risks? Do you want to take high upside
players in the later round? You can kind of build
this draft strategy and then based on that, we build
a cheat sheet for you, and then it all updates
in real time in our app and on our website,
(31:32):
so that when you're doing a draft, and say, for example, Yahoo,
you know the first twenty picks are up and you're
on the clock, you know you have boom our recommendation,
the updated list of everyone that's there, and you know
you can spend your time trying to figure out the
best pick coming up, as opposed to, you know, still
trying to catch up on crossing everybody off.
Speaker 7 (31:49):
Emerging fantasy football trends for this year, where do you
see it going? In general?
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Well, fantasy is doing really well.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I think before the overturn of PASPA for that enabled
states to have sports betting, and now there's thirty five
plus state states that have sports betting in some format,
there was this notion that well, that's it for fantasy sports.
I mean, you know, people only playing fantasy sports because
they couldn't do sports betting. But that hasn't been the case.
I mean, it's its own distinct product and it's different
(32:18):
than gambling. I've always maintained that and that's been true.
I mean, the bigger companies ESPN, Yahoo, they have the
big free platforms. They're sort of the driver of growth
in the industry. They're growing, you know, they're growing at
a good clip. I think you know ESPN and think
last year record growth, and so you've seen companies like
FanDuel and Drafting still have you know, good prize pools
(32:40):
for their DFS products, a lot of growth, and you
know here ro to Wire same thing, you know the
last you know, since then, we've we've still continued to
do great and obviously that's why we're investing order the products.
So the fantasy ecosystem is still you know, going very strong.
You know, people just start super enthusiastic about fantasy sports,
especially fantasy football, and it's fantasy football time, but you know,
all other kinds of sports too. I mean, we do
(33:02):
at rod to Wire about twenty five sports, depending how
you define it. You know, college football is a great
one that I like to play. We have a lot
of English Fremer League soccer. So this time of year,
all that stuff is doing great. And pretty soon we'll
have hockey and basketball as well.
Speaker 4 (33:15):
One of the things you know that is I'm curious
to hear from your take, is what you guys do
to bring in new fans who are kind of not
used to playing, Like I have a lot of friends
who play that really don't know anything about football. I'm
pretty new to it, like three or four years ago
I first started playing, and I was trying to, you know,
listen to as much as I could check out different platforms,
(33:38):
but a lot of it's like fully cooked information. You
have to be a very you know, a savant already
to kind of understand what people are already talking about
on these platforms. So what do you do for people
who are new to the space.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
I think one of the things we've really tried to
do with our new app is to really make make
it so the casual user isn't intimidated. Right, So if
you go in there and you low it in all
the presettings, it doesn't take that much time because you
can you kind of suck in everything from whatever site
you're on. If you're on ESPN or Yahoo or whatever,
you can import that league and then go through all
Like I talked about, all these recommendations and then it
kind of serves up advice to you.
Speaker 6 (34:11):
It's really easy for you to figure out.
Speaker 3 (34:13):
And I think that's been a way to sort of
as opposed to a way to help those have you know,
a more a newer user, newer player, and help them
on the path getting better, as opposed to having you know,
sort of just something really complicated that an advanced.
Speaker 6 (34:25):
User could use. And we have that too, but this
is really helping us there.
Speaker 3 (34:28):
And then we have a lot of series of articles
about how to play and how to get involved. You know,
those things are good, but yeah, I think you know,
it is kind of intimidating at first. But it's also
the great thing about fantasy sports and fantasy football in
general is that it doesn't take long to get to
be an expert. I mean, you don't have to get
a PhD and go through you know, three or four
years of training or something like that. You know, once
you start doing some drafts, especially mock drafts, like we
(34:50):
have the ability to do a lot of mock crafts
on our app and our new product, and it's much
improved and it really helps out a lot.
Speaker 6 (34:55):
You can just pick it up pretty quick.
Speaker 3 (34:56):
I mean people go from being total novices to somebody
that considered to be a fantasy football expert in like
a season or two. You know, so luckily it's pretty
easy to pick up.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
All right, Peter, it's go time talk to me about
the zero quarterback strategy here. I mean, c J. Stroud
isn't getting drafted in any league. You gotta be kidding me.
And then these tight ends. Look, I'm all for Brock
Bowers and you know, Trey McBride, but I mean, in
recent years you've seen Sam Laporta. These guys have disappointed man,
George Kittleedy get hurt. You know, like why, I mean,
talk to us. Where should tight ends go? You know,
(35:27):
where should you be looking at quarterbacks? I mean, what
do you like here?
Speaker 3 (35:31):
Well, it's here for like, generally speaking, I'm a weight
on the quarterback kind of guy. There's a lot of quarterbacks.
You can always usually pick up one up off the
waiver wire who's gonna have some productions, so you don't
have to be super secure there. Whereas you know, running
backs are usually pretty rare. You want to have all
those on your bench. And this year for quarterback it's
really flat. I mean there's just not a whole lot
of difference between you know, the fifth quarterback or sixth quarterback.
Speaker 6 (35:53):
And like the fifteenth one. I'm just waiting a whole lot.
Speaker 3 (35:56):
You know, you want to get you know, some of
the top guys, you know her, you know, you know
the guys who run you know, the running quarterbacks. You know,
there's really a big a big four you know, cut
quarterback quarterbacks there. But then after that it's just a
lot of the same. So I'm waiting on quarterback a
lot tight end. But you know, similar dynamic, there's a
couple at the.
Speaker 6 (36:13):
Top that are obviously really really good.
Speaker 3 (36:14):
There's two, you know two in particular, the brock Boers
and Trade McBride, and then after that, you know, it
falls off pretty rapidly. And the problem with tight end
is just like I talked about running back, they get injured,
you know, you know, they're out there and they're block
and they're taking hits. They get injured at higher rates
than wide receiver and stuff like that. But yeah, this
year depending on and that's tight end especially is one
you really need to read your rules and figure out
(36:35):
your format. If you have a format that rewards extra
points for tight end receptions, which is something the leagues
do try to make it so that those players are
more pertinent and then therefore your uh, there's more players
to pick up during the season that can make a
big difference. Or how many players you start, so somebod
these don't even start tight ends. It's just you just
have receivers, so that makes a big difference. But yeah,
(36:56):
so those top two tight ends you could take it early.
But generally this year, I think it's a great year.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Just wait, a quarterback, and who's your favorite sleeper running back?
And don't say I'm Maria and Hampton the stor well,
I mean he would be the kind of the one.
Speaker 6 (37:06):
He would be the one at the top.
Speaker 3 (37:08):
But there's a couple of The thing I really like
to do for sleeper running backs is to find a
team with a bunch of you know, kind of aging
veterans at the top and find who the rookie is
and take them late and see if you know. And
that's that's how you get just a real difference maker.
So Jaden Blue and Dallas this year, it's it's an
unsettled backfield. We think they're going to be an offense
that scores a lot you know has you know, because
(37:29):
their defense is not good. I think we're playing at
a fast pace and so he if he emerges, he
could be great. Byshelle Touton, I don't know if I'm
not saying his first name is great On Jacksonville. Uh,
you know, he's similarly, you know, another another unsettled backfield
with an offense that's got a lot of potential. You know,
those are two guys in particular. They are pretty good
if you want a super late one. I mean you
(37:50):
could say the same thing about Woodie Mark's in Houston.
Another unsettled backfield at Washington.
Speaker 2 (37:56):
I mean he's flying up the board.
Speaker 3 (37:57):
Yeah, he's another one. He's got a little expensive because
everyone's like all excited about him, and he's similarly there.
You know, I don't know if he has you know,
quite maybe the where he's going to get all the work,
but he could be a phenomenal talent and sort of
take a takeover there. So that's another one as well.
Those are the kind of players that I like to
make sure that I have on my bench.
Speaker 7 (38:14):
Our thanks to Peter Shanky for joining us. He's founder
and president of roto Wire, and that does it for
this edition of The Bloomberg Business of Sports. For Damian
Sasaur and Vanessa Berdomo, I'm Michael Barr. Tune in again
next week for the latest on the stories moving big
old money in the world of sports, and don't forget
to catch our podcast on all your podcast platforms. You're
(38:36):
listening to The Bloomberg Business of Sports from Bloomberg Radio
around the world.
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