We love listening and learning from those just starting the journey, and this summer one of our interns, James Gumina, a student at Yale who has launched the school’s sports business club, has volunteered to give us his thoughts on what he is watching, following and engaging with. Take it away James.
As a young person in an age of limitless information, there are always a lot of things on my mind, mostly sports-related, and often focused on what’s happening off the field. From marketing campaigns to broadcasts to business strategy. So, to clear some space, here are a few things from this week (and one from earlier) that have stuck with me more than most. Whether you’re in the business, a media nerd, or someone who can’t stop thinking about how the game is packaged, I hope something here sticks with you, too.
Baseball Broadcasts, regional versus national
The local broadcast is one of the joys of the lengthy baseball season for any fan. Every year, there are heated debates and contested polls about which commentary team is the best. Is it the Padres? The Yankees? The Dodgers? One thing that rarely finds itself under the microscope of these discussions is the production and direction of the broadcast itself, probably because most tend to look the same. There are occasional differences, like the Mariners’ famous SkyCam. But for the most part, the broadcasts blend together. Except for one. The Mets’ broadcast on SNY, directed by John DeMarsico, stands head and shoulders above the rest. Seemingly every night, the Mets’ broadcast has a shot go viral on social media (check out John’s X account). Their games are instantly identifiable for their cinematography, which sounds almost ridiculous to say about a baseball game. Yet John and the SNY team have made that a reality over the past few seasons. You would think that artistic slant might distract from the action, missing key plays while chasing the perfect shot, yet that never seems to be the case. These moments are integrated throughout the broadcast, sprinkled in here and there, just enough to make you point at your TV, improving the experience, but not changing it. It’s not just about pleasing cinephiles or going viral; this creativity is showing up in the ratings. A combo of SNY’s brilliance, a competitive team, and a great broadcast booth saw Mets viewership on SNY jump in April. For a sport that has well-publicized issues marketing to new fans, any win at the margins helps, and the SNY broadcast is winning more than any other.
On the other hand, there is ESPN’s broadcast of Sunday Night Baseball. A program that, for 36 years, was a cornerstone of the MLB regular season. In years past, with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan, the broadcast was hailed as one of the best in sports, every Sunday boasting a big event feel, despite being only 0.6% of a team’s season. In the wake of ESPN and Major League Baseball agreeing to end their broadcast partnership after 2025, the spectacle of the games has felt largely diminished. This is not a new trend; MLB cited the network’s lack of baseball coverage as one of the motivating factors behind the split, yet this year has felt particularly barren. The real issue? A lack of vision. Regional networks, like SNY, treat the game and broadcast with more reverence and respect, making for a more engaging and appealing product. The frustrating thing from a league perspective is that ESPN has the tools to make a great broadcast. Look no further than their exceptional coverage of the College Baseball World Series. This year, ESPN incorporated Squeeze Play, an NFL Redzone-like hop-around broadcast that made Regionals weekend a treat to watch. ESPN knows how to produce a compelling broadcast, yet when it comes to MLB, they don’t see it as worth the effort.
Yet another win for women’s sports
In what, hopefully, will come as a surprise to no one, women’s sports broke another viewership record this past weekend. The Women’s College World Series, between Texas and Texas Tech, saw upwards of 2 million viewers for each of its three games and broke numerous records for NCAA softball viewership. And wasn’t just big for college softball; it was a big, period. Game three topped the viewers who tuned into the F1 Miami Grand Prix (ABC) and day one of the Masters (ESPN). This pull should be no surprise to sports fans, as nearly all women’s sports are on the rise in the United States. Women’s leagues, like the WNBA and the NWSL, are hitting their stride, and seeing the publicity, popularity, and investment that goes with that. Forbes recently ran a terrific piece on Michele Kang that dives into the reasons behind this investment and shows why it will not be stopping anytime soon. Networks are taking note, WNBA games now regularly land national broadcasts, and like the WCWS, they’re smashing records and raising the bar for women’s sports and sports overall.
Purpose-driven, organic marketing
Something a little more under the radar, unless you are an avid runner, was the recent BPN (Bare Performance Nutrition) Go One More (G.1.M) backyard ultramarathon. This type of race involves running a 4.2-mile loop on the hour, every hour, until only one person remains. BPN, a performance nutrition and supplementation brand, organized the race for a field of over 125 athletes. The event lasted 56 hours, with the final two runners logging over 230 miles each (the only thing that stopped them was an incoming thunderstorm). As a casual runner, I had heard of the brand BPN before, but did not follow any of their pages. For over 50 hours, and throughout the days after, my feeds were flooded with race content. The BPN Instagram account would go live every hour to broadcast the end of each loop, eclipsing 15 thousand viewers nearly every hour. Despite never having heard of these athletes before, and never having bought any BPN products, I, along with thousands of other people, was completely sucked into the event. Outside of simply being a cool story, it shows the power of mission-focused marketing. For a performance nutrition brand, an ultra-endurance event makes perfect sense and organically attracts a whole new audience already interested in the vertical. The G.1.M. race made me a fan of the athletes and the brand, in the process showcasing a masterclass in how to reach a younger audience through story-driven marketing.
Things I found interesting: NHL Stanley Cup promo, MLB partnering with Jomboy Media, FIFA Club World Cup ( + Grass at MetLife), The Athletic MLB player poll.
Great stuff James…lots to learn and dive into!
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