Broken News - Olbermann a Game-Changer at ESPN

Late night television is awfully crowded. David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Jay Leno, Jimmy Fallon, Craig Ferguson, Conan O'Brien, Arsenio Hall (again), soon-to-be Seth Meyers, and those are just the hosts!  There is probably an awful reality show or 100.  If you're a food fan, there are re-runs of Diners Drive-Ins and Dives.  There are Law and Order re-runs and Shawshank Redemption is probably playing somewhere.

For sports fans, though, options are relatively limited. There is always SportsCenter and other watered-down highlight shows and, if you're lucky, a game that is running inexplicably late.


Now, and for the two weeks leading up until now, Keith Olbermann has been able to fill the void left for sports fans. The former SportsCenter anchor that left Bristol in the most unceremonious of ways is back with the network and heading his own late night show on ESPN2 aptly named Olbermann.  The show debuted to 317,000 viewers on August 27th.

Olbermann is undoubtedly one of the polarizing figures in the media.  Some people refuse to watch him because of his time in politics with MSNBC and Current.  Some people simply cannot stand his personality.  Then again, some people could care less and just love the snark and nostalgia of the days of SportsCenter past.

There is one thing, however, that Olbermann has never lacked, and that's honesty.  Brutal honesty.  The kind that makes a made figure so polarizing.  He will always say what is on his mind, and, in this media climate that is dominated by public relations and "no comments," that kind of honesty is incredibly refreshing.  So refreshing, in fact, that it is becoming more and more obvious that ESPN needs Olbermann.

Remember his exit from the network way back 16 long years ago?  He was painted as the bad guy.  His pursuit of "hard news" during his time in politics with his honest attitude to boot?  Further painted him as the bad guy.

Then consider that ESPN has a brand to protect.  One large $40 billion brand.  They are the PR dog in the fight.  Maybe they want to investigate further into head trauma in football and the NFL.  Maybe they want to stop calling the football team in Washington by their racist nickname.  Maybe they want to call the NCAA immoral, monopolistic money grubbing corporate suits.

ESPN cannot say any of that.  But Olbermann can.

Olbermann is safe from ESPN's PR.  Why?  Because Olbermann is a classic case that goes something like ESPN can tout him when he does well, but if things go wrong -- and things almost always go wrong at some point when Olbermann is around -- ESPN can simply blame Olbermann for Olbermann and remove themselves from harm's way unscathed.

It's that exact kind of media magic that allows Olbermann (and ESPN by association) to blast CBS Sports columnist Pete Prisco for a column that said the players that settled with the NFL in the concussion lawsuit were only in it for the cash grab.  It also allows him to blast a writer at the New York Daily News for sourcing his own tweet in a story about the New York Jets.  Olbermann can lay how he really feels out on the line more so than just about any other personality at ESPN.  And he can do it without repercussion.  Even the seemingly invincible Bill Simmons has been suspended for some rather inconsequential tweets.

The fact that Olbermann has been painted as the bad guy (which he very well could have been, but that's irrelevant to this case) has actually aided him in his return to Bristol New York.  For now he is benefiting from the ability to be honest and tell the viewers how he really feels.  Now, Keith Olbermann's Olbermann is making noise in the crowded late night television space.

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Best of Olbermann (so far...):

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

Scoring a Ticket to the Super Bowl

On February 2nd, MetLife Stadium will host the Super Bowl. It would be no surprise that ticket prices for the game in New York would be more expensive than past Super Bowl's simply because it is in New York.

ESPN's Darren Rovell wrote an article detailing the prices that are being discussed for suites in MetLife for the Super Bowl that I could not believe. One big factor that makes suites more valuable in MetLife than in other typical Super Bowl destinations is the potential for bad weather. The game will be held in early February in the northeast part of the country, it would be no surprise for the game to feature adverse winter conditions.

In a typical Super Bowl, the best suite available can be bought for $175,000. This season's Super Bowl in MetLife has suites listed as high as $945,992 on a ticket buying website. That price can buy you a suite that can hold up to thirty people and provides food and an open bar.

For the average fan that will not be going to the Super Bowl in a suite, a ticket to the game will still certainly not be cheap. The face value for the tickets have not been released yet, but as a comparison last years ticket pricing in New Orleans ranged from $850 to $1,250. A number that can be better predicted is the number of tickets that will be sold for the game.

MetLife can hold 82,500, but typically a Super Bowl will make that capacity less due to the need for cameras and media. With this in mind, the breakdown for the ticket distribution is interesting. The National Football league will have roughly 20,000 tickets. The New York Giant and the New York Jets will each receive about 2,500 tickets, the AFC and NFC champions will each receive about 14,000, and the remaining teams will each get about 1,000 tickets. The NFL also reserves about 500 tickets for the general public lottery.

Final Thought
Although the NFL season just started, the Super Bowl is already being talked about. I expect ticket prices to be much higher than normal when they are released. The face value of the tickets end up meaning very little. I will be interested to see what the prices are on the secondary ticket market.

@dmrosen7

Dollars & Sense - The Man Behind The Winning Pirates

How bad is your favorite team? Maybe they are really bad or, if you are lucky, maybe they are really good. They could also fall somewhere in the middle – like toiling between the eighth and ninth spot of the NBA playoffs every year middle – but fans are too emotional to ever admit being in the middle.

For years the Pittsburgh Pirates were one of those teams that were really bad. Really, really bad. Just ask Bryan Fyalkowski who used to write the Route 30 Detour for us. A tortured Pirates fans for all of his years on earth, the years of losing certainly got to him.

espn.com

But now, as of this very week, the Pirates are winners. After 20 straight losing seasons, the beloved Buccos have reached 81 wins meaning that no matter what they do the rest of the way they will finish .500. Just talk to a Pirates fan and you will see what it feels like to get a monkey the size of an entire city off your back.

The greatest news of all is that the Pirates have the framework in place to keep winning. Last year looking like the year that they were finally going to do it until a wretched final month and a half of the season derailed their chances. This season they finally did it, and they can do it again going forward.

At the core of the Pirate’s recent success is All-Star outfielder Andrew McCutchen. McCutchen is only 26-years-old and is working off of one the most team-friendly contract in all of baseball after signing a6-year $51.5 million extension prior to last season. “Cutch” has also been able to keep his name in the National League Most Valuable Player discussion for the last two years, going for 31 home runs, 96 RBI, and a .327 average last year followed by 18 home runs, 75 RBI, and a .320 average through 135 games this season.

Even though he plays in Pittsburgh, McCutchen is marketable as well. He has a notable endorsement with EvoShield, a company that makes protective athletic gear such as McCutchen’s shin guard. He is most known, though, for his appearance on the cover of the popular video game MLB 2013 The Show.

Most importantly, in this day and age when the actions of athletes are often overblown, McCutchen has managed to stay away from it all. Keeping a clean image in the current social media ultra-microscopic climate is essential and something that McCutchen recognizes which helps to boost his approval amongst fans and endorsers alike.

It is difficult for an MVP caliber player on-the-field to be just as effective off-the-field, but McCutchen is doing just that. Now that the Pirates have broken the 20-pluc year curse, McCutchen’s marketability will continue to climb and he will continue to put Pittsburgh on the baseball map.

Follow Kevin Rossi on Twitter @kevin_rossi.

Money Behind the FedExCup

In 2007 the PGA Tour implemented the FedExCup. The FedExCup takes place throughout the entire golf season and concludes with the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The playoff system consist of four different tournaments in which the number of golfers participating in the tournament is decreased after each tournament. The cuts are made after each playoff tournament based on a points standing.

This season's FedExCup Playoff started with the Barclays in which the top 125 players were entered into the tournament. After the Barclays, only the top 100 players advanced to the Deutsche Bank Championship. The third stop for the playoffs is the BMW Championship, only the top 70 players will be invited to play. After the BMW, the top 30 players will compete for the Tour Championship by Coca-Cola in Atlanta.

The players are not just competing for the pride of being named the FedExCup Champion. The four playoff tournaments will offer a purse of $8 million each for a combined $32 million in prize money. Although the purse money for the tournament is quite lucrative, the most potential money to be gained is through bonus money.

The PGA Tour offers $35 million of bonus money for the top 125 players in the FedExCup standings. The winner of the FedExCup will receive $10 million. Second place will receive $3 million and third place gets $2 million. The winnings trickle down to 125th place who receives $70,000.

Final Thought
The FedExCup Playoff has been a big success since its implementation in 2007. Once the four majors in golf are complete, it is difficult to get the big name players to want to continue and compete. The FedExCup Playoff has made golf meaningful well into September. As a golf fan, it is a great to have the golf season extended for the players I enjoy watching. The players are now starting to view the FedExCup not only as a way to earn more money, but as a tournament that they want to compete in and win.

@dmrosen7