NFL Draft viewership (over 3 days) finished around 3% lower after a strong Thursday start.

5.7 million viewers across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, NFL Network. 5.9 million last year (number could rise a little with some NFL digital numbers tossed in)

Very subjective, but mine:

Family Guy
South Park
Big Mouth
Robot Chicken

Adds of Rob McElhenney and Ryan Reynolds as investors gives even more star power to Mexican team ClubNecaxa (English) ⚡️🇺🇲 (also nice for any docu-series). Other investors:

🔲 Victor Oladipo
🔲 Rip Hamilton
🔲 Eva Longoria Baston
🔲 Mesut Ozil
🔲 Justin Verlander
🔲 Kate Upton
🔲 Shawn Marion

Dilworth Grille finally getting some national love

Occasionally, I just need to be reminded about how awesome a TV talent Booger is.

'Five Good Minutes' Wednesday on PTI was one of those times.

The NHL’s opening weekend of the Stanley Cup Playoffs (six games) averaged 1.03 million viewers (Saturday and Sunday) across ESPN, ESPN2, TBS and truTV.

Well above what the league got with a Mon./Tues start in 2023.

Number goes to 2.62 million when Canada numbers added.

On this week's Sports Business Journal Sports Media Podcast, I break down the NBA with Stan Van Gundy and talk all things NFL Draft with ESPN's Tim Reed:

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tnt…

Missouri has officially announced Laird Veatch will be its new athletic director.

Veatch comes to Mizzou from Memphis and worked in CoMo between 1997-2002 in athletics and from 2003-2006 as GM of Mizzou Sports Properties (Learfield)

A little Michigan Football vs. Ohio State Football nugget:

Fox drew just 505,000 viewers on Saturday afternoon for the Maize & Blue spring game in Ann Arbor.

That's 23% lower than the Ohio State spring game last week on Fox (660,000)

NEWS: Sources tell Sports Business Journal that @ESPN and NBA on TNT both have the right to match an offer on any media rights package struck by a new party (i.e. Prime Video, Peacock/NBC Sports).

This could be for streaming or linear TV.

sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/…

FIFA Club World Cup behind the Apple TV+ paywall?

A longtime/big-time sports marketing exec weighs in....

Everyone has a favorite moment from MSG !

Worst. Kept. Secret. #WCOS2024

'Paris is quite the playground to sent Snoop on the loose'

With today being 100 days out from the Paris Olympics, NBC Olympics & Paralympics lead producer Molly Solomon talked to me about why (and how) the network added Snoop Dogg to its coverage

On social media the WNBA and teams shattered last year's #WNBA Draft numbers:
🏀 5.6x more impressions
🏀 6.6x more engagement
🏀 6.4x more social value

What a night for the #WNBA and its next generation of stars!

Talk about Netflix bringing in a new audience.

NASCAR COO Steve O'Donnell noted that 88% of viewers who watched the recent 'Full Speed' docu-series on Netflix did not watch the Cup Series' championship race from Phoenix in 2023.

#WCOS2024

We're on the doorstep of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Really loved breaking down all things NHL with P.K. Subban on the pod this week.

Mark Donovan, president of the @chiefs, opens up Day 2 of the CAA World Congress of Sports noting that in an effort to be respectful to Travis Kelce this past NFL season, the team did not play a single Taylor Swift song during home games at Arrowhead Stadium. #WCOS2024

WNBA Draft content also racked up record engagement across ESPN Social channels:
🏀18.7 million fan interactions
🏀 1,164% YOY