By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
I
don’t envy commissioner Rob Manfred and his fellow MLB decision-makers, trying
to make baseball more appealing to younger fans while not alienating older fans.
The
goals appear diametrically opposed at times.
Even
developments like live streaming – intended to make games more accessible – can
move the needle in opposite directions for the demographic groups. For instance, take Wednesday afternoon at
Nationals Park, when the Mets and Nats played the rubber match of a three-game
series.
Washington
was still abuzz over the seven-runs-in-the-ninth-inning comeback victory Tuesday
night. But residents hungry for more were sorely disappointed when they tuned their
TVs to Mid-Atlantic Sports Network Wednesday afternoon. They expected to find the
usual fare when the Nats play: Dan Kolko and Bo Porter on the pregame show, and
Bob Carpenter, F.P. Santangelo and Alex Chappell on the broadcast.
Instead,
the local baseball fans were treated to drag racing, the Lucas Oil NHRA
Nationals.
Turns
out that Mets-Nats was on YouTube, which earlier this year expanded its MLB
partnership to include an exclusive 13-game streaming deal. The slate began July
18 with a Phillies-Dodgers contest and has included one game in each week
since.
By DERON SNYDER (as published in The Washington Times)
Mike
Locksley passed his first big test as Maryland’s head football coach: He didn’t
get UNLV’d.
The
Terrapins played host to Howard over the weekend and pounded the visitors in a 79-0
season-opening rout. UNLV likely anticipated a similar breeze when it hosted
Howard in Week 1 two years ago. Instead, the Bison pulled off a historic, 43-40
upset that garnered national attention and helped freshman quarterback Caylin
Newtown emerge from his older brother’s shadow.
As
if losing to a 45-point underdog wasn’t enough humiliation, UNLV also cut a $600,000
check for Howard’s troubles. Conversely, Maryland paid the Bison only $350,000 to
make their 25-minute commute from D.C.
Both
of those “guarantee” games amount to peanuts in college football’s grand scheme.
USA Today, in a recently published rundown of appearance fees for more than 250
games involving at least one Football Bowl Subdivision school this season, reports
that $150 million will change hands.
Some
of those games involve one FBS school against another, ostensibly fair matchups
like Oregon-Auburn ($3.5 million apiece from the promoter) and California at
Mississippi ($450,000 to the visitors). But other contests are pure “payday”
games, in which FBS schools invite Football Championship Subdivision foes to
campus for an expected drubbing.
No
other Week 1 tilt was as spectacularly lopsided as Maryland-Howard, but some honorable
mentions are in order.
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