The power of sports programming; Where will the NFL land if it needs a neutral site championship game location? Who could be suitors for WWE?
Nominations for the 2023 Sports Business Awards will close on Monday, January 23rd in just two weeks. It's the biggest honor in the sports business. Nominees will be announced on March 13th. To submit your nomination today, visit www sports slash business slash awards.com. And this is your morning Buzz cast for Monday, January 9th. Good morning. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. After a very emotional NFL football weekend, today will mark a return to business as Black Monday is sure to see dismissals across the NFL. The first one happened Sunday night as the Houston Texans fired coach Lovey Smith just hours after the team finished three 13 and one in his first season. So CEO Cal McNair and General Manager Nick Caserio, who haven't exactly had a good run of their own, are now looking at the coaching market again as the Texans have now fired back to back coaches after just one year, having fired David Culley last January, the Texans now begin their search for their fourth head coach in four seasons. That is not a sign of stability.
You also have interim head coaches in Denver, in Carolina, in Indianapolis. There are certainly questions about Cliff Kingsbury's future in Arizona, Sean McVay's in LA, and some other markets worth keeping your eye on. So the next 24 hours always amount to a very dizzying run of moves as NFL owners seek better days ahead. Let's move on. If you keep one story in Sports Business Journal all year, make it the one that's running today about the value of sports programming. It shows that sports is by far the most valuable programming on television. It's why all the networks continue to pay more and more for sports rights and new data by SBJ's Austin Carp shows just how strong sports programming was in 2022.
And all this comes at a time when the entertainment industry faces one challenge after another with attracting viewers to scripted programming. Sports continues to roll. The NFL and college football continue to draw the most viewers of any form of programming as viewers watched sports in record numbers last year. Overall sports programming accounted for 94 of the 100 most watched telecasts for the year. 94. Now that was down just one from last year, but up from 75 during 2020 and from 92 in 2019. Just think of that, 94 of the top 100 most watched shows of the year were sports and the NFL put a record number of telecasts in the top 100. A stunning 82 games cracked the top 100 in 2023. That's up from 75 and 2021, 72 in 2020 and 78 in 2019. It shows the strength of the NFL.
Also another sport growing in strength, college football. That was number two in terms of sports in the top 100 with five games. Also, it was not a banner year for the Olympics as the games had a record low number of telecasts in the top 122 with only two nights from the Beijing Winter games making the top 100. For comparison, say four years ago the Winter Games had 12 nights in the top 10 and 2021, the Tokyo Summer Games had 11 nights in the top 10, but from Beijing, only two cracked the list. There were a couple of outliers. The FIFA World Cup and March Madness joined the Olympics with two telecasts apiece. The other outlier, the Kentucky Derby, which returned to the top 100 for the first time since 2019. Again, this is a cut and keep chart. You really want to keep this data handy because again, it shows the value of sports programming and drawing viewers in 2022.
Let's move on, wild card weekend is set with six games next weekend. You have two on Saturday, three on Sunday, and one on Monday night with Cowboys, Bucks. Now that NFL owners have approved a neutral site, if the Chiefs or Bengals host the AFC Championship game, they have to find a location. I initially thought Indianapolis would be the choice. It's in a dome, it's in a very central location, but the city cannot host the AFC Championship game at Lucas Oil Stadium on either January 28th or 29th. The city has already scheduled to host the Central Zone Invitational, a national volleyball tournament that is expected to draw as many as 30,000 people downtown. So if Indianapolis is out of the mix, it's unclear where the championship game will take place. Some mention Detroit, some mention New Orleans, but the NFL is reportedly even considering an outdoor venue since the top three seeds, Kansas City, Buffalo and Cincinnati all play outdoors.
But overall, this is a story worth watching. The potential for a neutral site AFC championship game would certainly be something new, different, and a lot of logistics and scheduling would come into play. The CFP championship game is tonight from SoFi Stadium, 7:30 on ESPN and a little bit of a twist, listen for a new theme song to ESPN's coverage as legendary composer John Williams, who of course is behind Star Wars and wrote the great theme to NBC's Sunday Night Football has written an original theme track for ESPN's title game. It'll play tonight at 7:30. The three and a half minute track is called Of Grit and Glory, and the theme will be heard throughout tonight's game. So count me as among those looking forward to hearing what John Williams has developed for the CFP Championship game.
One story we hinted about on Friday's Buzz Cast as the potential sale of the WWE. The WWE has reportedly hired JP Morgan to help the company advise on a potential sale. This comes after Vince McMahon has returned to the WWE Board of Directors. A CNBC report states that if a deal for the WWE does take place, it'll likely occur in the next three to six months. And the WWE plans to talk to potential buyers before it makes a decision on its TV Renewal Rights agreements, remember their rights are up and those will be big media rights deals. The WWE has a market cap of more than 6 billion dollars. As of today, the WWE has a market cap of more than 6 billion, and the shares for the company hit its highest stock price in three years on Friday as investors were very bullish about a potential sale. So the companies that are in the mix the most in terms of sources I speak with, who would be interested in buying the WWE, two always come to mind.
Comcast comes to mind and Endeavor comes to mind. Endeavor could pair the WWE with the UFC, but other suitors could be Fox, Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery, Netflix and Amazon. So a lot of interest, a of potential interest in the potential sale of the WWE. This is a story you certainly want to keep your eyes on. And finally we'll end the buzz cast on talent. NBC has signed Todd Blackledge from ESPN and he will be paired with Noah Eagle for NBC's upcoming Saturday night primetime Big 10 football package. Todd Blackledge, he is a veteran around college football. He has been at both CBS and ESPN before joining NBC. Meanwhile, Maria Taylor, who of course is the host of NBC's Football Night in America, will also lead the studio duties for NBC's new Big 10 coverage. So NBC's Big 10 talent lineup coming into focus.
Meanwhile, after 13 years at ESPN Taylor Twellman, who has been one of the leading soccer voices on ESPN is leaving the network. While he said he was offered a new contract to stay at ESPN, he said it was his decision to move on. It's unsure what his next move will be, but he's very well regarded, one of the leading soccer voices in America. The New York Post reports that one logical destination for him would be Apple TV, which of course will broadcast all MLS games beginning this spring. So Taylor Twellman leaving ESPN after nearly 13 years. And that is your morning Buzz Cast for Monday, January 9th. I'm Abe Madkour. Thanks for listening to the Buzz Cast. Please spread the word on the Buzz Cast to your friends and others who may enjoy it. Also, enjoy tonight's CFP title game on ESPN. Stay healthy, be good to each other. I'll speak to you tomorrow.