News: Scheffler story, rights fees, NBA matching rights

Golf Channel says it was mum on Scottie Scheffler’s pre-round arrest due to contractual limitations. Plus: price tags on recent sports media deals and an update on the NBA bidding war and Warner Bros. Discovery’s matching rights.

NBC: Golf Channel skipped Scheffler story due to contractual limits

NBC Sports said Friday that Golf Channel refrained from reporting on #1-ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler’s arrest at the PGA Championship earlier that morning because the network is contractually unable to provide live coverage from the tournament during play, according to Josh Carpenter of Sports Business Journal. Scheffler was arrested as he tried to enter the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville during a traffic stoppage triggered by a fatal accident. His arrest was the dominant sports story of the morning, but Golf Channel stayed with pre-taped programming.

Golf Channel also had “no talent or production employees in place” at its Stamford, Conn., studios, per the report.

Netflix reportedly paying $70-80 million per game for Christmas slate

Netflix is paying $70-80 million per game for the three-year package of Christmas Day NFL games it acquired this week, John Ourand of Puck reported Thursday. The combined price tag of $140-$160 million for this year’s doubleheader is on par with what Amazon is paying for its Wild Card weekend game and exceeds the Amazon Black Friday regular season contest. Netflix also has at least one Christmas game in the two subsequent seasons as part of the deal.

In other recent media rights news, Roku is paying an average of $10 million per year — $8 million this year, $10 million next and $12 million in 2026 — for its package of Sunday morning Major League Baseball games, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic, down from the $30 million/year Comcast previously paid for the rights. Previous reporting by Andrew Marchand of The Athletic indicated that Comcast wanted to cut its rights fee to the same $10 million mark. It is not clear what other aspects of Comcast’s bid would have made Roku a better option.

Extent of WBD’s NBA matching rights remains unclear

The NBA and Warner Bros. Discovery are said to be “poring over legal language” regarding the ability of WBD to match third party bids for NBA rights, according to Alex Sherman of CNBC. Comcast is bidding $2.5 billion/year for the rights package currently owned by WBD, and the key point of contention at the moment is whether WBD will be able to match that offer simply by paying the same price.

The NBA’s belief, per prior reporting, is that WBD cannot match on price alone and must also offer to air games on comparable platforms — an impossibility given that Comcast plans to air the NBA on its broadcast network (NBC), a platform WBD does not have. The contractual language surrounding WBD’s matching rights is said to be vague, and it is unclear whether the NBA has sufficient ability to reject a match offered by WBD.

According to John Ourand of Puck, Comcast has yet to put forward an official bid that would trigger WBD’s ability to match. In addition, Ourand reported earlier this week that WBD is not believed to have matching rights for the other third party bid being offered, Amazon’s $1.8 billion/year offer for a new, tertiary package of games.