ESPN To Announce Five-Year Media Rights Extension With PBA

[DLP]

Interesting...

Saw this over on Storm's FB wall. Anyone know how this will play into what CBS Sports has going?

http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Morning-Buzz/2013/06/24/ESPN-PBA.aspx

[billf]

Evidently the deal with CBSSports was just for the rest of this calendar year. Maybe ESPN called the PBA's bluff so they went and found a new partner for the summer.

[RoccoRock]

Yes!!! Not that I don't like CBS Sports coverage, or like ESPN's coverage that much, but at least ESPN is in HD, and is part of my cable package. ESPN draws in viewers who normally would't watch bowling. A buddy of mine told me about the Opie and Anthony show, and how Anthony caught some of the TOC. He talked about Belmo, and how cool his style was. They were complimentary, which is surprising coming from those two. They said they liked the Jerseys the bowlers wear, and it was cool to watch. They wouldn't go out of there way to find bowling on TV, but if it was on they would watch. Love them or hate them, they are very popular. If they say something is cool, they have a big loyal fan base who would check it out. If bowling stayed on CBS sports, it would virtually vanish from the general public's eye. Being on ESPN gives it more visibility.

[GoodGravy]

This is good news....nothing against CBS, but lets face it, ESPN is where the market is.

[Zothen]

I thought the PBA had multi year deal with the CBS Sport network? Sounds like the winter might be ESPN and summer might be CBS Sports? Anyone know how this will work out or did PBA get out of the their multi year contract with CBS?


Zothen

[DLP]

Ya, Zothen. I'm not sure. It looks like its an extension of a deal they already have. More info is here:

http://news.pba.com/post/2013/6/24/ESPN-and-the-Professional-Bowlers-Association-Sign-Five-Year-Deal.aspx

It looks like the whole PBA League thing has really kicked it off well for the sport!

[got_a_300]

It seems to me they are talking more about the PBA League
coverage than anything else maybe ESPN seen that they shot
themselves in the foot after CBS Sports took over PBA coverage.

Yeah it will be nice if ESPN takes over all coverage of PBA events
like it used to be then I can drop my subscription to the sports
package from the cable company and save $10.00 a month that's
saving almost enough for a new bowling ball every year. :p

[RoccoRock]

I would bet that when the PBA made the deal with CBS they put in a clause that if they extended the deal with ESPN then the CBS deal would be void. Either that, or the CBS deal is just for the summer series every year.