Building off the network’s Super Bowl LIII broadcast in February, CBS Sports will expand the use of augmented reality and deploy more high-speed cameras for its NFL coverage this fall.
What remains to be seen is whether CBS will revamp its policy on sports betting. The NFL announced a broad betting data partnership with Sportradar on Monday, and 18 states either already have legal sports betting or have passed legislation that is awaiting enactment. CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus said in the prelude to last season’s Super Bowl that “our policy is we don’t discuss gambling information.” On Tuesday, he signaled a softening of that hard line.
“We’re still talking about it,” McManus says. “We have not formulated our plan yet, but it’s under discussion and we’ll have a plan, obviously, by opening day.”
CBS debuted some on-field AR graphics at the Super Bowl, but executive producer Harold Bryant says new implementations will be within the domain of the studio. “We still want to explore that space and that technology to see how it can enhance our coverage,” he says. “The best place for us to learn about it, to demo it, and then to apply it is in the studio.”
Bryant says there’s no specific plan to use AR for X’s & O’s analysis or other graphical elements. It’s an open invitation for his team to suggest use cases. “The door is open to anything our artists and our producers and designers can come up with,” he says. “Even our announcers—if there’s something they want to do, we’re going to figure it out. We’re going to grow with the technology and use it as much as we can as the season goes along.”
While CBS Sports has no plans for a dedicated 4K Ultra HD broadcast during the regular season, Bryant says the network has still not decided on a postseason plan. Most regular-season games will have more high-speed cameras incorporated into the feed in order to enhance replays. “Adding the super slo-mo is what fans want to see,” Bryant says. “It’s to help tell the story—slow it down, see those fabulous catches, those moves out in the field, crossing the goal line.”
NBC had originally been slated to broadcast Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7, 2021 with CBS taking Super Bowl LVI on Feb. 6, 2022, but in March, the networks agreed to a swap. NBC was motivated to have the Super Bowl in the same season as the 2022 Winter Olympics; CBS was content not to compete against Olympics coverage that month.
The trade broke the typical three-year cycle of Super Bowl broadcasts (with Fox Sports also in the rotation) and reduced the downtime between games for CBS, which has already begun preliminary preparations for Super Bowl LV in 18 months. “We’ve already had our first in-house planning meeting, and we’re going to meet with the NFL, the organizing committee and survey the stadium this fall,” Bryant says.
That was the same timeline CBS Sports followed prior to the most recent Super Bowl, with Bryant making an open call to tech companies to experiment with innovations well in advance of kickoff. He made as many as 10 site visits to Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium to scout locations and plan logistics.
The 2021 Super Bowl will be played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. CBS has produced a Super Bowl there before—but it was Super Bowl XXXV way back on Jan. 28, 2001.
Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NFL. Show all posts
August 14, 2019
August 26, 2015
The NFL's hypocritical stance on fantasy football and gambling
The NFL says it strongly opposes gambling. In the past year alone, the league successfully sued the state of New Jersey to prevent it from legalizing sports betting, and forced Tony Romo and several other players to cancel their appearances at a Las Vegas conference because it was held at a convention center owned by a casino.
The irony, though, is that the conference was about fantasy football: an ultra-popular game that involves wagering real money based on what occurs on the football field. Some legal scholars argue that fantasy is gambling, but the NFL actively promotes it — its problem with Romo's conference was the locale.
Nearly a decade ago, the NFL — along with other pro sports leagues — carefully carved out an exception for fantasy sports in a congressional anti-gambling law. Today, it hosts fantasy games on its website and hawks them in commercials that play constantly during its games.
The reason is simple: Fantasy drives ratings and, in doing so, makes the NFL a ton of money. But as daily fantasy sports explode in popularity and blur the line between fantasy and gambling, the league's position is becoming less and less tenable.
Even though several of the NFL's founding owners had made their fortunes through gambling-related activities, the league opposed it nearly from the start, largely because of the fear that it could lead to match-fixing. In the '40s and '60s, it suspended several players for betting on games, and in 1976 it unsuccessfully sued the state of Delaware to block the state's sports lottery.
Afraid of such activities spreading from state to state, in 1992, then-NFLCommissioner Paul Tagliabue successfully lobbied Congress to pass a law that prohibited gambling on sports anywhere that it hadn't already been legalized. "It is a matter of integrity," Tagliabue said at the time. "It is a matter of the character of our games, of the character of our fans, and a matter of values."
Over the next decade, though, something new came along: fantasy sports.
The basic idea — assembling imaginary teams of players that compete on the basis of their individual real statistics over the course of a whole season — was first developed in the '50s, and for decades, fantasy baseball was the most commonly played. But fantasy football's popularity exploded once computers allowed for automatic stat tracking, and especially after 1999, when Yahoo became the first major site to host leagues for free.
Nearly a decade ago, the NFL — along with other pro sports leagues — carefully carved out an exception for fantasy sports in a congressional anti-gambling law. Today, it hosts fantasy games on its website and hawks them in commercials that play constantly during its games.
The reason is simple: Fantasy drives ratings and, in doing so, makes the NFL a ton of money. But as daily fantasy sports explode in popularity and blur the line between fantasy and gambling, the league's position is becoming less and less tenable.
Even though several of the NFL's founding owners had made their fortunes through gambling-related activities, the league opposed it nearly from the start, largely because of the fear that it could lead to match-fixing. In the '40s and '60s, it suspended several players for betting on games, and in 1976 it unsuccessfully sued the state of Delaware to block the state's sports lottery.
Afraid of such activities spreading from state to state, in 1992, then-NFLCommissioner Paul Tagliabue successfully lobbied Congress to pass a law that prohibited gambling on sports anywhere that it hadn't already been legalized. "It is a matter of integrity," Tagliabue said at the time. "It is a matter of the character of our games, of the character of our fans, and a matter of values."
Over the next decade, though, something new came along: fantasy sports.
The basic idea — assembling imaginary teams of players that compete on the basis of their individual real statistics over the course of a whole season — was first developed in the '50s, and for decades, fantasy baseball was the most commonly played. But fantasy football's popularity exploded once computers allowed for automatic stat tracking, and especially after 1999, when Yahoo became the first major site to host leagues for free.
June 26, 2012
U.S. Sports Leagues Should Get in the Sports Betting Game While They Can
While internet wagering is on the lips of most gambling writers nowadays, sports betting is actually the topic du jour. New Jersey has passed a bill that will legalize sports betting in the state and are prepared to challenge PASPA in an effort to implement it. In fact Governor Christie is almost daring the DoJ and sports leagues to try and stop him. California also introduced a bill to legalize sports betting but will disallow wagering on California based NCAA teams or any college games that take place in the state and, like New Jersey, California is willing to take the issue as high as the Supreme Court if they need to. There’s no question that Delaware is still interested in offering single game sports betting and Nevada based American Gaming made a deal with William Hill to set up hundreds of sports betting kiosks throughout Nevada to generate more interest in sports betting as a betting option. Furthermore, reports suggest that least a dozen other states are seriously looking at introducing bills to legalize sports betting in their states and Canada is about to pass a single game sports betting bill that will allow their provincial governments to offer traditional sportsbooks in addition to the parlay lottery they have now. And not only does almost 20% of America’s population live less than a 5 hour drive from the Canadian border, but in Canada there is no tax on windfalls.
Yet despite the efforts of all the states to introduce sports as a betting option that they feel is necessary to prop up their casino and horse racing business, the sports leagues still maintain that they will vehemently challenge any efforts to introduce expanded sports betting in any state in order to “protect the integrity of the game.” However, if the leagues were smart they would give up this notion and try to figure out ways in which they could benefit from legalized sports wagering. Throughout the world sports betting is legal and sports teams have created partnerships with the bookmaking companies which have benefitted them greatly. In fact some of the most famous sports paraphernalia are from sportsbooks. Bwin, Betclic and Ladbrokes sponsor some of the most famous teams in Europe and Bet365 has deals with a couple of CFL franchises. And in Australia, almost every team is sponsored by a gambling company. It’s uncertain just how much money the leagues could make with sponsorships but a gaming conference in Montreal 8 years ago, Marc Blandford, the CEO of Sportingbet at the time said he would give $1 billion to the NFL if they would agree to allow the company to be “the official sportsbook of the NFL.” Naturally that offer was laughed off but many teams are struggling greatly and could use the influx of advertising revenue from sportsbooks if they were legalized. Without question teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning or Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL or the Buffalo Bills in the NFL would benefit greatly from sportsbook sponsorships and in NASCAR all the start and park teams could almost certainly pick up some sportsbook advertising which would allow them to run the whole race. It wasn’t that long ago when companies were lining up to sponsor race cars but the failing economy and the ban on tobacco and hard alcohol advertising has eroded that interest and consequently there is talk that the Craftsman Truck Series could end next year. It’s no longer the 1990s and companies like General Electric, General Mills and the Bank of America no longer have the resources to simply throw out money in hopes it may generate business. But the nature of bookmaking would certainly compel all legal sportsbooks to seek partnerships with teams in an effort to create awareness of their product. And like Betclic and Bwin, people would wear uniforms sporting their names and logos.
As for protecting the integrity of the game, legalized and regulated sports betting has actually been shown to be the best way to achieve that goal. Almost every famous gambling scandal in the past, including most recently the Ted Donaghy mess, was done with illegal, underground bookmakers. And it’s only after the fact when one of the cheaters makes a mistake that the truth comes out that leagues and the public are made aware of the scandal. In Europe, however, where gambling is legal, there have been quite a few betting scandals lately in horse racing, soccer, cricket and tennis, but unlike with Donaghy it was the bookmakers who notified the sports leagues about the likely cheating as a result of strange betting patterns. The unusual results in Ted Donaghy refereed games could have been spotted if the bets were made legally but because they were all conducted illegally, the sportsbooks couldn’t help. In fact Betfair, a major world gaming exchange, has initiated memoranda of understanding with over 40 leagues including horse racing boards, soccer leagues, the tennis federation and the NHL whereby any suspicious betting is reported to the leagues. With over 7 million transactions taking place on the exchange each day, all which are recorded and analyzed in real time by a designated integrity department, Betfair has been able to alert numerous leagues of suspicious betting patterns and it has led to arrests and suspensions in horse racing, soccer and tennis. And other bookmakers are following suit. In fact, Australia has it in their rules and regulations that licensed bookmakers must be on the lookout for illegal bets and report to them to the authorities immediately so that action can be taken. A major UK newspaper even stated recently “with the cooperation of the sports leagues and Betfair’s technology, cheating athletes know their days of deception are numbered.” Yet for some reason, North American sports leagues (with the exception of the NHL), have preferred to keep their head in the sand and pretend that gambling doesn’t take place on their games. Obviously they know otherwise but they would rather take the approach that what they don’t know won’t hurt them, rather than facing reality. Gambling does take place every day and some sports even rely on it. There’s absolutely no question the NFL would not be as popular as it is today if there weren’t NFL pools taking place in offices every weekend and if the point spreads weren’t posted in every major newspaper. And contrary to what the leagues may believe it’s better to learn about cheating ahead of time and be proactive rather than just reacting to the news.
Another reason the leagues should consider embracing sports betting now is because at this point they have some leverage in adopting regulations for sports betting. California, as mentioned, has put in a rule disallowing college betting on sports within the state and no doubt other states that are interested in sports betting would be willing to follow suit if it means they don’t have to go through the legal process of challenging PASPA. In fact the leagues can even put in regulations relating to who can’t bet on sports (i.e. disallow players or referees from placing bets on their sport) and can possibly even work in a percentage of the revenues from the betting to be used towards scholarships, increased minimum salaries and the like. But if the leagues choose to continue to challenge it and if the courts eventually rule against PASPA, and almost every gambling lawyer I spoke to believes PASPA will be determined to be unconstitutional at some point, the states and gambling companies will have no reason to work with the leagues to give them a share of the revenue or ask for their input. Once sports betting is declared legal, the states will say to the leagues “you had your chance and you blew it,” just as the leagues are telling New Jersey for opting out of PASPA two decades ago.
This is crunch time for sports betting in the U.S. Legalized wagering on sports will happen in every state that wants it sooner or later and there’s absolutely nothing the leagues can do about it. They may own their trademarks and patents but they don’t own the right to stop gambling on it. Sports betting has taken place in Nevada for over 70 years and it has taken place underground for far longer than that. It’s time for the leagues to face reality and work with the states to come up with a solution that they all can live with. Failing to do so will just leave the leagues on the outside looking in and when the leagues want some revenue and input into the betting the states will simply tell them “you had your chance and you blew it.”
Yet despite the efforts of all the states to introduce sports as a betting option that they feel is necessary to prop up their casino and horse racing business, the sports leagues still maintain that they will vehemently challenge any efforts to introduce expanded sports betting in any state in order to “protect the integrity of the game.” However, if the leagues were smart they would give up this notion and try to figure out ways in which they could benefit from legalized sports wagering. Throughout the world sports betting is legal and sports teams have created partnerships with the bookmaking companies which have benefitted them greatly. In fact some of the most famous sports paraphernalia are from sportsbooks. Bwin, Betclic and Ladbrokes sponsor some of the most famous teams in Europe and Bet365 has deals with a couple of CFL franchises. And in Australia, almost every team is sponsored by a gambling company. It’s uncertain just how much money the leagues could make with sponsorships but a gaming conference in Montreal 8 years ago, Marc Blandford, the CEO of Sportingbet at the time said he would give $1 billion to the NFL if they would agree to allow the company to be “the official sportsbook of the NFL.” Naturally that offer was laughed off but many teams are struggling greatly and could use the influx of advertising revenue from sportsbooks if they were legalized. Without question teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning or Phoenix Coyotes in the NHL or the Buffalo Bills in the NFL would benefit greatly from sportsbook sponsorships and in NASCAR all the start and park teams could almost certainly pick up some sportsbook advertising which would allow them to run the whole race. It wasn’t that long ago when companies were lining up to sponsor race cars but the failing economy and the ban on tobacco and hard alcohol advertising has eroded that interest and consequently there is talk that the Craftsman Truck Series could end next year. It’s no longer the 1990s and companies like General Electric, General Mills and the Bank of America no longer have the resources to simply throw out money in hopes it may generate business. But the nature of bookmaking would certainly compel all legal sportsbooks to seek partnerships with teams in an effort to create awareness of their product. And like Betclic and Bwin, people would wear uniforms sporting their names and logos.
As for protecting the integrity of the game, legalized and regulated sports betting has actually been shown to be the best way to achieve that goal. Almost every famous gambling scandal in the past, including most recently the Ted Donaghy mess, was done with illegal, underground bookmakers. And it’s only after the fact when one of the cheaters makes a mistake that the truth comes out that leagues and the public are made aware of the scandal. In Europe, however, where gambling is legal, there have been quite a few betting scandals lately in horse racing, soccer, cricket and tennis, but unlike with Donaghy it was the bookmakers who notified the sports leagues about the likely cheating as a result of strange betting patterns. The unusual results in Ted Donaghy refereed games could have been spotted if the bets were made legally but because they were all conducted illegally, the sportsbooks couldn’t help. In fact Betfair, a major world gaming exchange, has initiated memoranda of understanding with over 40 leagues including horse racing boards, soccer leagues, the tennis federation and the NHL whereby any suspicious betting is reported to the leagues. With over 7 million transactions taking place on the exchange each day, all which are recorded and analyzed in real time by a designated integrity department, Betfair has been able to alert numerous leagues of suspicious betting patterns and it has led to arrests and suspensions in horse racing, soccer and tennis. And other bookmakers are following suit. In fact, Australia has it in their rules and regulations that licensed bookmakers must be on the lookout for illegal bets and report to them to the authorities immediately so that action can be taken. A major UK newspaper even stated recently “with the cooperation of the sports leagues and Betfair’s technology, cheating athletes know their days of deception are numbered.” Yet for some reason, North American sports leagues (with the exception of the NHL), have preferred to keep their head in the sand and pretend that gambling doesn’t take place on their games. Obviously they know otherwise but they would rather take the approach that what they don’t know won’t hurt them, rather than facing reality. Gambling does take place every day and some sports even rely on it. There’s absolutely no question the NFL would not be as popular as it is today if there weren’t NFL pools taking place in offices every weekend and if the point spreads weren’t posted in every major newspaper. And contrary to what the leagues may believe it’s better to learn about cheating ahead of time and be proactive rather than just reacting to the news.
Another reason the leagues should consider embracing sports betting now is because at this point they have some leverage in adopting regulations for sports betting. California, as mentioned, has put in a rule disallowing college betting on sports within the state and no doubt other states that are interested in sports betting would be willing to follow suit if it means they don’t have to go through the legal process of challenging PASPA. In fact the leagues can even put in regulations relating to who can’t bet on sports (i.e. disallow players or referees from placing bets on their sport) and can possibly even work in a percentage of the revenues from the betting to be used towards scholarships, increased minimum salaries and the like. But if the leagues choose to continue to challenge it and if the courts eventually rule against PASPA, and almost every gambling lawyer I spoke to believes PASPA will be determined to be unconstitutional at some point, the states and gambling companies will have no reason to work with the leagues to give them a share of the revenue or ask for their input. Once sports betting is declared legal, the states will say to the leagues “you had your chance and you blew it,” just as the leagues are telling New Jersey for opting out of PASPA two decades ago.
This is crunch time for sports betting in the U.S. Legalized wagering on sports will happen in every state that wants it sooner or later and there’s absolutely nothing the leagues can do about it. They may own their trademarks and patents but they don’t own the right to stop gambling on it. Sports betting has taken place in Nevada for over 70 years and it has taken place underground for far longer than that. It’s time for the leagues to face reality and work with the states to come up with a solution that they all can live with. Failing to do so will just leave the leagues on the outside looking in and when the leagues want some revenue and input into the betting the states will simply tell them “you had your chance and you blew it.”
October 31, 2007
In Brief
All Bets Are Off For NFL’s London Debut
In a move that further highlights the National Football League’s vehement and influential opposition to gambling, organisers of Sunday evening’s game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants consented to the NFL’s request that all Betfred’s betting facilities inside Wembley Stadium were closed for the event.
Ruling Party Votes To End Swedish Gambling Monopoly
Moderate Party members voted at their congress last weekend in favour of a proposal to liberalise the country’s gambling market but the Swedish Government still advocates taking a more cautious approach towards regulation.
In a move that further highlights the National Football League’s vehement and influential opposition to gambling, organisers of Sunday evening’s game between the Miami Dolphins and the New York Giants consented to the NFL’s request that all Betfred’s betting facilities inside Wembley Stadium were closed for the event.
Ruling Party Votes To End Swedish Gambling Monopoly
Moderate Party members voted at their congress last weekend in favour of a proposal to liberalise the country’s gambling market but the Swedish Government still advocates taking a more cautious approach towards regulation.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)