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Mike Maniscalco Takes Over TV Play-By-Play For Carolina Hurricanes

“Maniscalco joined the Canes’ television crew at the start of the 2016-2017 season after exiting Buzz Sports Radio and 99.9 the Fan in Raleigh, where he hosted pre and postgame coverage of the team.”

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As the NHL Playoffs get set to start next month, one team’s television broadcasts will have a different sound. Earlier this month it was reported that the Carolina Hurricanes had not come to terms on a new deal with TV play-by-play man John Forslund. On Thursday, the team announced that on-ice reporter Mike Maniscalco would take over play-by-play duties for the team’s games on FOX Sports Carolinas.

“It’s bittersweet,” Maniscalco told Luke DeCock of the News Observer. “That’s the only word I can use.”

Maniscalco joined the Canes’ television crew at the start of the 2016-2017 season after exiting Buzz Sports Radio and 99.9 the Fan in Raleigh, where he hosted pre and postgame coverage of the team. In addition to serving as on-ice reporter, Maniscalco hosted intermission reports and pre-game coverage on FOX Sports Carolinas.

He gives a lot of credit to his predecessor. Maniscalco told Barrett Sports Media that John Forslund was integral in helping him make the transition from radio to TV.

“John taught me to be myself and not to change because there is a camera,” Maniscalco said. “He told me be the guy on the radio that I had always been and everything else takes care of itself.”

Forslund will still be calling hockey when games restart. He will be in Toronto, inside of the NHL’s Eastern Conference bubble, calling games for NBC.

Hurricanes management offered Forslund a new contract when his expired on July 1. Under the new deal, he would become an independent contractor and offer a bonus structure tied to attendance. Although Forslund chose not to sign, team GM Don Waddell said that the team would “keep the door open” for Forslund to return.

“That’s nice of him to say. But what does that really mean, though?” Forslund asked in an interview with The Athletic’s Sara Civian. “There’s no dialogue. I would never look at a statement like that and scoff at it, but I want the reality to be there too, of, there isn’t anything happening. I don’t want any false pretense or anything like that with the fans. There’s nothing happening between myself and the team. And until that happens — or if it never happens that’s understandable — then I have to deal with the reality of being free for the first time in my career. It’s the first time in my career I’ve been in a position like this. I’m not really good at it.”

Waddell said that he likes the crew in place and “we’ll get through this and see where we go.”

The team has not committed to Maniscalco remaining in the play-by-play seat beyond the end of this season. Still, he says the opportunity to call NHL playoff hockey for this club “means everything” to him.

“Rod Brind’Amour, the rest of the coaching staff, the players, the training staff and doctors, the front office, everyone there has always treated me so well,” he told BSM via text. “It’s an honor to have this opportunity. I want to carry on the tradition of excellent broadcasters the club have had and do the best job possible for as long as they let me.”

The Carolina Hurricanes open the qualifying round with a best of five series against the New York Rangers on August 1. Maniscalco will work with Tripp Tracey, who remains as the color commentator for Hurricanes games on FOX Sports Carolinas.

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John Anderson Announces Retirement from SportsCenter on ESPN

“I don’t really know what’s quite next, I have some things in the fire. But SportsCenter will not be it.”

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Photo of John Anderson
Credit: Mediaite

Longtime SportsCenter anchor John Anderson has announced that when his contract comes up at the end of June, he will no longer be doing SportsCenter for ESPN. Anderson, who joined ESPN in 1999 does plan to continue covering certain events, but after 25 years he believes it is time to stop doing ESPN’s flagship show. Anderson spoke on his podcast, The Inside Wisconsin Show and prior to the episode’s release tomorrow, a clip was released:

“My contract runs out at ESPN at the end of June,” Anderson said. “I have decided that that will be the end. I’m going to leave the company. I’m going to sort of retire from ‘SportsCenter.’ I’m going to get to do a few track-and-field things, I’m going to get to continue to do the Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon – which I love – and some NCAA track meets and some SEC stuff.

“I am incredibly excited about that. It’s been a good run…I feel like it’s been a good run. The operation has changed. I don’t know that it’s passed me by, but it’s taken its toll and I still want to be able to do the best shows that I can, and I don’t know that if in years 26 or 27 I have the stamina to do it again.  

“So, I’m done…I don’t really know what’s quite next. I have some things in the fire. But SportsCenter will not be it.”

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Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo: NFL Streaming Games ‘Gets Obscene’

“They’ve got a Wild Card game on Amazon Prime Video, which means you can’t switch with the remotes.”

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Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo
Courtesy: Cindy Ord, Getty Images for SiriusXM

The National Football League has announced that the Philadelphia Eagles opening matchup taking place from San Paolo, Brazil against an opponent to be determined for the 2024 season will stream exclusively on Peacock. Even though the game will be exclusive to Peacock – thus requiring fans to subscribe in order to watch – it will also be broadcast on an over-the-air network in the local markets of the teams involved in the game. Christopher ‘Mad Dog’ Russo is not a fan of this decision by the league.

During his “What Are You Mad About?” segment on Wednesday morning’s edition of First Take on ESPN, Russo expressed his indignation towards the game being exclusively streamed by Peacock. Within his discourse, he presented a hypothetical scenario of an Eagles fan who continues to spend money to see the team at Lincoln Financial Field and how they would not fly down to Brazil to see the game. Russo continued by saying that the fan would then miss the game without having Peacock so the NFL is able to drive more revenue.

“It’s hard to get Peacock; I don’t want to get Peacock, alright?,” Russo said. “I want to watch the game normal. Give me [Joe] Buck and [Troy] Aikman, give me the CBS crew, [Tom] Brady’s going to do it. Give me something! Don’t put the Eagles 9,000 miles away and then put them on a cable thing on Peacock which you’ve got to subscribe to so NBC can make more money.”

NBC Sports will broadcast an opening night game during Week 1 on Thursday, Sept. 5, along with a Sunday Night Football contest on Sunday, Sept. 8. Within its stretch of primetime football matchups, which also includes a Saturday night Big Ten Conference game, the Friday night NFL game seems to be the only one exclusive to Peacock. The streaming platform is coming off a strong performance for its exclusive Wild Card round playoff matchup, drawing an average of 23 million viewers and becoming the most-streamed NFL game in history.

This past season of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video garnered a 24% increase in viewers compared to its first season, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. These metrics demonstrate that the broadcast property averaged 11.86 million viewers per game during the 2023 NFL season. The OTT streaming platform also presented the inaugural NFL game on Black Friday, which averaged 9.61 million viewers.

Prime Video will reportedly have the exclusive rights to an NFL playoff game next season, and it has continued building out its sports content vertical. The company has reportedly been exploring a potential media rights deal with the National Basketball Association as its national television contract is nearing expiration. The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery are currently in the midst of exclusive negotiating windows with the NBA that conclude on Monday, April 22, after which Amazon will be able to bid.

“They’ve got a Wild Card game on Amazon Prime Video, which means you can’t switch with the remotes,” Russo said, referring to the reported agreement for next season. “I know the NFL prints money – I understand how big they are, but boy this gets obscene.”

“One-hundred percent right,” First Take host Molly Qerim added. “I cannot stand having 8,000 different apps. It needs to be streamlined. It’s annoying – you have to remember all these passwords. I don’t have Peacock; I don’t want Peacock. I completely agree with you.”

ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler proceeded to convey the dedication of Eagles fans in showing up to the stadium and watching their team. Russo agreed with him that Eagles fans will travel down to Brazil since they pack stadiums and fervently support their team. Off of that point, ESPN NFL reporter Kimberley A. Martin explained that she believes the devotion and zeal from the fanbase is part of the reason why this is a shrewd decision by the NFL.

“This is genius,” Martin said. “You do put the Eagles – that type of team – because they’re going to buy it.”

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NCAA Women’s Championship Round 2 on ESPN Up 121%; Iowa-West Virginia Hits 4.9 Million Viewers

ESPN and ABC posted their four most-watched Women’s March Madness second-round games ever, with Iowa/West Virginia averaging 4.9 million viewers

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Graphic of the NCAA Women's basketball tournament

The women’s college basketball hot streak continues with the second round of the NCAA Women’s Championship on ESPN averaging 1.4 million viewers all weekend. Viewership was at its highest for Caitlin Clark’s final game in Iowa when her Iowa Hawkeyes defeated West Virginia, which amassed a staggering 4.9 million viewers and peaked at 6.4 million.

ESPN and ABC achieved their four-most watched second-round games on record this season. Outside of Iowa/WVU, the matchup between UConn and Stanford averaged 2.1 million viewers, the LSU/Middle Tennessee matchup garnered 2 million viewers, and the Kansas/USC tilt averaged 1.8 million viewers. This matches its first-round coverage, which also set marks for its most-viewed games ever.

According to ESPN’s VP of research Flora Kelly, Iowa/WVU’s 4.9 million viewers would have beaten every Women’s National Championship game from 2005 to 2022:

ESPN is no doubt excited for a potential Elite 8 matchup between Iowa and LSU, a rematch of last year’s national championship game. That game averaged 9.9 million viewers, shattering the previous record for a women’s college basketball game on any network. All it needs is an Iowa win over Colorado and an LSU win over UCLA to make their dream a reality. A potential Iowa/South Carolina national title game could surpass even that.

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