Last Thursday night, the Minnesota Vikings entered the NFL Draft with the eleventh pick. A draft night trade with the New York Jets helped them move up to ten, which is where they selected Michigan Quarterback J.J. McCarthy. In most cities, folks get excited for the draft but there’s usually a different energy picking players in the top five versus spots ten through twenty. Yet in Minneapolis, something looked and felt very different.

The Fillmore in Minneapolis served as the location for SKOR North‘s NFL Draft party. Phil Mackey, Judd Zulgad and Declan Goff broadcasted their hit program ‘Purple Daily‘ throughout the first round of the draft, and the question heading into the event was ‘could a digital show with a minimal radio presence sell out a 1,000+ seat venue on draft night, especially if the Minnesota Vikings weren’t picking until #11?’

The answer was a resounding yes.

Not only did SKOR North sell out the 1000+ seat venue, another 79,000 (and growing) watched the draft party online. The execution on-site and on social was perfect, and the follow up afterwards is an example of what sets winning brands apart.

Video clips hit social from the start of the night to every tense moment leading up to the Vikings selection. AJ Fredrickson and Artis Woods captured the on-site reactions after the Giants picked Malik Nabers at 6 and when the Falcons took Michael Penix at 8. Another video clip hit social media too after Minnesota landed #10 from the Jets. The best reaction video though came when the franchise selected Michigan’s J.J. McCarthy with the 10th selection. The social team was locked in again too after the Vikings chose Dallas Turner at #17.

Then came the production and on-site support. Adam Van Conant and Mike Weber made sure the program sounded good. Pat Laeger, Tim Krueth, and Trevor Groebner along with additional camera staff made sure the show was brought to life through video on-site and online. VIP check-in and on-site flags were managed by Ross Brendel along with Jason Stormer, Kristi Gavin, Kait Haag, Peter Nomeland, Camille Eckhodff, Bailey Hess, Kelsey St. John, and Donnella Johnson taking care of other on-site needs.

On-air contributions were made as well. Jessi Pierce handled crowd interviews and reactions, Tyler “Forno” Forness and Myles Gorham offered draft analysis, and Mackey, Zulgad and Goff informed, entertained, and fired up the fanbase on stage. They all wore branded shirts too to help drive brand awareness and on-site and online merchandise sales.

It extended to the sales side of the operation too. Bernie Laur and the sales team sold on-site client branding and took care of their clients, while Matt Stengel managed the partnership with The Fillmore. Kwik Trip served as the presenting sponsor of the show with video logo display provided online. Others were incorporated into the on-site content including Northern Fire Grilling & BBQ Supply who served as the official sponsor of the show’s ‘hot takes desk‘. Additional sponsors included Fulton Brewing, Element Hotel, Cry Baby Craig’s Gourmet Hot Sauce, PoppedCorn, and Thr3 Jack.

My favorite part of this story and the unsung hero of the event was Katie Greenhill. Hubbard Broadcasting’s senior designer created and designed logos, t-shirts and billboards to make sure the brand was ready to seize the moment as it unfolded.

It was impossible to know who the Vikings would select so Greenhill designed five different t-shirts (Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, Michael Penix, Bo Nix and J.J. McCarthy). The second the selection of McCarthy was made, SKOR North had merchandise ready to monetize the moment. Taking advantage of the opportunity outside the venue required additional steps too. Within an hour of the Vikings choosing McCarthy, SKOR North debuted a J.J. to J.J. billboard across every digital board in the Twin Cities.

THAT is what seizing the moment looks like. Not only was SKOR North on point on the air, on-site, and on social media, but they were visually displayed across the city and ready to monetize the opportunity.

I did a search over the weekend of the local sports radio brands that were connected to the 9 picks in the NFL Draft (Chicago-Washington-New England-Arizona-Los Angeles-New York-Tennessee-Atlanta) that went before Minnesota. Only one, 106.7 The Fan in Washington D.C. was selling merchandise tied to the draft pick of their local team (nice job CK). One was still featuring a shirt of a player who left a local franchise two years ago.

Do sports format professionals want to make supplemental income? How many times do we have to talk about radio revenues being down, and brands needing to find other ways to increase profitability? This was one of the easiest things to prepare for and capitalize on. All you had to do was use the color’s of the local team, design something good that doesn’t create a trademark issue, and hit social and the airwaves promoting it. Your fans will go into their wallets for your products if they’re cool and available quickly.

If you don’t believe me, go check BarstoolSports.com. They had shirts ready for Caleb Williams and the Bears, Jayden Daniels and the Commanders, and Drake Maye and the Patriots. Fanatics was ready too with jerseys for all of the key players minus Marvin Harrison Jr.. Striking while the iron is hot is vital. Unfortunately in this case, many didn’t even plug the iron in.

At the 2020 BSM Summit, Erika Ayers-Badan (then Nardini) said that when it comes to merchandising, you’ve got to understand pace and be on top of it. Consumers won’t wait for anything. Having a structure that’s nimble is also important. You can’t expect to run things through five corporate checks and balances, and expect to maximize demand. Additionally, you have to understand that some things won’t work. However, the ones that do will more than make up for the ones that didn’t.

Being fully transparent, I consulted SKOR North back when it was being built. The pandemic ended our partnership but I hold Dan Seeman, Phil Mackey, and the folks at Hubbard Broadcasting in high regard because they do great work. Five years ago, the brand could not have created this type of success. They had to learn rapid digital execution, and connect their best talent to the market’s biggest sports brand (Vikings). Sales also had to learn how to monetize a product that wasn’t reliant on AM radio ratings. Plus, the behind the scenes crew had to get better at video and social media, and that required trial and error. Now, the brand is humming.

SKOR North set out to revolutionize the way fans consume Minnesota sports content. Five years into a brand switch, they don’t have Nielsen ratings to show they’re a force but one look inside the Fillmore or at their podcast performance or YouTube channels and you can see they’ve tapped into something special.

Being successful requires vision and leadership. It also takes others behind the scenes stepping up to make sure every aspect of the execution is on point. That involves thinking ahead and diving in quickly to capitalize on opportunities. SKOR North has become a successful business, and in the process has proven that you can generate podcasting and non-traditional revenue on a local level. It simply comes down to vision, teamwork, creativity, preparation, and being nimble enough to deliver success. Others in the sports format should be paying attention.

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Thumbs Up

KMOX: I’m sure other brands are doing this too but I haven’t seen them promoted so Steve Moore and his crew are getting the credit. What a cool technological enhancement from Apple TV. This is a great example of audio and video working together to benefit the viewer.

Stacey Kauffman: When the non-compete news came down this week I looked around at industry reactions. You might’ve expected management types to blast the decision but that’s not how Audacy San Francisco Market Manager Stacey Kauffman responded. Her commentary on LinkedIn was spot on. I’d encourage more folks leading companies and brands to read it. Just a well thought out, smart perspective on a complex issue. I’d also recommend reading Dave Greene’s column.

Joe Hunk: We all lose perspective in this industry at times. So when a great reminder is passed along it can be very helpful. I stumbled across a tweet this week from 104.5 The Zone afternoon’s producer. Joe Hunk shared his genuine appreciation for what he was able to do due to working in the industry. The next time you’re frustrated and contemplating a different career path, go back and read this tweet.

Thumbs Down

Mark Madden: 15 years ago I might’ve cared about a tweet like this. Now, I don’t. BSM will always have critics who make assumptions and spew incorrect facts. Hey Mark, I don’t consult Audacy, and they don’t pay us to write these reports. One glance at our past week of content and you’d see we cover a lot of markets and groups. If you want to be included, have your folks share the information. If they don’t, then don’t whine to me about why you’re left out.

Taylor Swift: I’m not hating on Taylor, I’m actually putting her in this section for creating too catchy of an album. As a 50-year old man, who’s not in her target demo, I shouldn’t be walking around my house with Taylor Swift melodies stuck in my head. Yet that’s been the case the past few days due to the release of The Tortured Poets Department. Before you take aim at yours truly for that admission, go listen to that album once or twice and tell me it doesn’t get stuck in your head too. Judging from the recent record she broke on Spotify, plenty are in the same boat as me.

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What’s Brewing?

On Friday, I posted on LinkedIn that we are going to be adding in a few different areas soon. I’m working on something exciting that’s going to make waves, but I’m not ready to spill the beans just yet. However, if you love to write, have a passion for the media business, understand the industry, are well connected, enjoy what we do, and thrive working remotely, email me. I’m not looking for a sports or news media columnist. This will be more of a business editor/reporter/news writer role.

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BNM Summit

Speaker Announcement Update: We are bringing our news media conference to Washington D.C. on September 4-5, 2024. It’s going to be excellent. 14 speakers were already announced, and I’ll be revealing a few more additions later this week on Barrett News Media. The plan is to share that news and the addition of our After Party sponsor on Thursday May 2nd.

If you are planning to attend and haven’t bought a ticket or if you’re planning to be a sponsor, don’t wait until the last minute. Demand has been high for this one. To learn more visit BNMSummit.com.

I knew I wanted to eavesdrop in on some NFL Draft programming for this feature and I was quite intrigued when I saw both Nick Saban and Bill Belichick were going to be on. Initially I set out to drop in on both throughout the night, but then something incredibly strange happened, and that was Pat McAfee’s 5th Annual Draft Spectacular with Bill Belichick.

I wanted to catch the very beginning of the show, but two things prevented me from doing that. One, they started earlier than advertised and two, there was no audio on the feed for the first several minutes.

As the live audio starts working McAfee, Belichick, and Tone Digs, clad in a cowboy hat, are working on a makeshift draft board. They were using Field Yates’ player rankings. Belichick is talking about how the boards are put together. He also shows how to read them. For the first time you see that Coach Belichick is going to bring something a little different to the table.

As they move from the draft board to their set, McAfee is standing next to Bill Belichick, Darius Butler and AJ Hawk, while Ty Schmit, aka ‘Mad Mel,’ is in character (impersonating Mel Kiper, Jr.) standing next to ‘Boston’ Connor Campbell who sports a mullet and was wearing a tuxedo.

Sometimes in life, things get worse before they get better, and this was one of those times. Oz Pearlman, known as ‘Oz the Mentalist’ comes out and starts wrapping a large mail envelope around Campbell’s waist. You had to see it to believe it.

“Buckle up, Bill, it’s gonna be about seven hours of this,” McAfee said.

And then, all of a sudden, something else happened. The show settled in and off we were on a magical ride over the next four (not quite seven) hours. You couldn’t turn away from it.

Belichick first dissects some film of Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. He talks about what they had that are things coaches look for in NFL quarterbacks, such as footwork and accuracy. He compares this to the top quarterbacks this year and says, “They all have things they need to work on.”

The first pick is made, and McAfee goes to ‘Mad Mel’ for comment. The impersonation was spot on, and it was funny. Then, out of nowhere, comes analysis from Belichick and it is unlike what you have seen before. He says Caleb Williams reminds him of Russell Wilson and shows some film with both positive and negative plays. Belichick himself had picked video clips that backed up the points he was making.

Over the next few picks, no matter what was happening around him, Belichick delivered the goods. His film breakdown is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. He is not speaking over people’s heads; he is explaining what he is looking at. One hour in and Belichick is looking like he is going to be great at this media thing. He speaks clearly and as a fan you are learning about football watching and listening to Bill Belichick.

He also drops in some humor here and there. One line was, “We’ll see about that,” when it is mentioned Drake Mayo compares himself to Josh Allen.

At times there is a circus going on, but McAfee did an excellent job of being the ringleader. Meanwhile Belichick just had fun with it and analyzed the heck out of what was happening when it was time.

Adam Peters, the Washington Commanders GM, joins the show as the first off-site guest. It had been a hot topic this past week that their pick, Jayden Daniels, might not have appreciated being brought in with a group of quarterbacks recently and McAfee hit Peters with a question about that topic immediately.

Then Peters took a question from ‘Mad Mel’ and said he can’t take it seriously. Again, a funny, light moment. Then, you see something that will become more and more obvious as the night goes on, which is the level of respect people in the NFL have for Bill Belichick. As excited as the group was to have Peters on, you got the feeling Peters was more excited to be on with Belichick. Belichick also fired a great question at Peters asking if they might consider trading back into the first round.

Later you get Belichick’s honest surprise with the Falcons taking Michael Penix Jr. He does add, “Having two good quarterbacks is never a bad thing.”

As the middle part of the first round continues, you notice how incredibly well-prepared Belichick was. Additionally, Belichick showing how the draft board works as you go through the round is gold. This is information football fans have always wanted, it’s innovative, it’s different and it’s really good.

The next guest who comes on is Pat McAfee Show regular Aaron Rodgers, sporting a tremendous moustache. As the interview is going on I couldn’t help noticing the smile on the face of McAfee. He had to be thinking to himself, ‘Holy sh**, I have Aaron Rodgers facetiming into a draft show I am hosting next to Bill Belichick.’

At one point Belichick tells Rodgers how much he appreciates him and looks forward to not coaching against him. In keeping with the theme of paying respect to Belichick, Rodgers says, “…These days, everybody’s the GOAT…it should be reserved for the very, very few who actually are the greatest of all time and Bill, I don’t want to embarrass you, but you are the GOAT.”

At the same time, while a variety show is going on around him, Belichick seems to be having a blast and now you also find out that he is booking guests for the show as well. McAfee says Belichick is texting Sean Payton live on the show while a magic trick is being performed. This is definitely not your grandpa’s draft coverage.

Before Payton comes on, Indianapolis GM Chirs Ballard dials in and pays the ultimate compliment to Belichick as the interview wraps up. McAfee says to Ballard, “Anything to say to Bill?” Ballard replies, “Coach Belichick when you come back in the league, go in the NFC.”

Then Payton makes his appearance and what you notice is that with Belichick on, the answers seem different. It’s not a coach talking to the media, it’s a coach talking to another coach. Payton really breaks down why the Broncos were so interested in Bo Nix. He then talks about some deals he had worked out on draft day with Belichick in the past and says it is not the same with the new crop of younger coaches and GMs.

Belichick is now just absolutely on a roll. McAfee points this out, and the coach says, “It’s the Draft Spectacular not the Draft Mediocre,” and then soon is seen bowing down doing the ‘we’re not worthy’ for the magic tricks being performed by Oz.

Each time you think the show is going to get completely out of control, McAfee brings it back and they go right back into the draft analysis.

As the later picks happen in the first round you get some great moments such as Belichick getting fed up with what to call defensive lineman who rush the quarterback. “Can we ease up on the ‘Edge Rusher’ it’s a ‘Defensive End,’ he says.

Almost three hours in and McAfee shares they are getting in trouble for giving out the picks before the commissioner announces them. This leads to some funny moments as Belichick is seeing who the picks are on social media but is having trouble not talking about them on the air before they are supposed to. Belichick is as energized as when he started the show.

The rest of the show carried out as expected. You had ‘Mad Mel’ yelling at Roger Goodell to make a pick, then later he pounds on the desk and screams, “Fu**, fu**, fu**, fu**” when his team, the Green Bay Packers, selects Arizona lineman Jordan Morgan, then later reveals he may have broken the hand. You get Belichick calling out directions to the producer while rolling film on the players and you also got him saying, “Can we take a look at the board,” one time when the rest of the cast was getting out of control.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell makes a visit, gets a question that includes the words “works his di*k off,” and of course he pays homage to Belichick. And then you get even more magic as Barry Sanders walks on the set. ‘Mad Mel’ was so excited to be standing next to Sanders he completely broke his character. Belichick is incredibly complimentary of Sanders and says, “Of all the players we’ve had to cover, nobody was harder than you…Thank God we had LT…nobody was harder to defend…and a better person than a player.”

At this point the first round is winding down. As the final players are selected, McAfee starts to wrap up and says, in reference to the show and Belichick, “We got better this year. You know why – because your old ass was here…You were awesome here.”

The whole team looked ready to go and Belichick seemed like he could keep going. He tells a great story about trying to reach Randy Moss in 2007 to let him know they had traded for him and how Moss hung up on him the first two times he called not believing it was him.

“Tonight was awesome…You crushed it,” McAfee said.

“Is there any chance I could be on your show during the Fall?” Belichick asks McAfee.

“You mean like Mondays?” McAfee says as the show finishes.

Learning there would be more of this to come was the best way possible to end the night.

Finally. A win for the little guys. Well, maybe anyway.

Earlier this week, the Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 to approve a new rule that bans non-compete clauses in contracts in the United States, “protecting the fundamental freedom of workers to change jobs, increasing innovation and fostering new business formation,” they said.

You could almost hear the roars coming from the studios and media sales pits across America. Hallelujah!

No more having to find something to do while sitting out for 6 to 12 months. No more hiring salespeople and sticking them in the marketing department for six months or putting a host on in a nearby market for a while as they ride out their agreement with the other broadcaster in town.

Now, before I get too far, let me point out that it takes 120 days for this reversal to take effect and that is if it gets past all of the legal challenges about to be brought forth to fight this.

And why will this be challenged as hard as possible? Because this is a big, big deal.

The FTC said banning non-compete clauses would increase workers’ earnings by an estimated $300 billion annually. Read that sentence twice. This would absolutely be a win for the employees and a big ‘L’ for the employers.

If it does stay in place, while there are many industries that will be affected, media companies have to be very concerned about what this will mean to them.

As a Market Manager or when I was a managing partner, I never much cared for non-competes. I get having the protection that my hit show isn’t going to walk across the street at the end of a contract, but most of the time it is companies holding people, who they don’t even want, to non-competes.

I never got the logic of someone getting fired for poor performance and then spending any time or energy caring about where that person works next. We have all hired or worked with sellers who just did not work out. I wanted those sellers to go across the street. Let them waste time on someone who isn’t willing to do the work it takes to be successful. If you think you have some sort of magic potion that will work, good luck.

I remember a situation at a station where there was a certain on-air personality who was pretty much a disaster. Late all the time, mean to people, wasn’t a team player, did the bare minimum, wasn’t great on the air, put no extra effort in, you know the kind. I could not believe the fight the company was putting up about the person’s non-compete clause.

They didn’t want the talent, in fact, were counting down the days until the expiration of the contract. But, as soon as someone else in the market expressed interest, they couldn’t wait to block the person from trying to get a job in her industry to try and feed her family.

You will hear media and other companies say things like, ‘well, non-competes help us protect our trade secrets.’

Oh yeah, what trade secrets? What trade secrets can a talk-show-host or salesperson take to someone that is going to make a difference? Look, I love the industry, but what we do is not rocket science. We are not on Dr. Oppenheimer’s team on some secret mission.

You hear what we say, you read what we post, you watch the videos, you hear our commercials. And let’s face it, there hasn’t been a secret kept in a media office since the beginning of time. If KDKA went on the air on November 2, 1920, employees were gossiping to one another by November 3, 1920.

Besides, most information can be protected by non-disclosure agreements. And as for the salespeople there are non-solicitation agreements which can cover them not having a client on your station one day then hopping to a different station and trying to take that same client. There is no need to also block them from trying to make a living in what (in some cases) they were trained to do.

It was a good run for media companies with the non-competes, but someone (or three people) finally woke up and realized it was always about keeping people’s pay down and giving them less ability to negotiate.

FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement. “Noncompete clauses keep wages low, suppress new ideas and rob the American economy of dynamism, including from the more than 8,500 new startups that would be created a year once non-competes are banned.”

Here is an idea for companies as it relates to retaining top talent in any department of the office – treat your people well. Don’t treat them like they are Employee No. 716 and disposable. If you have people that you would hate to see working for your competition, worry more about what you should be doing to help that person continue to grow, feel appreciated and be a company that someone wants to work for and represent and this new ruling shouldn’t be a problem.

At the same time, I’d warn those chomping at the bit to go get that offer from the other station in town that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. We will most likely see some people make big mistakes in the name of trying to get a better deal. What may look good for a short period of time, might turn into a major regret and then you’ve put your own non-compete in place.

Now, most likely, at some point this lands at the feet of the Supreme Court and it will be a few years before we know the result. But for now, it is nice to think that the long nightmare of non-compete clauses may finally be over.