Winners and losers in the sports business

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Bulls of the week

Nowhere on my sports bingo card did it suggest that former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick would be the American sports media personality of the week, but here we are; Watching the six-time Super Bowl champion bask in the glow of the overwhelmingly positive praise he received for his performance on the NFL Draft Day show hosted by Pat McAfee on Thursday.

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As a stern NFL coach decked out in his trademark grayscale Belichick hoodies, he rarely seemed interested in his mandatory press conferences, much less the insightful, precise and communicative manner he displayed in his ESPN debut. .

That’s the multiplier effect of the NFL Draft, though. It seems to make anything larger than life. The culmination of three months of largely indifferent speculation among media pundits and fans, the draft has dominated prime time for each and every one of the 15 years it has aired nightly.

This year, its first round is expected to draw an audience of more than 12 million in the U.S. and more than 275,000 in person at this year’s Mission Control in Detroit.

And that’s it for watching NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell read names off a list.

No impressive races. No spectacular catches. Not even a spectacular field goal of more than 55 yards. Just names from a list. In the United States, the announcement of those names eclipses the NBA’s average national audience of more than five million per game for the Denver Nuggets’ first-round playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers, and audiences of millions of viewers in both sides of the border. for the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs this week.

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Bears of the week

A .500 winning percentage won’t be enough for the Toronto Blue Jays, but here we are after Jon Schneider’s vaunted offense failed to score more than 10 runs in losing three of four games this week in Kansas City.

Things won’t get any easier for the 13-13 Blue Jays against Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend, nor over the summer in an American League East led by the 16-8 Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees. York 17-9.

The good news is that Toronto has 136 games left and is just four games shy of the mark in its division. His pitching has been solid and you have to think the bats will heat up at some point.

That said, the bad news is that Rogers is counting on a summer of containment to help move the turnstiles at the Rogers Centre. Of course, that is always the business imperative.

However, expectations are higher than ever this spring, as the venue just finished its long-awaited two-year, $400 million renovation that was a job very well done.

Even critics of the old SkyDome acknowledge that the renovation turns the 35-year-old stadium into one of MLB’s best venues, especially in terms of gathering places that attract younger fans.

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So far, however, the big bats expected to attract paying customers have remained largely silent, most notably Vladimir Guerrero Jr. And that has people wondering if they’ll lose their window entirely.

Tom Mayenknecht hosts The Sport Market on Sportsnet 650 on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Vancouver-based sports business commentator and principal at Emblematica Brand Builders offers a behind-the-scenes look at the sports business stories that matter most. fans. Follow Mayenknecht on: twitter.com/TheSportMarket.

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