USSSA Pride leaves NPF

[CoachJD]

ESPN will get on board, for the right payment. NPF management didnt want to pay it.

I agree TV would help. FS1 or NBC/CBSsports, anything on regular cable would be a good start. I refuse to pay for FLOsoftball. Softball parents pay a lot already for their own kids stuff. Then to ask them to pay for that too? Jmho

Hold on... paying ESPN? Does any other sports league pay ESPN to broadcast? I just assumed the payment went the other way.

 

[marriard]

Hold on... paying ESPN? Does any other sports league pay ESPN to broadcast? I just assumed the payment went the other way.

Short answer: Yes. Though probably not the primary ESPN channel - but certainly ESPN2/ESPN+/etc... same with Fox SPorts, NBC Sports and so on.

Long answer:

There are all sorts of deals that can be worked out, but at the beginning of a new league, in general any TV deal is going to be on the league first. Especially for a sport like Pro Softball which has unfortunately failed multiple times now. It is a tough sell without really going for a new strategy (which we have discussed here multiple times) versus just trying the same BS again and hoping that MAYBE this time it will work.

I know there have always been some zero dollar deals to broadcast on stations on dead hours and you bear the cost of production. Channels like ESPN2, FoxSports2, etc used to take content from third-parties and then show it at 2am at no cost. It is what you do to try and promote your sport or just get it some air time. Some overseas sports do this - Australian Rules Football on FS2 is probably a deal similar to this - so was some of FIBA Euroleague Basketball, FIVB World League Volleyball and so on. For those sports it is easy because they are popular in other countries so they already have content - they just need a place to broadcast it in the USA to try and grow their audience. You also often see it for Grand Finals or other similar events for sports that are just not popular here except among an ex-pat population.

For some sports, the channel may be willing to take on the cost of production in exchange for free content and sports exposure. I suspect there is a fair bit of this in various NCAA sports. With internet streams and advances in camera tech and communication tech it is way easier than it used to be to broadcast a sporting event than it used to be,

If you can build an audience, then it starts to move to the channel paying for the sport and content - but you have to invest heavily to build that audience. That requires big MONEY and there is no guarentees. And Pro Softball is an expensive event to put on - not in salaries but travel and hosting games. That i8s why they don't market well - they have ZERO money for that either.

 

[4 girl's dad]

Yes NHRA paid to have their races broadcast. Espn went up and they left to fs1 and now produce their own shows.

That’s just one example. Corn Hole would be another.