Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports
IAC's latest acquisition, jobless claims and the baseball playoffs
In today’s newsletter, I discuss IAC's latest acquisition, jobless claims and the baseball playoffs.
MEDIA: IAC’s Latest Acquisition
The National Media Group consists of well know media brands including PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens and Allrecipes.
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The deal will put some strong, traditional media brands under the umbrella of a digital first media company in IAC’s Dotdash.
It is another sign that traditional media brands are adapting to the new era of digital media, and it is likely that similar deals like this one will continue to happen for the foreseeable future.
MONEY: Weekly Initial Jobless Claims
That’s down from a revised 364,000 from the prior week and it marks the first weekly decline in claims in four weeks.
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For some context, a year ago, there were 782,000 initial jobless claims, while prior to the pandemic, weekly claims hovered around the 250,000 level.
Still, the latest weekly number is encouraging, and it signifies that the labor market is strengthening — there had been fears that the job market might be weakening due in part to the spread of the Delta variant over the past few months.
SPORTS: Baseball Playoffs
The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals last night 3-1, and they will now face the San Francisco Giants in a National League Division Series.
All of that suggests that the two best teams in baseball are meeting in a Divisional Series rather than in the National League Championship Series (NLCS).
Pink's Bottom Line
That’s why baseball should change the way it seeds the playoff teams. Currently, it places the division winners — regardless of records — and the two teams with the next best records in the playoffs.
The non-division winners play a one-off game — the Los Angeles-St. Louis game last night, for example — to determine the final four teams to play for the pennant.
Instead, the playoffs should still have all three division winners and the two teams with the next best records.
However, at that stage, major league baseball should reseed the teams by record only — much like what happens in the NBA Playoffs.
For this year, that would have meant that the top two seeds in the National League would be the Dodgers and the Giants, and as a result, they couldn’t meet until the NLCS.
Jeremy Pink is currently COO of Geniecast, a leading virtual content and experience company. He is the former CEO of private-equity backed Broadcast Sports International where he helped lead the company to a successful sale and exit during his tenure there. He is also a former CNBC television executive in New York, London and Singapore.
The information contained in this communication is strictly for general informational and entertainment purposes and is not meant to be construed as financial, investment, tax, or legal advice. This communication is not a solicitation to buy or sell any securities. I am not a financial advisor or offering professional advice of any kind. Users should not act upon the content or information found within this communication without first seeking professional advice appropriate for their individual situation. Decisions based on information contained in this communication are the sole responsibility of the user, and use of this communication and its contents constitutes an explicit understanding and acceptance of the foregoing disclaimers.
(Newsletter Editor: Karina Pink)