Pink's Bottom Line on Media, Money and Sports

Hope for live events, promise for 5G and the best record in baseball

It’s been a great first week for the newsletter as we’ve seen subscriptions grow rapidly every day. Thanks again to everyone for their words of encouragement and support as well as their thoughtful critiques. As always, please let me know your thoughts on anything that we do with the newsletter. Have a great weekend and enjoy today’s edition.

MEDIA: Live Nation and the Number 86

While the origin of the phrase “86 it” isn’t certain, the meaning of the term is – it means to throw something out. Toss it away. Get rid of it.

That’s probably what Live Nation Entertainment wanted to do with its second quarter this year. As you might expect, the world’s biggest live entertainment company struggled mightily, posting a staggering 98% drop in revenue in the second quarter of this year compared to last year. The postponement of events due to the Coronavirus is the obvious culprit for the company’s weak performance.

However, there are green shoots for the company, and it all starts, ironically enough, with the number 86. In this case, the company says 86% of customers are keeping their tickets to postponed shows rather than getting refunds. In other words, most concertgoers did not 86 their plans to attend live events.

Additionally, Live Nation sounded confident that it could weather the recent destruction of its business from Coronavirus. During Live Nation’s conference call this week, CEO Michael Rapino said, “Our expectation that live events will return at scale is the summer of 2021, with ticket sales ramping up in the quarters leading up to these shows.”

Pink’s Bottom Line

Live Nation is giving hope to the beleaguered live events portion of the entertainment industry, which I believe will be critical for a solid recovery of the industry as a whole.

Live Nation executives appear confident. Customers aren’t 86ing their tickets for refunds. As such, I wouldn’t 86 the idea of a strong second half of 2021 for the entertainment business, either.

MONEY: T-Mobile Sprints to 5G

It’s been a big week and a big past few months for T-Mobile. The wireless carrier finalized its merger with Sprint in the second quarter, rebranded its Sprint stores as T-Mobile a few days ago and has generally been making a lot of noise in the marketplace.

The company also reported strong earnings this week and notably said that it now boasts the second most wireless customers in the United States, surpassing AT&T, but still trailing Verizon.

What really struck me, though, were comments about 5G made by T-Mobile President and CEO Michael Sievert during last night’s earnings call with analysts.

Sievert said, “I really believe that as the 5G era finally gets underway at scale later this year, this is our moment.”

For those who aren’t familiar with 5G, it’s essentially the next generation of wireless connectivity and potentially offers speeds far greater than the current LTE networks. 5G, if it lives up to its hype and potential, truly is a game changer for the entire industry.

Pink’s Bottom Line

The wireless carrier that delivers the best, strongest and most reliable 5G service in 2020/2021 could ultimately distance itself from its rivals for many years to come. Here’s why.

Consumers will have many more 5G device options to purchase in the next 12 months and customers will likely migrate immediately to the network that offers the best 5G service so they can take full advantage of those new devices and speedier networks.

For most of the past decade or so, it has been a two-horse race among wireless carriers with Verizon and AT&T leading the way. T-Mobile, with its organic growth and with its acquisition of Sprint, now has become a very strong third player.

While it’s hard to predict which one of three carriers will emerge as the winner in the push for 5G, one winner is crystal clear to me – the American consumer, at least for the next 12 to 18 months. Consumers should benefit as all three carriers compete aggressively for that elusive 5G supremacy.

SPORTS: Marlins Fever – Catch It!

Do you which team has the best record in baseball? That’s right – it’s the Miami Marlins at 6-1, which represents more then 10% the games they will play in this very strange regular season. Remember, teams only play 60 regular season games this year, not 162 as usual.

Here’s why the fast start is so important. The Marlins could play .500 baseball the rest of the season, and they almost certainly would make the playoffs. They could even go a few games under .500 the rest of the way, and they still probably would sneak into the postseason.

That’s because the playoffs this year have expanded to include 16 of the 30 total teams in baseball — basically, if you have a halfway decent regular season record, you’re going to the playoffs.

Pink’s Bottom Line

While the new expanded playoff format could keep more teams alive in the pennant race late into the regular season and should even create some excitement down the stretch run, I worry that this is the beginning of the end to a meaningful regular season in baseball.

I fear the regular season soon will begin to lose its relevance and importance, as has happened in both the NBA and NHL. That said, I don’t think Major League Baseball looks back from here. I fully expect some form of expanded playoffs to persist even after baseball goes back to a 162 game regular season. In the meantime, it’s not too late to jump on the Marlins bandwagon.

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