Michael Jordan documentary is prime rib for starved sports media

On Sunday evening, ESPN will release the first episode of its new Michael Jordan series, perhaps the most anticipated sports documentary since "O.J.: Made in America."

It arrives at a fragile time for the most powerful sports media company in the world. ESPN has suffered steep declines in viewership without live events, which are the centerpiece of its schedule all year. Advertisers are pulling back from TV, wondering where else they can reach large numbers of people at once.

For years, ESPN has hoarded the TV rights to sporting events so nobody could compete for fans' allegiance. It's built TV networks, shows, radio programs, podcasts and websites around those events. Talk shows "First Take," "Around the Horn" and "Pardon the Interruption" don't work so well when there are no games to dissect.

Of course it's not just ESPN that needs the lift. There is an entire sports media ecosystem starved for material. I feel a twinge of sadness looking at morning emails from Major League Baseball, The Athletic and the Los Angeles Times. I love these organizations, and they are trying so hard to satisfy sports fans. But there are only so many times I can read about a baseball player stuck at home, or a retrospective of a game from 35 years ago.

Whistle Sports has rebooted its entire programming strategy this summer to come up with new material that isn't about live sports. Barstool Sports is doing the same, turning its podcasts into video series, including one where Dave Portnoy opens packages (what's known on YouTube as an unboxing video).

''We're trying to be as creative as possible," Barstool's Chief Executive Officer Erika Nardini said. "We're producing a lot of new content."

That's why you should expect sports media companies to treat this Jordan documentary like the NBA Finals, analyzing moments in each episode like a Lebron no-look pass or a Giannis dunk.

ESPN is producing a companion series in which players break down individual games, and also airing two different versions of the documentary (one with swearing, and one without). The Ringer plans to recap old Jordan games every Sunday night after an episode, while Whistle is going to be posting regularly across social media.

"We would have done 1 or 2 minor social posts around Jordan," Whistle's Joe Caporoso said. "Now it will be a much higher volume. We're treating it like a live sporting event." -- Lucas Shaw

The music industry's lost summer

Photographer: Kevork Djansezian/AMA2018/Getty Images

While sports leagues and restaurants try to figure out when they can reopen to the public, there’s growing recognition among music industry executives that concerts won’t be coming back anytime soon. In the past couple of weeks, festivals have cleared out of May and June, while those in July and August are just waiting to reschedule.

Summer is the most lucrative time of year for the concert business, and the industry stands to miss out on more than $5 billion in ticket sales if there are no shows all summer. Most promoters and managers tell me they think the industry won't be up and running until some time next year. Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber have already pushed their concerts to 2021.

“The live concert industry might be in the most difficult position of any industry in America,” said Gregg Perloff, one of the organizers of Outside Lands. “You never hear people talk about it. They talk about airlines. They talk about the auto industry. But the reality is they’ll be back in business way before the concert industry is back.” (Outside Lands is still on the calendar for August, but is exploring a move to October or next year.)

Subscribe to your local newspaper

What a brutal week for journalists.

• Gannett, the largest publisher in the country, is requiring leaves for every employee making over $38,000. 
• The Los Angeles Times, the largest newspaper in California, fired staff, as did The Hollywood Reporter, a leading Hollywood trade. 
• Vox Media, one of the largest digital publishers and owner of New York Magazine, announced it was furloughing 9% of its staff.

And that's just to name a few. “You’ve had whole categories of advertisers just exit the market immediately,” David Chavern, president of the News Media Alliance, told Gerry Smith.

The advertising slump isn't going to end any time soon. So please consider supporting one (or many) publications with a subscription. News is vital to the functioning of our democracy, and subscriptions are, in most cases, quite affordable.

Introducing the Roblox playdate

Photographer: Chris Harnan

Move aside Twitch, Netflix and Disney+, we've got a new hot app.

With many kids and teenagers stuck at home with little to do, Roblox’s usage has skyrocketed in recent weeks. It has become a destination for virtual playdates and parties. On March 21, the company hosted its Bloxys ceremony, which honors game developers. Roughly 600,000 people showed up with their avatars to celebrate and socialize.

Founded in 2004, Roblox serves up a vast universe of games. Its millions of offerings are built by its users, who also get a share of related revenue. Two-thirds of all U.S. kids between 9 and 12 years old use Roblox, and it’s played by a third of all Americans under the age of 16, according to the company.

The week's must-reads

Post Malone Is Planet Earth's Most Relatable Pop Star

The well-tattooed Texan crooner is the Nickelback of our times. Or is he the Creed?  

ESPN, Disney Channel Suffer Steep Declines in Ratings

Prime-time viewers for the Disney Channel slumped almost 37% in the second week of April.

Chinese Billionaire Who Bet Big on Cinemas Stung By Theater Shutdown

Wang Jianlin, who owns AMC Cinemas, has lost 19% of his fortune this year. (He's still got $14 billion.)

Houseparty Views With Zoom to be Homebound Chatters' App of Choice

The Epic Games-owned startup has seen 50 million signups in the past month. 

Gamers May Have a Cure for Distressed Shopping Malls

To lure in young customers, shopping-mall owners and big-box retailers across the U.S. have been turning to esports venues.

Weekly playlist

Fiona Apple's new album is the talk of music Twitter, so you should probably check it out. I watched the Coachella documentary on YouTube this past week, which sent me off to listen to Madonna, Daft Punk and Arcade Fire. There's a good Spotify playlist for it.

As for watching? New episodes of "Insecure" on HBO and "Mrs. America" on Hulu, as well as "Crip Camp" on Netflix.

The latest episode of the New Yorker is a banger. Nick Paumgarten on the economic toll of the pandemic, Jane Mayer on Mitch McConnell and Michael Specter on Dr. Fauci.