#4 - Joel Lulla: Sports Law, ESPN's deals, Cable to DTC, Negotiating Winning Deals

Jan 18 2022 • 25 mins

Joel Lulla is a professor at The University of Texas at Austin where he lectures on topics around the business of sports and entertainment. Joel graduated law school with honors from UNC, worked with ABC Sports during their peak as the head of their Dept. of Legal & Business Affairs, worked with IMG as lead counsel selling sports media rights, and then ran his own consultancy with clients within the intercollegiate sports media space (among many) such as the Big 12 conference. He also served as the former Chairman of the Committee on Professional Sports of the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Section of the New York State Bar Association, has made appearances on several sports broadcast panels, and has been quoted as a sports media industry expert by numerous publications ranging from ESPN, The New York Times, CBS Sports, the Sports Business Journal, and many more.

OUTLINE:

0:00 Intro

1:45 Different roles Joel has worked in within the sports world

3:07 ABC Sports as the dominant sports broadcast network before ESPN took over

4:41 is ESPN still the sports industry leader in today’s changing marketplace?

They still make by far the most money
From cable to DTC bundles

5:58 Shift towards digital, how ESPN may monetize DTC space with ESPN+

8:05 What it’s really like for a sports lawyer to negotiate big deals

NF is so powerful that there’s not much negotiation, it’s almost like they’re too important and demand their (somewhat) reasonable number

10:52 Things you can do to sway negotiations in your favor and win deals

Look at similar deals elsewhere
Look at the revenue you want to generate
There are really no secrets ie how much your selling commercials for and making money w those rights
You’re just trying to come to reasonable understanding with other sides without pulling any fast ones

13:40 How bringing integrity and objective facts to deals and operating in good faith leads to landing better deals for the long-term