Is the city of Miami a football or basketball town?
We soon might find out.
The Miami Heat and Miami Dolphins play on Oct. 31 at 1 p.m. and both teams have deals with Clear Channel Broadcasting for radio broadcast of those games.
According to the Clear Channel contract, Dolphins games are heard on WBGG-FM, but the Heat have a “most favored nation” clause in their deal for priority broadcast position, which happens to be the same station.
Eriq Gardner of The Hollywood Reporter breaks down the lawsuit:
According to the lawsuit, Clear Channel’s agreement with the Dolphins granted the team broadcast rights on WBGG-FM as well as WINZ-AM, plus the right to sell advertising. The broadcaster allegedly also gave the Dolphins two hours of pre- and post-game time whereas the Heat only got a half-hour. The Heat claim Clear Channel also gave the Dolphins rights to create other shows such as twice weekly specials devoted to interviews with coaches and players, as well as an HD channel centered on the Dolphins. Other considerations were allegedly made, including outdoor promotions, public service announcements, charitable events and rights fees that were more favorable to the Dolphins.
The Heat have filed legal action against Clear Channel for breach of contract, good faith and fair dealing.
Will Heat fans really be that upset over one game out of 82 that’s not on the radio?
If the Heat weren’t relevant again, this would be a non-issue.
Chalk this one up to the LeBron Factor.