As it prepares to televise Super Bowl LVIII from Las Vegas on February 11, four CBS divisions are taking up residency in Sin City, building outdoor sets from which shows will originate starting February 5.

Naturally, CBS Sports will play a big role. 

The NFL Today will be counting down to the championship.  

Super Bowl Live will be offering news and analysis leading up to the big game

The free 24/7 streaming service CBS Sports HQ will have more than 40 hours of programming, finishing with an extended Super Bowl post-game show

Other sports shows originating from Vegas are NFL Monday QB, That Other Pregame Show, We Need To Talk, The Jim Rome Show and Time to Schein.

CBS News’s CBS Mornings will originate live from Vegas on Thursday and Friday or Super Bowl week. CBS Saturday Morning will also air from the site of the game.

CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell will broadcast live from Las Vegas. In addition, the CBS Stations and some CBS affiliates will be broadcasting from the Bellagio hotel.

CBS Entertainment’s show The Talk will be in town Monday through Friday.

The Drew Barrymore Show, from CBS Media Ventures, will tape Drew’s News and field segments in Las Vegas during the week. Syndicated shows Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition will also originate from the Super Bowl venue.

CBS announced its plans during CBS Mornings.

To look at the Las Vegas Strip today, crawling with tourists en route to the next casino, restaurant or show, it is hard to imagine that the thoroughfare was closed for some three months in COVID-19’s heyday. More high-end hotels are launching, including the Fontainebleau late in 2023 and Dream Las Vegas a year later. 

“Visitation and tourism are back to pre-pandemic levels, which is very encouraging,” said Larry Strumwasser, VP and general manager of KSNV, KVCW and KVMY. “People are coming out here to Las Vegas.”

DMA No. 40 has succeeded in its game plan to become a big-league sports town. The Golden Knights joined the NHL in 2017, and the Oakland Raiders shifted to Vegas in 2020. “The dream of this market was to become a sports market, and that has happened,” said Michael Korr, VP and general manager of KVVU. “And there’s still potential for more growth.”

That may include a potential MLB or NBA franchise. 

Super Bowl LVIII, to take place in 2024, will be in Vegas. CBS has the game. 

In addition to the major-league franchises, Vegas also boasts of a bunch of minor league teams, including indoor football and lacrosse. 

TV is a hard-hitting game as well. Gray Television closed on its acquisition of market leader KVVU, a Fox affiliate, late last year. Sinclair Broadcast Group owns KSNV-KVCW-KVMY, an NBC-The CW-MyNetworkTV trio. Nexstar Media Group has CBS affiliate KLAS and Scripps owns ABC outlet KTNV. Telemundo has KBLR and Entravision owns Univision station KINC. Estrella TV airs on Sinclair’s KSNV dot-two channel.

Cox Communications is the market’s primary pay TV operator. 

KVVU had the best 6 to 7 a.m household rating in July, per Nielsen, while KTNV won the 25-54 race. KTNV won both races at 5 p.m., the demo contest a tight win over KVVU. At 6 p.m., KTNV won the households and KVVU the demo. Moving on to 11 p.m., and KLAS had 14,569 households, ahead of KVVU’s 12,232, KTNV’s 10,561 and KSNV’s 10,555. KVVU had 5,102 viewers in 25-54 at 11 p.m., while KTNV had 4,292, KLAS had 3,437 and KSNV drew 2,502. 

KVVU wins with stability in the on-air team, including long-running anchor John Huck, and in providing news when the other stations have not. “I think the biggest thing is, we are always there,” Korr said. 

A Fox5 7 p.m. newscast launched August 1, and a 2 p.m. news arrives September 5, in place of Ellen. That will give KVVU 15½ hours a day of local content. “When you need local news, we are the station you turn to,” Korr said. 

Rivals Respond

The other stations are hustling to win over viewers. Jay Howell took over the top spot at KLAS in February and Dan Salamone was named 8 News Now news director in December, shifting from a corporate post at Nexstar, where he focused on local content development. 

KLAS is making a big bet on investigative, including the work of chief investigative reporter George Knapp. One recent story detailed wild horses dying while being kept at government holding pens, and another reported on a Black man who spent six days in jail when police mistook him for a white man with the same name. 

All the stations cover crime and weather and local business, Howell said, but “you make your mark with unique investigative content.”

Howell praises parent Nexstar, mentioning the Washington, D.C., bureau that supplies the stations and groupwide program NewsNation. KLAS at times shares special programming with sister Nexstar stations when a big event is in Vegas, such as the Grammys or the NFL draft. “The thing about Vegas, there’s always an event here,” Howell said. 

Jeff Kiernan started as KTNV VP and general manager on July 25, after being news director at Scripps stations WXYZ Detroit and WTMJ Milwaukee. Jessie Williams, formerly of WSYM Lansing, is on board as news director. Willie Garrett is the new creative services director, shifting from KSNV. 

Kiernan vowed to “serve Las Vegas with the best journalism, serve clients with the best solutions on our various platforms, and serve our communities with the stories we tell.”

Kiernan noted the “meaningful investigations” at KTNV, and growing OTT presence. 

An expansion of local news could happen at 13 Action News. “We’re always evaluating that,” Kiernan said. “There’s an appetite for news in this market.”

KSNV juxtaposes its News 3 local product with Sinclair program The National Desk. The station has an initiative focused on mental health that runs in newscasts and specials. “We’re trying to build the exposure in the marketplace when it comes to mental health,” said Strumwasser. “It is all hands on deck.”

KBLR has a lively Spanish-language news lineup that includes two-minute briefs at 7:25, 8:25 and 9:25 a.m., noon news, then 5, 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts. The station also features a five- to seven-minute digital newscast called Dale Play that can be found on Roku, Apple TV, TelemundoLasVegas.com and the station app. 

“Telemundo Las Vegas is the only Spanish-language TV broadcaster in the market that produces live local news here in Las Vegas,” Ramiro Lopez, president and general manager, said. “Our facilities are here, our talent is here and we are proud to serve southern Nevada’s Spanish-speaking community.”

Lake Mead, about 25 miles from Vegas, is a constant source of news for the stations. As the lake dries up, disposed bodies are found with frightening frequency. “It’s the biggest concern and the biggest story,” Korr said. 

Political Payday

Political spending is through the roof, with governor, Senate and House hopefuls all shoveling cash at TV. “We usually see a break between the primary and general elections,” Strumwasser said. “But with aggressive, tight races, the spending hasn’t stopped.”

Multiple House races are, in Howell’s words, “toss-ups.” 

While tourists favor the Strip, Vegas residents are more focused on the communities they live in. Multiple general managers described the market as “a big small town” — loads to see and do, but also a place where one often bumps into friends and colleagues, especially away from the Strip. “It’s got a small-town feel for a big city,” Korr noted. 

With tourism going strong, the Vegas economy is on solid footing. “Except for inflation impacting the cost of goods, we feel like our economy is moving in the right direction,” said Lopez.

Residents cite the restaurants and nightlife, pro sports, short commutes, outdoor activity options and the access to other states, including California and Arizona, as key attributes to Las Vegas life. “There is so much happening here,” new arrival Kiernan said. “The excitement in Vegas is on the Strip and beyond the Strip.” ￭

Check out dozens of Local News market profiles at https://www.nexttv.com/features/local-news-close-up.

Broadcasting+Cable has been checking in with various broadcasters about their expectations for this year’s NAB Show, scheduled for April 23-27 in Las Vegas. Senior content producer, finance Mike Farrell recently spoke with Joel Davis, VP and general manager of Capitol Broadcasting’s WRAL and WRAZ in Raleigh, North Carolina. An edited transcript follows. 

B+C: What are your plans for attending the show this year? Is this bigger or about the same size as you have done in the past?

Joel Davis: We are taking about six people from the company and the No. 1 thing is to reconnect with business partners and friends we haven’t seen in two years because of COVID restrictions. The reconnection part of this year is huge. We’re a relatively small broadcasting company, so we really thrive on the interaction we get with others in the industry, and it's just been way too long since we’ve been able to do that. This is about the same size [of people] as we’ve sent before. But we’ve got a little backlog on things we hope to accomplish since we haven't been able to be there for a while. 

B+C: Others have pointed to the vibe around the NAB Show, how it’s different than some other shows because of the opportunity to bump into people on the show floor and strike long-term relationships. Do you agree?

JD: I think there is a sense of human connection that we’ve all been missing in this industry, and the collaboration that comes even when you’ve got different people from different companies preparing notes on how things are done. It’s one thing to do a demo over Zoom, it’s another thing to see things in actuality. The rate that the industry is changing. Look at just what’s happened here in the past couple of years — the move with the 24/7 streaming channel. We purchased another broadcast station in town and have turned it into WRAL Sports Plus. We’re looking at the best technology to run that efficiently and own local sports content in a way that hasn’t been possible before. We’re really approaching this as a streaming channel that just happens to be broadcast TV and cable as well. 

We’ve got sports contracts with the local major soccer team, the Durham Bulls baseball team, we’ve broadcast all of those events. But this is the kind of sports channel that can get down to broadcasting the Youth Soccer Game of the Week. We need tools to be able to do that in a really cost-effective way. There’s a lot of stuff that’s new in the market in the past two years that we just haven’t had a chance to get our hands on. So, we’re interested to see some of the tools that are out there that will help with some of the new products we have since the last NAB.

B+C: What are your feelings about the new structure of the show, around the three pillars of Create, Connect and Capitalize? Does that make it easier to do some of the things you’re talking about?

JD: It does. In a practical sense, you kind of know where to go now. One of the things that’s always a little bit daunting with the show is that it’s massive. Having it a little bit compartmentalized into three major categories, helps to frame your mind around what is there and where to go to get it.

B+C: You mentioned streaming. Are there any other technologies that you’re interested in exploring at the show? 

JD: There are a number of things we’re interested in. ATSC is the future for all of us, so, looking at what companies have put together that make it easier for us to implement the advantages of [ATSC 3.0] is important. We are looking at things that help us be more efficient in what we do, like our archives project, where we’re able to look at what we’ve put together over all these years and how we can best maximize its use in the future. We want tech to exist to be able to efficiently identify and access all the great stuff that sits in our building now, but is just collecting dust unfortunately at the moment.   

B+C: A lot of trade shows are geared toward the bigger companies in particular industries, and sometimes smaller firms can get lost in the shuffle. That doesn’t seem to be the case at NAB. Do you agree?

JD: We’re one of the smallest broadcasting companies out there, and where other broadcasting companies have gone wide, we’ve gone deep. We own local news, weather and sports in the community where we live and work. We’ve come out of every NAB with a purchase list just like other companies do. We may purchase different things, we may be looking at different things strategically, but I get as much benefit out of going to NAB with Capitol Broadcasting as I did when I was a general manager with Scripps, perhaps even more so. If I see something that is really cool, I’ll call up the president of our company and have him come take a look at it, and we may have a purchase by the time we leave Las Vegas. ■ 

Dish Network has been pretty adamant over the years in insisting that it can build a state-of-the-art 5G network at a lower cost than any of its competitors, but on Thursday, showed that it all depends on where you’re looking.

In releasing its Q3 results Nov. 4, Dish again insisted that it will cost about $10 billion to build its 5G network, but also revealed that it will spend about $13.6 billion over the long term on tower leases. That, coupled with another delay for the launch of its first market -- Las Vegas --  and the general lack of visibility around the wireless product spooked investors enough to drive the stock down more than 15% on Thursday.

“For a network that is supposedly only going to cost $10 billion to build – and, yes, they haven’t even started really ‘building’ yet – they are already $14 billion underwater,” wrote MoffettNathanson principal and senior analysts Craig Moffett in a research note Thursday.

Moffett added that the tower leases will be spread out over a period of at least 10 years and should be counted as debt, with the bulk of payments coming after 2025.

Also: Dish Signals $5 Price Increase Across Satellite TV Tiers

“This enormous accrued liability will steadily come to the income statement over a period of at least a decade (fully $7.4 billion of the obligation is for periods after 2025),” Moffett wrote, adding that only $1.6 billion of the $13.6 billion in long-term obligations is for capex. 

“By comparison, their $281 million of 5G Network Deployment capex in Q3 is a drop in the bucket,” he continued. “But it is nevertheless nearly 13x what they spent a year ago, and is now starting to be a material drag on free cash flow.”

Dish shares fell as low as $36.44 per share on Nov. 4, down 15.4% or $6.65 each, after the company said it would spend $13.6 billion on long-term tower leases for the network. The company maintained in securities filings that it still expects the 5G network to cost about $10 billion to construct. The stock closed at $37.08 per share on Nov. 4, down 14% each. On Friday, shares rebounded slightly, closing at $37.87, up 2% or 79 cents each.   

On a conference call with analysts to discuss Q3 results Thursday, Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said no one should be surprised about costs rising because Dish is building the network at a lower cost than anyone has ever built a national wireless network before. Dish has been signing on partners for the service for months, including Amazon’s AWS, to help build out the network, which is based on Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology that utilizes a series of small antennas and base stations to deliver service via the cloud. But Ergen added that Dish hasn’t been so good at explaining what it is doing.

“We’re not exactly understood by the industry as much, and part of that is because we don’t spend a lot of time going through strategically what we’re doing,” Ergen said on the call. “It’s a complicated story and it’s a little bit easier for us to just go do it and show people, as opposed to trying to explain it.”  

Also: Dish Wireless: Strong Stomachs Required

Dish now expects to launch its first 5G wireless market, Las Vegas, in the first quarter of 2022, the third delay in what was originally expected to be a Q3 and later a Q4 launch of the product.  Dish CEO Erik Carlson said on a conference call to discuss Q3 results that Dish is beta testing the service with ''friendly users” (mainly its own and vendor employees) in that market currently.

“I think about it as a pre-production environment or a development environment until fairly recently,” Carlson said of the Las Vegas network. “Just getting the radio software and the core network software to work well together and be reliable. …Vegas is coming along. We’re in beta test mode and we’ll progress that in the course of the next 90 days and look forward to launching Vegas sometime in the first quarter of 2022.”

On the conference call, Dish said it had about 42 markets under construction, including Las  Vegas.

Other analysts weren’t as down on the wireless business. In a note to clients Friday, Barclays Group media analyst Kannan Venkateshwar said while the higher costs and the slight Las Vegas launch delay probably contributed to Thursday’s stock decline, it is the general lack of visibility around its biggest potential growth product (wireless) that has many investors worried.  

“The bigger issue with Dish is that it is a story stock with very little by way of milestones beyond small data points around network build,” Venkateshwar wrote. “In that context, management's commentary during the call may have introduced some degree of pessimism around the pace of network build.” 

The analyst added that while Dish doesn’t seem to be affected by supply chain issues yet, the time-sensitivity associated with its market launches and regulatory deadlines do put the company in a bit of a predicament if equipment vendors were forced to prioritize. 

Adding to the concern is the possibility that Dish may have to seek outside financing in the future. Venkateshwar believes that Dish is likely to need external financing in 2022, and the company didn’t rule out the possibility of an equity raise, which may have rattled investors. Even if Dish was merely keeping its options open, taking on more debt -- which would likely be high interest due to declining free cash flow and a leverage ratio north of 5 times cash flow -- should be a cause for concern. 

Venkateshwar also mentioned the accelerated decline of Dish’s prepaid wireless business. Boost Mobile lost another 121,000 subscribers in Q3, its fifth consecutive quarter of decline. Boost has shed more than 1 million customers since Dish closed its purchase in July 2020. 

Although Venkateshwar said the losses aren’t surprising given the transition from the Sprint network to T-Mobile, “it does highlight the challenge of scaling a facilities-based service from scratch.”

In his note Venkateshwar wrote that he expects continued subscriber losses at Boost wireless adding that investors appear to be underwriting what they believe is significant execution and capital structure risk. At the same time, he wrote that the lack of visibility and round the network build out and additional needs for funding, make it difficult to keep the story going. 

“Therefore, while the [share price] move yesterday may have been excessive, it is not a stock that can be defended on valuation because investors don’t even have an outline of a business model or ultimate capital structure yet,” Venkateshwar wrote. “As a result, volatility is likely to be a constant feature in this stock in the coming months.”

With two years to go before it has to light up 70% of the country with its proposed 5G wireless service, Dish Network said it has inked a “strategic collaboration agreement” with online giant Amazon’s Amazon Web Services, selecting Las Vegas as the first city to receive service. 

Dish shares were up 5.4% ($2.01 each) in early trading April 21 to $38.90 per share on the news. The stock was priced at $38.70 per share, up 5% as of 10:40 a.m. on Wednesday.

Dish has been amassing wireless spectrum for years to build out its network, and last year agreed to buy another $3.6 billion worth of spectrum from T-Mobile over three years, part of the conditions imposed by the feds on the larger wireless company’s purchase of Sprint. As part of that deal, Dish has to build out its network to at least 20% of its footprint by 2022 and 70% by 2023, or risk losing those licenses. 

Also Read: Dish: No Partner Needed for 5G Wireless Dance  

The satellite company is basing its 5G offering on Open Radio Access Network (ORAN) technology, which utilizes a series of small antennas and base stations to deliver service via the cloud. With that tech focus, AWS, the most popular cloud provider on the internet, is a natural partner.   

Also Read: Dish Wireless Pushed Forward 

The selection of AWS is the next step in the long process of building the network. In an email message, MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett likened the deal to a similar arrangement AWS has with Verizon. 

“It’s certainly far short of the big strategic partnership people so many people have been waiting for,” Moffett said in the email. “ Strip away the marketing-speak, and the press release is really just an announcement that Dish has chosen AWS as a vendor.  What’s missing is any serious reciprocal commitment from AWS. If anything, it reads as less of a strategic partnership than the one that Verizon already has with AWS.”

Dish said the cloud-based service simplifies the process for developers to create new applications. 

“Through this collaboration with AWS, we will operate not just as a communications services provider, but as a digital services provider harnessing the combined power of 5G connectivity and the cloud,” Dish chairman Charlie Ergen said in a press release. “Together, we will enable our customers to take full advantage of the potential of 5G. Our approach will revolutionize wireless connectivity by giving customers the ability to customize and scale their network experience on-demand. 

“As a new carrier, leveraging AWS and its extensive network of partners enables us to differentiate ourselves by operating our 5G network with a high degree of automation, utilizing the talent of AWS-trained developers and helping our customers bring new 5G applications to market faster than ever before,” he continued.

Dish has been under the gun to start building the service -- it has to build out 20% of its footprint by the end of 2022 -- and in December issued about $2 billion in convertible notes to help fund the buildout. On its March earnings conference call with analysts, Ergen said that offering, coupled with about $4 billion in cash on hand, gives the satellite company sufficient firepower to build the network.

Dish has said it would cost about $10 billion to build its 5G network, a figure that some analysts have feared is too low. 

“DISH’s cloud-native and truly virtualized 5G network is a clear example of how AWS customers can use our proven infrastructure and unparalleled portfolio of services to reinvent industries,” Amazon Web Services CEO Andy Jassy said in a press release. “This collaboration means Dish and its customers can bring new consumer- and enterprise-centric services to the market as quickly as they’re created to deliver on the promise of 5G. Together, we’re opening the door to new technologies that will transform factories, workplaces, entertainment, and transportation in ways people have only dreamed.”

The UFC’s July 10 Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier pay-per-view fight card is set for Las Vegas and expected to take place in front of a capacity crowd, according to UFC president Dana White.

The UFC 264 event -- the third fight between the two fighters -- will take place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in front of a capacity crowd of “20,000 fans,” White said in a tweet Wednesday afternoon. 

Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak said Tuesday that he expects the state to be at 100 percent capacity by June 1, although the state’s mask mandate will remain in effect, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The UFC event will be the second for McGregor in 2021. The fighter -- who drew more than 4 million PPV buys for his 2017 boxing match with Floyd Mayweather -- lost to Poirier this past January. That fight generated a reported 1.2 million PPV buys domestically.

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Nexstar Media Group and the E.W. Scripps Co. on Tuesday began broadcasting using the new ATSC 3.0 Nextgen TV format at their stations in Las Vegas.

The new standard is designed to better mesh with internet-like technology and is expected to give viewers better pictures and sound and enable mobile reception. The stations are also working to develop new data broadcasting services.

“Today’s announcement is the realization of two decades of work, and we are proud to share this moment with Nexstar and Scripps as we usher in a new era of television with Nextgen TV,” said Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley. “With Las Vegas leading the way, select audiences will soon enjoy a more personalized and immersive experience, with better access to news and media than ever before. Looking ahead, we are eager for continued collaboration within our industry to fully realize the promise of Nextgen TV, and are excited to bring this innovation to audiences across the country, forever changing the way we use, and think of, broadcast television.”

Short-term the revenue impact will be limited until consumers buy new receivers and sets.

The new technology should help the stations better monetize its advertising inventory because of enhanced targeting capabilities, Ripley said. It also helps to protect content against piracy, he said.

The standard is capable of providing precision GPS services and efficiently send commands to internet-of-things devices, Ripley said. The biggest opportunity could come with the biggest mobile device, the automobile.

“As cars get more and more autonomous, they will demand more connectivity and data and our distribution system is ideally suited to send out large files to large geographic regions,” Ripley said. Sending 3D maps to vehicles is one application that has already been tested with automakers.

“Our successful collaboration with Sinclair and Scripps has brought Nextgen TV to Las Vegas. We look forward to cooperating with other broadcasters to roll out this new technology across the country,” said Perry Sook, CEO of Nexstar.

“Residents of Las Vegas will be among the first in the country to enjoy the immersive audio and video experience associated with this technical advancement,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Local Media for Scripps. “As we have seen in recent weeks, local television continues to play a critical role in the information and entertainment needs of families across America. Las Vegas will shortly benefit from an exciting modern viewing experience from local broadcasters.”

Ripley said that the broadcast business has commitments in hand to light up 3.0 in about 70% of the country.

“It does take some time and it took us about a year to do this Las Vegas deployment, so it's a little bit like herding cats and getting it all figured out,” he said. “This is a huge moment for us as an industry. Getting the first one's always the hardest and we have 25 cities that we are anticipating deploying in this year. So the ball is rolling as they say and it's just going to snowball from here.” 

KVVU-TV, Meredith’s Fox affiliate in Las Vegas, has been named the official broadcast home of the NFL Raiders, which are moving to Sin City this season.

Under the multi-year agreement KVVU gets exclusive market rights to carry Raiders pre-season games. During the regular season, the station will exclusively air the Raiders’ post-game shows and coach John Gruden’s week press conferences.

KVVU will also air a Las Vegas Raiders season preview show.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Much of the original programming airing on KVVU FOX5 will be created in the Raiders brand-new Cox Studios located in Henderson, Nev. at the team’s Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center.

“Fox 5 is thrilled to extend our Raiders partnership as their official broadcast home this inaugural year in Las Vegas and years beyond.” said Michael Korr, VP and general manager of KVVU. “We will continue to provide the most in-depth Raider news and coverage, in addition to pre-season games, press conferences and post-game shows as we finally get to enjoy Raiders football in Las Vegas.”

KVVU originally signed up with the Raiders in 2017, when the team announced plans to move from Oakland to Las Vegas.

“The Raiders are excited to continue our partnership with Fox 5 as the team’s official broadcast home in Las Vegas,” said Raiders president Marc Badain. “Together we remain committed to providing the best Raiders content and coverage to Raiders fans in Southern Nevada and throughout the Raider Nation.”

The station and the team said they plan to continue their community outreach partnership by creating new community-wide initiatives and programs that support and strengthen the Southern Nevada communities. 

A&E Network will delve into O.J. Simpson’s Las Vegas conviction in a new documentary special premiering Sept. 21.

The special, O.J.: Guilty in Vegas, reveals new details about Simpson’s arrest in 2007 that led to his conviction for armed robbery, according to A&E. The special features previously unreleased tapes including interrogation audio from the case and voicemails from O.J. himself as well as never-before-seen files and exclusive interviews.

This past July Simpson was granted parole and is expected to be released from prison in October. 

O.J.: Guilty in Vegas is produced for A&E Network by Outpost Entertainment in association with Martin Literary Management. Executive producers for the special are  Jodi Flynn, David George, Simon Thomas, Brent Jacoby, Michael Maloy and Sharlene Martin.

Green Bay + 2.5 versus Detroit. Seattle -5 against Denver. Roger Goodell will remain commissioner when the NFL kicks off its 2015 season, -300.

That’s some of the action in Las Vegas this weekend surrounding pro football, the latter following the beleaguered commissioner’s  press conference in New York Friday afternoon, where he again admitted his mistake in the handling of the Ray Rice disaster and said the league was taking steps to examine, amend the personal conduct policy.

“Unfortunately, in the past few weeks, we have seen all too much of the NFL doing wrong, that starts with me,” said Goodell. Pledging that he would take steps to ensure this wouldn’t happen again, Goodell said he plans to meet this week with player union representatives, NFL Players Association executive director Demaurice Smith, coaches, owners and outside experts to examine the league’s personal conduct policy.

The assembled press corps, smelling blood, wanted much more. CNN’s Rachel Nichols was in attack mode, while TMZ announced that it got a copy of Rice’s Revel elevator KO of his fiancé, now wife, Janay, with just one phone call, before querying how the league with all its power and prowess came up empty. Goodell replied: “I can’t explain how you got the information, only you can.”

Goodell said he’s never thought of resigning and that he believes he has the support of the owners.

His performance was in parts arrogant, dismissive and defensive.  Attempting to remain on his talking points, Goodell’s 45-minute pitch fell flat – like a punctured pigskin.  Watching on NFL.com, he looked overmatched, He was not a confident, much less a sympathetic, figure.  Did his pitch win your business?

ESPN piled on afterward, with an "Outside The Lines" report indicating that Baltimore Ravens ownership and executives knew of the elevator blow by blow, and they asked for two-game suspension leniency for Rice. The club said the report was rife with errors and it will address them later this week, following the Cleveland game.

As to the odds on Goodell, Vegas seems confident that he will continue to be the NFL's leader.

Yet, there are so many external factors beyond his control.  The league’s internal investigation may be so much window dressing, but news organizations may uncover more smoking gun(s) about when the league and Goodell found out about tape No. 2.

More episodes of domestic violence, child beatings, drugging or worse would keep Goodell’s shoes to the fire. It can’t be pleasant to have to wake up and hope there aren’t more NFL entries on the police blotter.

With Wes Welker and others having sustained multiple head injuries, another blow, especially accompanied by a preening DB standing over his fallen prey that ends a career, would exacerbate the league’s longer-term problems.

Or worse yet, a player takes a hit and just doesn’t get up.

While P&G’s Crest has pulled out of a league-wide Breast Cancer Awareness Month initiative in light of the domestic violence issues, other major sponsors have rebuked the NFL for its follies, but have not hurt the shield’s wallet by reducing or pulling schedules.  If A-B, Pepsi or Verizon and the like decide to take their dollars elsewhere, then…But remember that mass GRPs are hard to come by.

Conducted before Friday’s press conference, a NBC News/Marist poll found that while 53% of Americans surveyed “disapprove of the NFL's handling” of the events of the pass few weeks, 85% said it “will not affect how much football they watch.”  Moreover, only 30% though Goodell should resign.

Should multiple marketers pull their schedules or viewers leave in droves, then Goodell’s reign and his $44 million annual salary would be in serious trouble.

Failing that, the smart money says Goodell keeps his job.