SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
MillerCoors has agreed to a multi-year deal with Churchill Downs Racetrack calling for its Blue Moon brand to become the official craft beer of the Kentucky Derby. Blue Moon will also become the first-ever craft beer sponsor of Churchill Downs, and hold exclusive craft beer sponsorship rights year-round at the racetrack, including for the Kentucky Derby, which this year is scheduled for May 4.
To celebrate its legacy in the sport, the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame will induct the Goodyear Blimp as an honorary member of the College Football Hall of Fame. The blimp will be the first non-player or coach to be inducted. Among the Goodyear Blimp sports broadcast “firsts,” it was the first to provide aerial coverage of a major sports event and the first to deliver high definition live video to a national sports game. On a Blimpcast Jan. 7, ESPN will stream the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship from inside the Goodyear Blimp.
DIGITAL AND STREAMING
Which of the leagues in North America have the largest following? The NBA, according to a new study put forth by opendorse. With over 721 million followers on social, NBA players comfortably lead all leagues in total athlete audience size. NFL players held onto second place ahead of the up-and-coming MLS, which earned a big bump from transfer stars including Zlatan and Rooney. NHL players are less active than their peers in other sports, but their passionate fans are clearly hungry for more content from the players and have the highest collective engagement rate at just over 10 percent. The most active athletes? The WNBA, with an average of 250 posts per athlete engaged in the social space.
The PGA TOUR announced a renewed and expanded agreement with Twitter to distribute, on a free basis, nearly 140 hours of live competition from PGA Tour LIve across 28 tournaments during the 2018-19 PGA Tour Season. The multi-year agreement will stream on Twitter the first 60 to 90 minutes from the morning hours of all four rounds of PGA Tour Live’s Over-The-Top subscription window, on a global basis. The addition of Saturday and Sunday morning coverage will result in the most live PGA Tour content ever offered on Twitter.
The NFL launched a new skill for Amazon Alexa devices that will teach fans about players, rules and the history of American football. The skill, known as The Rookie’s Guide to the NFL, is designed to help casual fans better understand the sport, including terminology, and offers access to over 1,000 terms and pieces of trivia.
IMPACT Wrestling, a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment Corp., announced an expansion of its digital presence, launching a live stream of the weekly two-hour IMPACT! flagship show on Twitch Fridays at 10:00 p.m. ET when it also premieres on Pursuit Channel across the U.S. The premiere episode of IMPACT! on Twitch debuts Friday, Jan. 11 at 10:00 p.m. ET on IMPACT Wrestling’s official Twitch channel – www.twitch.tv/impactwrestling.
FloSports announced a multiyear agreement with four-time Major League Soccer Cup champions D.C. United to provide live and on-demand coverage for nearly all D.C. United home and away games and other select matches beginning in the 2019 season. The local media partnership marks the first-ever agreement for FloSports with a team in one of North America’s “Big Five” professional sports leagues. The agreement will also feature both English- and Spanish-language broadcasts.
ESPORTS
Amateur esports organizer Super League Gaming Friday filed a registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. The registration lists $25M as the placeholder for a maximum offering price, and they have applied to be traded under the stock ticker SLGG on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Book-runners for the IPO would be Northland Capital Markets and Lake Street.
ROSTER MOVES
Tennis Channel has agreed to a five-year extension with Hall of Famer Jim Courier that will run through 2023.
Pacific Pro Football, founded by sports agent Don Yee, announced its executive management team today, naming former NFL wide receiver and three-time Super Bowl Champion Ed McCaffrey as Commissioner, and former NFL Network Vice President Jamie Hemann as Chief Executive Officer.
THE MAIN EVENT
North Carolina visits North Carolina State at 9:00 pm on ESPN.
