01/28/19: FOX Sports' Shanks talks mission

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Good morning. It’s Monday January 28, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

A transformative year at FOX on multiple levels has placed the company’s spotlight squarely on the power of FOX Sports and its role in driving premium, live events with the company last year landing rights to the Thursday Night Football franchise, along with deals that include the WWE, PBC, PBA, as well as a renewal of its MLB rights. With FOX’s run of NFL game broadcasts wrapping up with rating upticks for both packages, Cynopsis Sports caught up with FOX Sports CEO and Executive Producer Eric Shanks to discuss how the Disney sale impacts the division, the company’s recent deals as well as the upcoming Women’s World Cup.

Shanks on FOX’s approach to sports post-sale: FOX has always has been aggressive in sports. That’s the way we were born back in 1994 and we’ve stayed that way at our core. As soon as New FOX was announced, we were more aggressive than ever by increasing our portfolio of live, premier rights – TNF, WWE, MLB, PBC and PBA. It really feels like our mantra of Same Game, New Attitude is as relevant as ever when it comes to New FOX.

On pickups: Consumers have divided the media landscape into two distinct markets: Live and On Demand. FOX’s position as being the leader in live sports puts us in the best position to capitalize on the urgency of now when it comes to passionate fans and brands that want to be attached to the most premium of all live content. So, when we talk about solidifying our baseball relationship for the next decade, doing a five-year Thursday Night Football deal or WWE’s SmackDown LIVE coming to FOX Sports, that sets us up with a certain amount of predictability to run our business. This strategy strengthened and diversified our portfolio in 2018 and a big part of that diversification was getting into the PPV space with our PBC boxing deal. The other diversification comes from finding the perfect opportunity to be involved in the eSports and social broadcasting area with Caffeine.

On the acquisition of Caffeine and its view of esports: Business innovation and new technology implementation have always been at the heart of our brand. Investing in the Caffeine platform and starting Caffeine Studios was the perfect way for us to invest in eSports but it’s also exciting to see other types of content start to have success with the unique capabilities of the Caffeine platform. It’s early days but it’s exciting to see how real-time interactivity with eSports and other types of influencer driven content could launch new business models and new generations of fans. In 2019, our Caffeine Studios JV will focus on driving deals in the eSports space and others and bolstering that strong baseline of content with new influential users.

On NFL viewership: Our two priorities heading into the season were to put our best effort into elevating Thursday Night Football while maintaining our Sunday Game of the Week as the #1 show in all of television. We accomplished both of those goals. And when you factor in all the games being on one network for Thursday nights, with a better schedule than ever before, FOX kickstarted the NFL weekend in a way we had never done before. By having strong competitive matchups, Joe and Troy in the booth and the FOX way of producing the games — it was a season that provided a lot of momentum for us and all of the NFL’s partners.

On its approach to gambling: Fox Sports’ Lock It In is the pioneer and premier sports wagering show on television right now. We have an eclectic cast that has helps us engage with sports fans on a whole new level. And whether it’s fantasy, wagering or in-game wagering, it’s going to provide opportunity for more engagement. We’re continuing to learn a lot on the gambling front and you’ll see much more to come from FOX in an organic and an authentic way reflective of what the fans want. The current status is easing everybody into the system. State-by-state, we’re gathering intelligence: we’re all seeing how New Jersey is acting, and how the audience is reacting to it, how marketing is going. Then we’ll witness the move into other states. I think it’s a healthy way to roll out and allow people to prepare and do it the right way over the next five years.

On the Women’s World Cup: We are through one full World Cup cycle at FOX Sports with two more to go. Through our first men’s and women’s World Cups, we’ve developed a unique brand of storytelling for the US team and been prepared for stories that develop like Croatia making an historic run last year in what people said was the best World Cup ever.

Digital/social played an integral role in last summer’s World Cup and will do so again this summer. Due to the time difference, it was paramount to lean into our own digital products and mobile experiences and broker new partnerships with brands like Twitter to offer soccer fans access to content 24/7. Consumer appetite for digital content throughout the tournament was sizable, especially seeing as we set a number of streaming and highlights records over the course of the month. A good example is our highlight series is “90 in 90” (90 second highlights of 90 minute games), captured the perfect length for mobile consumption and did north of 100 million views across our digital platforms.

The collaboration with Twitter provided an opportunity to improve the live second screen experience by delivering native video on social in real-time for the first time ever in a World Cup. It’s the ideal partnership: we are all about live events and they are all about live conversations about live events. We expanded the partnership with Twitter for the Women’s World Cup and will be rolling out content ahead of the tournament, beginning with the SheBelieves Cup. The content will cover all the teams but focus heavily on the U.S. Women’s National Team.

PROGRAMMING

Super Bowl Week sees ESPN line up more than 40 hours of live programming from Atlanta starting Wednesday, with SportsCenter, NFL Live and more originating from ESPN’s Super Bowl headquarters at Centennial Olympic Park. ESPN’s Super Bowl programming also features daily editions of Golic and Wingo and First Take from the Atlanta Convention Center at AmericasMart and, on Sunday, pre- and post-game show.

Meanwhile, NFL Network and NFL Digital Media are on-location in Atlanta and a lineup of more than 90 hours of live coverage along with a roster of 60 on-air personalities. Programming launches today and includes coverage of Super Bowl Opening Night from State Farm Arena at 7p, as well as more than 11 hours of pregame and postgame coverage on Super Bowl Sunday, nightly editions of Super Bowl Prime from Wednesday-Friday at 9p, and live on-location telecasts of Good Morning Football, NFL Total Access, Super Bowl Live and NFL Players Only.

ESPN, the Southeastern Conference and the Big 12 Conference locked in a deal to extend the SEC/Big 12 Challenge for six more years. The annual event, in its sixth year, matches all 10 of the Big 12 members against 10 of the 14 programs from the Southeastern Conference. Each conference has the opportunity to host five games every year. The Challenge will continue to be played on a common Saturday bye date during the conference schedule,” said Greg Sankey, SEC Commissioner. “The SEC/Big 12 Challenge has become a date everyone circles on the college basketball calendar. Our fans and teams enjoy the competitive experience and high quality college basketball. We are pleased to extend this successful agreement with the Big 12 and ESPN.”

Motor sports journalist Bob Pockrass is hitting FOX Sports in 2019 to serve as a FOX NASCAR insider, offering breaking news, analysis and inside information across FOX Sports’ linear and digital platforms, beginning with the season-opening Daytona Speedweeks. Prior to joining FOX Sports, Pockrass, who has covered NASCAR since 1991, wrote for ESPN.com’s NASCAR and motor sports sections from 2015-2018. He also penned NASCAR stories for “The Sporting News” from 2012-2014 following his role as associate editor for “NASCAR Scene” and SceneDaily.com from 2003-2012.

FOX Sports saw FOX PBC Fight Night swell 67% over last year’s comparable PBC on FOX event. The company reports that it scored a 1.5/3 Nielsen metered market rating for the three-fight card, to tie the record for a FOX PBC event since 2016.

ONE Championship signed on as an exclusive partner to Japanese martial arts organization Shooto. The partnership will see both ONE Championship and Shooto work together to further develop the martial arts industry in Japan, Under the terms of the partnership, all Professional Shooto World Champions will receive the opportunity to compete in ONE Championship. In addition, the winner of the upcoming All-Japan Amateur Shooto Championship will receive the opportunity to train at Evolve MMA in Singapore for a year.

WWE is bringing back Halftime Heat for the first time in 20 years, announcing plans to live stream a special event across all WWE digital platforms and running during halftime of the Super Bowl on Sunday. The event will feature a Six-Man Tag Team Match pitting Aleister Black, Ricochet & Velveteen Dream against NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, newly crowned NXT North American Champion Johnny Gargano & Adam Cole.

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Major League Baseball, Nike and Fanatics locked in a new 10-year global partnership that designated Nike as the Official Uniform and Footwear Supplier of MLB starting in the 2020 season, providing players with uniforms developed by Nike’s team and will provide fans with the “widest assortment of MLB fan gear ever,” manufactured and distributed by Fanatics. The deal kicks in next year, where Nike will be the exclusive provider of all MLB on-field uniforms, which will feature the Nike Swoosh, along with baselayer, game-day outerwear and all training apparel for the 30 MLB Clubs. Fanatics has been granted broad consumer product licensing rights to manage the manufacturing and distribution of the Nike MLB Authentic Collection, as well as Nike and Fanatics fan gear, sold through the retail community, including MLBShop.com, MLB clubs and brick & mortar stores.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

TikTok announced the launch of its first officially licensed NFL player Augmented Reality (AR) stickers designed to add incredible simulation to fans’ video content. Partnering with SportsManias, and an officially licensed partner of the NFL Players Association, TikTok’s 3D AR animated stickers designed by SportsManias will showcase top players’ touchdown celebrations. Player activations are also in the works through the partnership SportsManias has with the NFLPA.

ESPORTS

Electronic Arts and the NFL signed on Bose, New Era Cap and SNICKERS to serve as the official brand sponsors of the Madden NFL 19 Championship Series where all three brands will integrate into series broadcasts to increase exposure with digitally-native NFL and esports fans and launch integrations in the Madden NFL 19 Club Championship from Jan. 30-Feb.2, running on Twitch, YouTube, Mixer and Facebook. The three brands will be authentically embedded into Madden NFL Championship Series broadcasts in a similar way to how they’re integrated into NFL telecasts, including commercials, highlight integrations, on-air product placement and additional shoulder programming. This authenticity gives long-standing NFL brands a turnkey way to elevate their traditional sports affiliation through esports exposure, helping reach new highly engaged fans.

Collegiate StarLeague officially added NBA 2K19 to its upcoming lineup of tournaments, which span more than 1,600 North American schools, with a round-robin group stage set to launch on Feb. 16 before moving on to a playoff bracket of 64 teams, concluding in an in-person grand finals in April with $10,000 in scholarship prize money on the line.

Riot Games announced that the LCS Spring Split Finals will be held in St. Louis this year, at the Chaifetz Arena. The LCS finalists will face off for a chance to represent the region at the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational.

Gen.G signed an official sponsorship deal with Samsung Electronics Co. Through this sponsorship deal, Gen.G will receive the latest SSD along with financial support, implemented in Gen.G Seoul HQ. In addition, a ‘Samsung SSD Streaming Studio’ will be built in the second floor of Gen.G Seoul HQ.

Riot Games also announced that Secretlab, international gaming seat specialist, inked a multi-year global partnership to become the choice of gaming seats for the League of Legends Championship Series in North America and the three premier global events: The Mid-Season Invitational, the All-Star Event, and the World Championship. Secretlab will also be the first global partner to sell the official chairs of LCS and League of Legends global esports events.

THE MAIN EVENT

Warriors/Pacers on NBA TV at 7p.

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ON THIS DAY in 1990: Joe Montana is named MVP of Super Bowl XXIV as the 49ers win 55-10 over the Broncos.

In the Know: Last year’s Super Bowl telecast saw which supermodel recreate her 1992 Super Bowl commercial for Pepsi? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Leon Sandcastle was the fictional name for which real-life athlete in a former Super Bowl commercial? Answer: Deion Sanders. Kudos: Kyle Helm-CBS Sports/NY; Eric Wright-DS Simon/NY; Michael Dittelman/NY; Frank Costa-CBS/NY; Mark Lehman-Atlanta Braves/Atlanta; Brianne Maciejowski-Miles/Sarasota; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Rich Wolfe-Lone Wolfe Press/Scottsdale; Jaymz Wooden-Bottelsen American Dart Lines/Santa Maria; Anne Wettig-Fox Cable Networks S&P/LA; Damon Parry-NCC Media/LA; Tom Hurwitz-Palisades MediaGroup/LA

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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