“With their presence among our Pac-12 footprint and across the nation, we are thrilled to welcome Redbox, a leading entertainment brand, to the Pac-12 family and look forward to working together to promote both the success of Pac-12 sports and new products and services for Redbox customers,” said Steve Tseng, executive vice president of sales for Pac-12 Networks.

PROGRAMMING

The World Golf Group went public with its plans to launch a new 18-event global tour, dubbed the Premier Golf League featuring a prize purse of $240 million and was slated to launch in Jan. 2022. The lineup would span an eight-month season and would be backed by the Raine Group, according to multiple reports. The series is looking to sign 48 top players tom compete, effectively taking the out of the lineup for PGA TOUR event. According to information released about the league, selected players would be awarded part-ownership of a team franchise,

Meanwhile, the PGA Tour, while declining to publicly comment the new golf league, sent a letter sent to players on Monday in which Tour commissioner Jay Monahan outlined the circuit’s thoughts on the new series, according to Golf Channel. In the letter, Monahan said the Tour has not been in contact with officials from the Team Golf Concept, but made it clear that the league’s proposed 18-event schedule would be a direct conflict with the PGA Tour as players are limited to three conflicting event “releases” under the Tour’s current regulations

The Professional Fighters League is expanding its global footprint on the road to the 2020 season, announcing plans to launch the International Qualifier Series – a fight twice in one-night tournament that will see fighters from around the world compete for a chance to fight in the 2020 PFL season. International Qualifier Series tournaments will take place this February and March in United Arab Emirates, Russia, Germany, Brazil and Australia. Four fighters from each market will compete in a tournament requiring each fighter to fight twice and win twice in the same night to be considered for a PFL contract. On Friday, March 20, the PFL International Qualifier Series featherweight tournament will take place in Abu Dhabi in partnership with UAE Warriors.

CBS Sports Network serves up a Top-10 doubleheader tonight starting at 7p with Duquesne/Dayton followed by San Diego State/New Mexico at 9p. John Sadak and Chris Walker will be on the call for Dayton-Duquesne while Rich Waltz, Avery Johnson and AJ Ross call the late game from New Mexico.

Reports have the Oscars set to honor Kobe Bryant in its Feb. 9 telecast on ABC. Bryant won an Animated Short Oscar in 2018 for Dear Basketball.

“They’re the innovators and champions of change with the skill, commitment and passion to help guide an industry during an exciting, but tumultuous time. We are honored to shine a light on these future leaders, as well as the companies that are empowering them.” – Robbie Caploe, Publisher |CYNOPSIS

View honorees here and make plans to join us in NYC on Thursday, February 6th for the Cynopsis Best Of The Best Awards luncheon.

[REGISTER]

Updating Super Bowl news, the newly-named AT&T TV Super Saturday Night on February 1 will see Lady Gaga headline this year’s event. Fans can also watch the performances on Twitter @ItsOnATT at 11p.

Turner Sports’ Bleacher Report is gearing up for B/R Gridiron @ 1111 Lincoln in Miami, serving as a central hub for an interactive fan experience with week-long live shows, original content and special events leading up to Super Bowl LIV. B/R, AT&T, and WarnerMedia will team up to bring The Rich Eisen Show, The Dan Patrick Show, Kickoff in Miami: A CNN-Bleacher Report Special and B/R Gridiron’s Lefkoe Show, Ditch the Playbook, Untold Stories and Stick to Football Podcast all under one roof. Each show will be shot in front of a live audience showcasing candid conversations with a series of influential guests throughout the week.

To celebrate 100 seasons of the NFL, Goldman Global Arts and the league have collaborated to make an artistic statement at Super Bowl LIV across Miami. A curated group of artists including Tristan Eaton, Dasic Fernández, Joe Iurato, Kelsey Montague, and RISK will be showcasing their work through various platforms all highlighting different pieces of NFL100. For the first time ever, cultural relevance to the city and stadium will play a leading role in the Super Bowl Game Day Ticket and Commemorative Program. The NFL’s Big Hits Program is being transformed with the GGA collaboration in a global way through art with a broader audience reach in celebration of NFL100. The five artists have been commissioned to create and integrate large scale murals, sculptures, and building wraps into the Super Bowl LIV experience.

The PGA TOUR announced that the TOUR and its tournaments have surpassed $3 billion in all-time charitable giving. The charitable total, which includes a record $204.3 million in 2019 to bring the all-time total to $3.05 billion, includes donations made by tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Series-China. “It’s truly a pleasure to thank our fans, sponsors, tournaments, players and volunteers for helping us generate over $3 billion for charity and positively impact millions of lives,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “As remarkable as this milestone is, what really matters are the countless stories like Amy’s that every tournament has. Together, we look forward to continuing to reach – and celebrate – millions more.”

SailGP, he “grand prix” style global yacht racing series, opened the doors to its first marketing campaign ahead of the launch of its second series. The It’s Not What You Think campaign, developed in conjunction with GBHLondon, positions SailGP as a “progressive, action-packed sport that utilizes breakthrough technology on supercharged F50 flying catamarans, inshore format racing and broadcast innovation to bring fans closer to the action than ever before.” Season two kicks off from Feb. 28-29 in Sydney.

The Atlanta Hawks and Budweiser teamed up to launch the team’s first-ever Bar Network presented by Budweiser. Thirteen team-approved locations have guaranteed to show Hawks games throughout the rest of the 2019-20 regular season and will also provide drink specials for Hawks fans that are 21 years and older. All 13 bars will host a pop-a-shot contest on a select date where the winning contestant from each location will win suite tickets for the team’s game on Tuesday, Feb. 28 vs. Brooklyn.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Verizon and the NFL jointly developed applications that will kick in for fans at Hard Rock Stadium within the NFL OnePass app. All fans using the NFL OnePass app will be able to take leverage AR overlays of big plays, stats and other moments of the game. Many app features will be available to all game attendees across 4G networks, including new features such as in-stadium wayfinding and augmented reality (AR) experiences. Additionally and exclusively for Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband customers attending the game, the application also offers a new multi-camera angle streaming feature

Legal online and retail sportsbooks across the country are projected to take in $400 million in total bets for Super Bowl LIV, according to analysts for PlayUSA.com project. “With the proliferation of legal sports betting across the U.S., there is no doubt that this will be a record year for legal bets on the Super Bowl,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayUSA.com. “An interesting matchup that is nearly a pick ’em will help spur action, too. As a result, records in states such as Nevada and New Jersey, where both online and retail sports betting were legal for last year’s game, are also in jeopardy.

Reddit is getting into the Olympic spirit, launching Reddit’s Olympic Conversation Series with an AMA with Allyson Felix, the most decorated American woman in Olympic track & field history. Allyson’s AMA serves as the first in this series ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, featuring weekly AMAs with Olympic hopefuls for Team USA from today through June 5.

G2 Esports unveiled its newest partnership with Philips Monitors to bring Philips Momentum products to the team’s players and content creators. Among the teams utilizing the deal with be its Rocket League squad equipped with Philips Momentum monitors in its 3,498 square-foot gaming house in Long Island, New York.

Allied Esports selected architecture, engineering, design and planning firm HOK as its partner in creating its new retail esports venues. The two companies will begin working on the new venture immediately, with plans to open the first location at Simon’s Mall of Georgia in Buford, Ga., in the second half of 2020. “With our first-of-its-kind on-mall esports venue initiative, we had the opportunity to meet with the best in the design business, and we were impressed from the start by HOK’s experience, resources and overall enthusiasm for this project,” said Jud Hannigan, CEO of Allied Esports. “We are thrilled to be able to unveil this design to gamers in the Southeast as we continue to develop infrastructure and experiences for our growing network.”

INDUSTRY & ROSTER MOVES

The National Lacrosse League is hosting its first-ever team business summit this week at MGM’s Mandalay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. The three days of meetings and seminars will culminate with Saturday’s historic matchup between the San Diego Seals and the Colorado Mammoth at Orleans Arena, the first-ever professional lacrosse game in Las Vegas. Over seventy league and team executives and partners are expected to participate.

THE MAIN EVENT

Australian Open sees Federer/Djokovic on Tennis Channel at 4p.

In the Know
Super Bowl XLV saw an appearance by a mini-Darth Vader in a spot for what brand? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city).

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question
The record for most consecutive appearances in the Super Bowl belongs to Gale Gilbert, who went to five in a row as a member of which two teams? Answer: Bills and Chargers. Kudos: John Ferlazzo/London; Michael Ritz-Northwestern Mutual/NY; Denis Barry-CBS/NY; Christopher Kull-The Nielsen Company/Oldsmar; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Greg Moloznik-GLM Media/Scottsdale; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo