02/12/19: Curry gets the VS treatment

Good morning. It’s Tuesday February 12, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Stephen Curry is getting the spotlight treatment for the second installment of the Facebook Watch VS series. Unanimous Media and Facebook are teaming up to deliver a new six-episode original docuseries, Stephen vs The Game, which chronicles the three-time NBA Champion’s journey throughout the 2018-19 season. The series will premiere later this spring exclusively on Facebook Watch and follows the first installment, Tom vs Time, which chronicled Tom Brady.

“This past year has been an incredible chapter in my life – from the birth of my first son to winning a third championship – and we’ve been capturing it all,” Curry said. “This series is deeply personal, providing an in-depth look into the pivotal moments from the last year and exploring everything that is important to me. It’s been a fun project to work on with my Unanimous team and Facebook. I have incredible fans, and I’m excited to share my life with them in a way I never really have before.”

PROGRAMMING

ESPN reached a multi-year extension with NBA reporter and host Cassidy Hubbarth, who will continue to serve as a top reporter for ESPN and ABC NBA game telecasts throughout the season and during the NBA Playoffs, while also leading ESPN’s coverage of the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game on Friday. In addition, she will now add Hoop Streams hosting responsibilities to her resume and maintain key roles on two of ESPN’s premier properties – the NBA and college football. She will continue her role as a host for ESPN and ABC’s coverage of college football each fall. Hubbarth will also host WNBA studio coverage during the season and the WNBA Playoffs as well.

Speaking of basketball, the NBA on TNT will blend NBA All-Star with Charlotte’s racing roots in the premiere of the All-Star Motor Sports Challenge on Saturday at 5p. The drag race style competition – held at Charlotte Motor Speedway – features Turner’s roster of All-Star NBA personalities including Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith, Baron Davis, Ernie Johnson, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Candace Parkerand Kristen Ledlow alongside NHRA drivers John Force, Brittany Force, Antron Brown and Erica Enders, divided into two teams selected by captains Barkley and O’Neal to compete in a head to head three-round race on the dragway to determine the champion of the Challenge.

The Daytona 500 will see a familiar face serve as Grand Marshal this year, with Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt set to become the first NFL player to give the command to start engines for the race on Sunday. “I am honored to have the opportunity to serve as Grand Marshal for this year’s ‘Great American Race,’ ” Watt said. “The DAYTONA 500 is a truly iconic event with a rich history and I am very much looking forward to taking in the action up close and personal this year.”

Meanwhile, PBR CEO Sean Gleason announced that the US stop for the five-nation tournament would again be held in AT&T Stadium in 2020. “PBR Global Cup is the most exciting format in our sport, and it deserves to be seen in the NFL’s largest stadium,” Gleason said.

Combate Americas announced the launch of a two-part, live television MMA fight series featuring a lineup of top rising stars from Mexico and Spain facing off against one another, beginning March 8 out of Mexico. The production will run live in Spanish in the US on both Univision and UDN at midnight, and in English in the U.S. and Canada on DAZN at 10p. The two-part live event series will conclude in Spain in the fall.

FloSports inked a partnership with the National Gridiron League to provide live and on-demand coverage of more than 100 regular-season games, plus the championship game during the 2019 and 2020 seasons exclusively on FloFootball.com. The regular season kicks off March 15 and finishes July 13, with a neutral site league championship game to be held on August 10.

World Fishing Network will now see angler Al Lindner take center stage on Lindner’s Angling Edge, running Tuesdays at 8:30p on the network. Lindner has been inducted into five different Fishing Halls of Fame, with a dual induction to the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame as both an educator and an angler, and an induction to the International Game Fish Association.

The 2018 Share of the Ear study from Edison Research found 55 million people per week consume ESPN Audio programming, up 11% percent from 2017, according to the company, with ESPN Audio now accounting for 53%of all sports digital audio listening. ESPN Audio podcasting saw a 16% rise year-over-year increase in listeners.

Elsewhere in radio, Barstool Radio on SiriusXM launched a new line-up, featuring channel staples such as Barstool Radio and Chicks in the Office as well as new daily programs Big If True Radio, Clancy and Carrabis with Kayce Smith and The Shaun Latham Show. The lineup opens at 7a with Barstool Breakfast with Willie Colon and Francis.

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Cynopsis Presents…

THAT BIG TV CONFERENCE

SEPTEMBER 9 & 10, 2019 | NYC

In 2020, the entertainment and media market is expected to be worth more than $720 billion. With those kinds of dollars, it’s imperative that the media world – from brands and agencies to programmers, researchers, and strategists – masters the market. Save the date for That Big TV Conference , and learn how content is being best leveraged, to the ways in which data is being used to attract advertisers and audience.

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Xtreme Concepts Inc., specializing in turnkey security solutions, expanded its partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing to sponsor Jeffrey Earnhardt, Kyle Busch and Brandon Jones across 24 NASCAR Xfinity Series races in 2019, anchored by iK9, a canine solutions provider.

Engine oil Shell Rotella will be the official and exclusive oil of the upcoming 2019 PBR Canada Monster Energy Tour. “We are thrilled to welcome Shell Rotella as an official partner of the Monster Energy Tour,” said Dave Cordovano, SVP, PBR International Tours. “The PBR Monster Energy Tour uses many of Shell Rotella’s high-quality products in the vehicles and equipment that bring this tour to life across many kilometers in Canada, and we’re proud to promote this partnership to our fans.”

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

The Premier League is reportedly exploring launching its own Netflix-style streaming service, according to the Sunday Times. The article states that the Premier League has been hunting for new revenue generators after income from domestic TV rights dropped at the last auction.

Fanatics, announced an exclusive partnership with NBA rookie phenom Luka Doncic, who will join its roster of athletes housed under the company’s memorabilia division, Fanatics Authentic. Doncic is partnering with Fanatics on his first exclusive memorabilia deal, allowing the company to become the sole distributor of his collection of autographs and collectibles.

ESPORTS

ELEAGUE gassed up a new deal with Psyonix, announcing a “first-of-its-kind” esports industry collaboration that will align the two businesses on premium content production, business relationships, and a unique live event as part of the NCAA Final Four Fan Fest presented by Capital One. Deal points will include a multi-part ELEAGUE feature series that will feature the Psyonix’s Rocket League Championship Series that will cover the players, teams and stories of two upcoming RLCS seasons, Season 7 and Season 8, with the premiere set to air on TBS later in 2019. In addition, the partnership also sees Turner Sports’ ad sales team represent all the advertising and sponsorships across Seasons 7 and 8 of the RLCS. In addition, the deal includes plans for the top four teams from the upcoming Collegiate Rocket League (CRL) Spring Season to compete in an exhibition competition held during the Final Four Fan Fest (April 5-8 in Minneapolis).

Allied Esports announced the creation of PlayTime with KittyPlays, an all-new live original content series hosted by streamer, Fortnite caster, content creator and competitive esports player Kristen “KittyPlays” Michaela. The series will run monthly and debut in the spring of 2019, serving as a live esports entertainment and variety show, featuring top influencers and celebrity guests; streamed in front of a live studio audience at HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas with each episode featuring approximately six hours of original content, including:

HyperX signed on as an official sponsor of Pittsburgh Knights, serving as the Exclusive Peripherals Sponsor of the Knights with gaming headsets, keyboards, mice, mousepads and internal memory products. “HyperX is a prominent sponsor of gaming and esports around the world and the Pittsburgh Knights are very happy to become part of the HyperX family,” said James O’Connor, Pittsburgh Knights president. “Their headsets and gaming gear are of the highest quality and will give us a real advantage in practice and during tournaments. I’m looking forward to a successful partnership with HyperX.”

THE MAIN EVENT

Celtics/76ers on TNT at 8p.

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The Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival

MAR 6, 2019 | 3:30PM -7:15PM | The SVA Theatre, NYC

Register today for thought-provoking panels led by short form experts from ATTN: , CNE , Kovert Creative , Red Bull Media House, Viacom and Whistle; an awards program spotlighting our impressive 2019 finalists ; and networking, networking, networking! Panelists will address crucial industry topics, such as: Finding The Right Platforms For Premium Short Form Video and What Advertisers Want From Short Form Video .

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ON THIS DAY in 1994: The XVII Winter Olympic Games open in Lillehammer.

In the Know: Name a driver who won the Daytona 500 twice in a row. (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: What was Bill Parcells’ nickname? Answer: Tuna/The Big Tuna. Kudos: Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NY; Rob Casalaina-ITN/NY; Greg Conner-Tennis Media/NY; Rick Ramage-United Talent Agency/NY; Mark Lehman-Atlanta Braves/Atlanta; Michael Narracci-NESN/Watertown; Kathi Gillin-Comcast Spotlight/Langhorne; Cait Cohn-USA Diving/Indianapolis; Travis Wacker-ESPN Milwaukee/Milwaukee; John Kukla-KDFW/KDFI/Dallas; Matt Fumagalli-NBC/Chicago; Joe Lyons-ESPN/Dallas; Greg Molonik-GLM Media/Scottsdale; David Hauptman/Denver; Rich Wolfe-Lone Wolfe Press/Scottsdale; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Andy Babb-Super League Gaming/Santa Monica

Later — Chris

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