PROGRAMMING

Las Vegas delivered some big payouts for FOX Sports over the weekend. Sunday’s NASCAR race from the city propelled FOX to an average of 5.5 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That marks a rise of 7% iver the 2019 March race in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the Wilder-Fury II fight drove early interest from Las Vegas, with the non-PPV prelims snatching 1.42 million viewers across FS1, ESPN and FOX Deportes combined. That ranks as the most-viewer prelims for the sports since Mayweather/McGregor in 2017.

Royal Troon has been tapped to host The Open in 2023. The Scottish links last saw the tournament held there in 2016. The event will be held July 20-23, 2023, preceeded by Royal St. George’s, St. Andrews and Royal Liverpool.

Speaking of venues, the semifinals and final of the 2021 World Baseball Classic will take place at Marlins Park in Miami while Phoenix, Taiwan, and Tokyo will also see action for early rounds of the tournament. Next year’s event will run March 9-23 and feature 20 teams for the first time. “Being select to host all three rounds, including the finals, reaffirms Miami’s place as a global destination for all the biggest events, and Marlins Park is the ideal world-class entertainment venue to play host,” said Derek Jeter, Marlins chief executive. “The excitement and passion on display in Marlins Park during the last World Baseball Classic showed what we already knew to be true about this market – that South Florida has an undying love for their heritage and the game of baseball.”

ESPN will reportedly cancel “High Noon” at the end of March after less than two years, per SBJ. The show, featuring Bomani Jones and Pablo Torre, will be replaced in the 4p slot by “Jalen and Jacoby.”

GOLF Channel is tapping 20-time LPGA Tour winner Cristie Kerr to join the network’s broadcast team as an on-course reporter this week at the PGA TOUR’s Honda Classic, marking her third guest appearance on television as part of GOLF Channel’s broadcast team. Coverage will be led by play-by-play host Dan Hicks and lead analyst Paul Azinger. Gary Koch and David Feherty will be hole announcers, with Roger Maltbie and Jim “Bones” Mackay joining Kerr as on-course reporters. Steve Sands will conduct interviews and will serve as play-by-play host for GOLF Channel’s early round and weekend lead-in coverage, joined by Notah Begay as analyst.

Meanwhile, NBC Sports will surround the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine with coverage that includes interviews with more than 15 NFL head coaches, general managers, and draft prospects across NBC Sports’ television, radio, digital, social and regional platforms. PFT Live runs live from the Combine Media Center at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis through Thursday from 7-11a.

Honda signed on to maintain naming rights for Honda Center in Anaheim for an additional 10 years. The extension runs through 2031 and extends the existing 15-year partnership between the two. The partnership includes Honda Center exterior signage, freeway marquee placement, media integration and more.

Wildlife, developers of tennis mobile game Tennis Clash, inked a partnership with World TeamTennis for the WTT Celebrity All-Star Match being held on Feb. 29 – March 1 in Carlsbad. “This sponsorship is the debut of Tennis Clash at a sports competition and the beginning of a partnership between Wildlife and World TeamTennis,” said Mark Panelo, Vice President of Business Development at Wildlife. “We hope to bring more fans of the sport by allowing them to continue their tennis experience to their mobile phones.”

NFL Network and DIRECTV AUDIENCE Network personality Rich Eisen will once again cap off coverage of the 2020 NFL Scouting Combine with his signature 40-yard dash for the “Run Rich Run” charitable campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Eisen’s runs have helped raise nearly $1.2 million for St. Jude in the battle against childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. “Run Rich Run” has been embraced by NFL fans, players and team personnel, providing a charitable opportunity to support the lifesaving mission of St. Jude: Finding cures. Saving children. “It’s an honor to run on behalf of St Jude,” said Eisen. “While my 40 time over the past 15 years may not necessarily decrease, it’s incredibly rewarding to see the amount raised for St. Jude increase each year to help kids like Von. Our NFL community – fans, players, and coaches – are an extremely generous group, and I appreciate the support they continue to provide to this important cause.”

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Dapper Labs, the company behind consumer blockchain game, CryptoKitties, locked in a new gaming partnership with UFC. The duo will develop a new digital experience designed to provide UFC fans around the world with opportunities to purchase, trade, and own UFC-branded digital collectibles on Dapper Labs’ Flow, a new platform built specifically to support consumer-facing blockchain experiences. “UFC is thrilled to partner with Dapper Labs to offer a new form of digital collectibles to our global fanbase,” said Tracey Bleczinski, UFC Senior Vice President, Global Consumer Products. “UFC prides itself on being innovators in sports technology, and Flow is another way to provide our fans with the best entertainment experience.”

ESPORTS

Zippo signed on as a major partner for NRG’s Chicago Huntsmen Call of Duty League team. To celebrate the team’s inaugural year, Zippo will release a new collection of Zippo x NRG Chicago Huntsmen HeatBank 9s Rechargeable Hand Warmers, with the merch drop landing later this season. Because the HeatBank 9s also doubles as a portable charger, powering mobile devices such as headsets, gaming controllers, phones, and portable game devices, gamers can power products while priming their hands.

CORSAIR tied up a strategic partnership with Stream Hatchet, in a move to identify and measure influencer talent in esports and gaming. Leveraging Stream Hatchet’s business intelligence platform, CORSAIR will receive data and reports in real time with metrics that can include KPIs for video games, esports, influencers, and other performance factors critical to driving the most ROI for brands. “As a leading name in esports and high-level competitive gaming, we are thrilled to have the tremendous insight of Stream Hatchet at our disposal,” said Lauren Premo, Director of Gaming Marketing at CORSAIR. “Their in-depth analytics will help keep us at the forefront of the industry and ensure that we continue to partner with the best possible talent.”

The British Esports Association is playing duos with the North America Scholastic Esports Federation, inking a memorandum of understanding to work together and share best practice around the benefits of esports for young people. The two orgs will design, develop and implement new programs, run joint esports tournaments and other events, as well as running exchange programs for coaches, esports managers, teachers and more, bringing the UK together with North America at the grassroots level in addition to jointly developing content for third party programs.

Rocket League mapped out plans for the Intel World Open, the first-of-its-kind, international Rocket League tournament that will feature the best players in the world playing as part of nation and territory-based teams. With the Final set to take place in Tokyo as a two-day event showcasing the best eight teams in the world.

THE MAIN EVENT

Celtics/Jazz on ESPN at 10:30p.

In the Know
In the WWE, who was known as “The Mouth of the South”? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city).

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question
Which athlete spent the most weeks at number one atop the WTA singles rankings, notching 377 in that position? Answer: Steffi Graf. Kudos: Aymon DeMauro-ADM Media & Marketing/NY; Greg Conner-Tennis Media/NY; Mike May-PHIT America/Wellington; Mike Wexler-Moroch/Atlanta; Daniel Hassan-Michigan Sport Business Conference/Ann Arbor; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank