02/26/29: PFL shifts to ESPN

Good morning. It’s Tuesday February 26, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

The Professional Fighters League is changing channels, inking a multi-year deal with ESPN and ESPN+, which will become the home of the PFL in the US, and with TSN, making it the exclusive home of PFL in Canada. All ten PFL events will air live across ESPN2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+, with up to three hours of exclusive action live on ESPN+ and up to two exclusive hours live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. Overall, six, five-hour PFL Regular Season events will take place on Thursday nights from May to August. Three PFL Playoff events will take place in October, with coverage also carried across ESPN+, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. PFL Playoff events will feature the top eight fighters in each of the competition’s six weight classes attempting to fight—and win—twice in the same night to advance to the PFL Championship. The season culminates with the PFL 2019 Championship on New Year’s Eve with world title fights in every weight class live exclusively on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes. Winners of each title bout will be crowned PFL World Champion in their weight class and earn $1 million.

PROGRAMMING

NBC Sports Group is adding the All-American Bowl to its portfolio. The famed high school football game now sees NBC Sports become the exclusive owner, operator and multi-platform media rights holder of the annual high school football showcase, which features the country’s Top 100 players, overseeing all day-to-day operations of the All-American Bowl, including the execution of the annual All-American Bowl selection tour process. In addition, the company will oversee the All-American Bowl National Combine, which is held every January.

It appears to be the end of the line for The Dan Patrick Show in NBCSN. The company released a statement yesterday that “We’re grateful to have televised The Dan Patrick Show on NBCSN for six years, and we wanted to retain it, however, we were unable to come to renewal terms, and it will no longer air on NBCSN as of march 1. We’ll always consider Dan and the Danettes members of the NBC Sports family, and wish them ongoing success. The show will continue to air on the Audience Network on DirecTV.”

ESPN+ and Major League Soccer released We Are LAFC, a 10-part all-access documentary series that spotlights the creation of the Los Angeles Football Club. Offering behind-the-scenes access, the show chronicles the birth of the club, its debut season in MLS, and its run to the MLS Cup Playoffs. “We faced a unique challenge to create absolutely everything from scratch,” said LAFC President and Co-Owner Tom Penn. “So we engaged our most passionate fans and supporters and involved them in each step of the journey. ESPN+ and Mandalay Sports Media did a terrific job of telling the story of our historic beginning.

Integrated Sports Pay Per View announced plans to broadcast three live International soccer friendly-matches during the March FIFA Window. The matches kickoff at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ when it hosts two of the international matches during the March FIFA break, with Paraguay and Peru meeting March 22, and Honduras facing Ecuador on March 26. Also, on March 26, Peru will battle El Salvador, live from RFK Stadium in Washington, DC. Kick-off for all matches is 8p. Integrated Sports Media will distribute all the matches live in the US on via iN Demand, Vubiquity, DIRECTV and DISH for a suggested retail price of only $24.95.

Brought back by popular demand, Cynopsis will be hosting its 2^nd Annual Esports Upfront along with Esports Ad Bureau and Player2 on Monday, April 15^th in New York City. Request an invitation (or apply to present your wares) here.

SiriusXM’s MLB Network Radio channel is reporting to Spring Training for its annual MLB Spring Training tour, which begins today and runs through March 16. SiriusXM’s MLB Spring Training Tour will visit all 30 MLB team camps. Coverage of the Florida-based Grapefruit League will feature shows hosted by former general managers Jim Bowden, Jim Duquette and Steve Phillips, former major leaguers Matt Diaz and Eduardo Perez, and analyst Jon Morosi. In Arizona, coverage from Arizona’s Cactus League will feature hosts including former All-Star Carlos Pena, former major leaguers Sam LeCure, and Ryan Spilborghs, former manager Kevin Kennedy, and analystsMike Ferrin, Tyler Kepner, Scott Miller and Daron Sutton. Duquette also makes the trip west to host shows from Arizona.

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

The PGA TOUR announced a multi-year marketing relationship with Adobe to serve as the “Official Document Platform” and “Official Digital Experience Platform” of the PGA TOUR and PGA TOUR Champions. This week at The Honda Classic, Adobe will run a native advertising integration titled “PDF Like A Boss” on Golf Channel and NBC, aimed at raising awareness among business leaders and office workers on how Adobe’s digital document and e-signature solutions can expedite and modernize formerly “paper-driven” processes in today’s workplace.

Major League Baseball is returning to Japan for their first games of the 2019 regular season complete with a familiar name as sponsor. The league, in partnership with the MLB Players Association, will see MGM Resorts serve as the title sponsor for the 2019 MGM MLB Opening Series, with games played in the Tokyo Dome over the course of five days in March pitting the A’s/Mariners.

Speaking of baseball, Minor League Baseball announced its membership in the Association of National Advertisers’ Alliance for Inclusive & Multicultural Marketing (AIMM). MiLB becomes the first sports property to join 75 member companies currently participating in the multicultural marketing initiative.

NFL Network personality Rich Eisen will once again cap off the week in Indianapolis at the NFL Scouting Combine, with his signature 40-yard dash for the “Run Rich Run” charitable campaign in support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. NFL Network through ‘Run Rich Run’ will benefit the NFL PLAY 60 relationship with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening illnesses.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Caesars Entertainment Corp. and DraftKings Inc. reportedly struck a deal that will see Caesars snag an undisclosed equity stake in DraftKings, according to Bloomberg. Caesars will also get a cut of DraftKings’ gambling revenue in states where the partnership is in force, and gives DraftKings a path toward future online and mobile licenses through the network of Caesars casinos.

Tunity Analytics out-of-home Top 10 sports programs for the week of Feb. 18.

Show/Network/Date/(000’s)

UNC vs. Duke – ESPN Feb. 20 (2818)
Michigan State vs. Michigan – CBS Feb. 24 (1229)
Duke vs. Syracuse – ESPN Feb. 23 (1117)
Folds of Honor Quiktrip 500 – FOX Feb. 24 (958)
SportsCenter – ESPN Feb. 20 (938)

Source: Tunity Analytics. Viewing estimates are derived from Tunity mobile app usage for the week beginning February 18, 2019. OOH numbers (000’s) are calculated using Tunity Analytics’ proprietary estimation model.

ESPORTS

Two major global media conglomerates, Comcast Spectacor and Korea’s SK Telecom, are teaming up to form a global esports joint venture named T1 Entertainment & Sports. The initiative will include the SK Telecom T1 League of Legends (LoL) Champions Korea (LCK) team, as well as teams in competitive gaming segments that include Fortnite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Super Smash Brothers, Hearthstone and Apex Legends. The T1 joint venture will blend the strengths of the two esports organizations and will feature operations in Seoul, Philadelphia and Los Angeles. Comcast’s Philadelphia Fusion and Fusion University Overwatch Contenders franchises will not be part of the T1 joint venture and will remain fully owned and operated by Comcast Spectacor, however.

The NBA 2K League announced the competition structure for the 2019 season. The 18-week season will launch on April 2 with The Tipoff and will conclude Saturday, Aug. 3 with the 2019 NBA 2K League Finals. All regular-season games will take place at the NBA 2K League Studio Powered by Intel in Long Island City, New York, and will be livestreamed on Twitch. Weekly regular-season matchups will shift to the following times for the 2019 season: Wednesdays from 6-11p, Thursdays from 6-10p and Fridays from 6-11p. Additionally, all 21 teams will have three bye weeks during the season, along with a league-wide bye week from July 3 – 5. Teams will play a total of 16 regular-season games. The NBA 2K League will rebroadcast a “Game of the Day” in a primetime evening viewing slot for fans in Europe.

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

The NBA G League announced the NBA G League Elite Camp, a three-day scouting event featuring 2019 NBA Draft hopefuls and the NBA G League’s top prospects from the 2018-19 season. The camp will take place at Chicago’s Quest Multisport from May 12-14, replacing the NBA G League Elite Mini Camp. The new event will give prospects eligible for the 2019 NBA Draft an opportunity to showcase their skills in front of NBA and NBA G League scouts, coaches and front office executives.

THE MAIN EVENT

Thunder/Nuggets on TNT at 10:30p.

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ON THIS DAY in 1989: The Dallas Cowboys fire coach Tom Landry.

In the Know: Which QB won multiple Super Bowls for the Raiders? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Which MLB club has a mascot named Screech? Answer: Washington Nationals. Kudos: Michael Ritz-Northwestern Mutual/NY; Tom Schwarting-Madison Square Garden Company/NY; Christian Matthews-Washington Redskins/DC; Michael Narracci-NESN/Watertown; Rick Rosenfelt-New York Red Bulls/Harrison; Bill Graff-beIN SPORTS/Miami; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
Diane K Schwartz Senior Vice President Media Communications Group	Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina \| 203-218-6480 VP, Sales	Albert Nassour \| 917-545-3129 Director, Strategic Partnerships	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak \| 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

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