02/01/18: TNF has a new home

Good morning. It’s Thursday February 1, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Thursday Night Football has a new home after the NFL and FOX Sports announced that the franchise would shift from CBS/NBC to FOX, courtesy of a five-year deal valued at $3.3 billion. The change will begin next season and hand FOX with 11 games between weeks 4-15, excluding Thanksgiving night. Contests will be simulcast on NFL Network and distributed in Spanish on FOX Deportes. In addition, NFL Network will exclusively televise seven games next season, with FOX producing the full slate of 18 games. The deal also allows FOX Sports and the NFL to each expand its digital rights, enabling the network to distribute both TNF as well as its Sunday games to FOX subscribers over platforms including mobile phones for the first time.

“This agreement is the culmination of over 10 years of strategic growth around Thursday Night Football, a period during which this property has grown from a handful of late season games on NFL Network to a full season of games and one of the most popular shows on broadcast television with additional distribution via cable and digital channels,” said NFL Commissioner Goodell. “As one of the leaders in sports television and a recognized innovator of NFL game broadcasts for many years, we’re excited to be extending our partnership with FOX Sports, one of our most trusted and valued partners, to include Thursday Night Football.”

ON THE AIR

Speaking of the NFL, NBC Sports Group announced a lineup of six Super Bowl LII Pre-Game Show guests on Sunday, starting at noon. Joining the telecast will be six-time U.S. Olympic alpine skiing medalist Bode Miller; 2017 Monster Energy Series Champion Martin Truex Jr.; driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Ford Ryan Blaney; lead voice of Telemundo Deportes’ 2018 FIFA World Cup coverage Andres Cantor; The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore; and NASCAR on NBC features reporter Rutledge Wood.

ESPNU is set to carry all of ESPN’s college lacrosse coverage this season, televising nearly 40 matchups during the 2018 season. In addition, ACC Network Extra will stream more than 30 men’s and women’s lacrosse matchups, and more than 100 additional matchups will be available to stream live on the ESPN App. Coverage Feb. 10 with Towson/Johns Hopkins at 6p. In addition, the season will see reLAXin’ with P. Carc returs this season, as analyst Paul Carcaterra takes fans behind the scenes. Finally, ESPN will be providing complete coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s Lacrosse Championship once again beginning with the 2018 NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Selection Special on May 6 at 9p

Tennis Channel offers complete live coverage of the US Davis Cup team’s first-round competition against Serbia in Nis, Serbia, this weekend, with the first match underway on Friday at 9a. Prior to the United States/Serbia telecast, Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel Plus will show the other three first-round Davis Cup battles starting tonight at 9p with Australia/Germany. Brett Haber will join Justin Gimelstob, Leif Shiras and James Blake on the network’s on-air team.

The Undefeated is on deck to present Dear Black Athlete, a series of conversations featuring prominent African American athletes, and civic and community leaders, on Feb. 11 at 8p on ESPN. The one-hour program will be taped in front of a live audience at the historic Sixth Avenue Baptist Church and seeCari Champion host and moderate the discussions. Dear Black Athlete will be presented as part of ESPN’s annual Black History Month programming and will culminate State of the Black Athlete, a multiplatform collaboration between The Undefeated and ESPN The Magazine.

Kevin Harvick is revving up to will host the premiere episode of the second season of his SiriusXM NASCAR Radio show, Happy Hours, on Tuesday at 7p. After the season premiere, Harvick and co-host Matt Yocum will host the second episode of Happy Hours live from Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14, ahead of the next day’s Can-Am Duels and that weekend’s Daytona 500. Thereafter the show will air on Tuesday nights at 7p.

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Sleep Number and the NFL are getting in bed together, courtesy of a multi-year partnership “aimed at helping to improve players’ performance by maximizing the benefits of a great night of sleep.” Every player in the league will be offered a Sleep Number 360 smart bed with SleepIQ technology. Sleep Number will work with players, teams and trainers as they integrate sleep insights into their overall performance regimens.

With the Kentucky Derby taking place on Cinco de Mayo this year, Corona Extra has signed on to serve as the famed race’s new sponsor. The deal makes the brand the official import beer of the race while attendees of the event will have access to a Corona de Mayo fiesta at brand’s activation zone in the Churchill Downs infield. Meanwhile, Angry Orchard inked a deal as the official cider of the race.

GLORY announced a global equipment partnership with Fairtex, engineers of boxing and Muay Thai gloves. Fairtex will now outfit all GLORY athletes on fight night, beginning immediately with GLORY 50 Chicago next month and extending to every live event held during the multi-year partnership.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

YouTube is entering new territory, locking in an exclusive rights deal to games for the Los Angeles Football Club. As part of the innovative arrangement, YouTube TV will also receive naming rights on jerseys for the team, which makes its MLS debut in March. Overall, around 18 LAFC games will be exclusively carried on their own YouTube TV channel, which will be restricted to its subscribers in the Los Angeles market.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is launching its own channel tomorrow. The new Pro Football Hall of Fame Channel will feature an online vault of videos plus more than 350 hours of live programming each month and go live at the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Merlin Olsen Super Bowl Luncheon in Minneapolis at 12:30p. Access to the new channel can be found atwww.ProFootballHOF.com/HOF-Channel.

ESPORTS

In this week’s edition of Cynopsis Esports & Gaming…

Breaking down ELEAGUE’s Boston blitz
Pac-12 players play solo
Utah’s Esports gameplan
IEM books return trip to Sydney
Facebook woos streamers
gg plays its cards

THE MAIN EVENT

Rockets/Spurs on TNT at 8p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Less than a week away…

The 2018 Cynopsis TV Awards

Wednesday, FEB. 7^th | Espace, NYC

Don’t miss this gathering of television’s best and brightest as we celebrate the accomplishments of your industry peers. Guest presenters include history enthusiast, adventurer and host of The Travel Channel‘s “Mysteries at the Museum,” Don Wildman and food enthusiast editor and host of Litton Entertainment’s “Naturally, Danny Seo,” Danny Seo. (More guest-presenters to be announced shortly, so stay tuned!)

ON THIS DAY in 1995: Jazz staple John Stockton surpasses Magic Johnson to become the NBA’s all-time assist leader.

In the Know: Which QB holds the record for most touchdown passes in a Super Bowl, once claiming six? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: In the Redskins/Broncos Super Bowl mentioned yesterday, who was the player named MVP of the game? Answer: Doug Williams. Kudos: Luke Tarby-A+E Networks/NY; Rich Boland-Oath/NY; Mike Polvere-Optimum Sports/NY; Andy Topkins-Brandgenuity/NY; Jon Miller-NBC Sports/Stamford; Rob Keith-Partnership Sports Marketing Group/Davidson; Christian Matthews-Washington Redskins/DC; Paul Brewer-TV Talent Agents, Inc./North Augusta; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tom Doherty-Starcom Media/Chicago; David Hauptman/Denver; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Anne Wettig-Fox Cable Networks S&P/LA

Later – Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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