03/25/19: FOX's big gamble

Good morning. It’s Monday March 25, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Last week saw FOX Sports celebrate the NCAA Tournament by orchestrating the first visit to Las Vegas for betting show Lock It In, out of the sportsbook at the MGM Grand. The FS1 series entered the studio programming lineup in September as the network’s first foray into the world of sports gambling. Cynopsis caught up with Todd Fuhrman, sports betting analyst on the show and former oddsmaker at Caesars Palace about the connection between programming and wagering.

Fuhrman on creating a show about gambling: I was thrilled to be a part of the network’s first foray into a daily sports gambling program. When the idea was pitched to me it became a balancing act; how do we make sports programing through a gambling lens fun for novices as well as those that had familiarity with the topic. That’s actually been part of the daily challenge as we continue to evolve so audiences of all ability levels can be informed and entertained at the same time.

On the response: The response has been outstanding. Whether it’s industry leaders or just casual fans, they all have the same feedback; this was long overdue! For me, there’s always a sense of pride being the voice of our sports betting space. I always want to show respect to those that came before me, who paved the way for my colleagues looking to make the sports betting discourse in media smarter whenever possible.

On top moments: It’s hard to pick just one because we have fun every single day we go on air. The rapport and banter comes naturally because the four of us genuinely enjoy each other’s company so we’d like to think that carries through to the show itself. Whether it’s crowning a champion each week, live Vegas remotes, or our initial production meetings when none of us had a clue what to expect, its made being part of this show an incredibly entertaining ride.

On finding new audiences and partners: I’d like to think it has when you figure the majority of sports bettors are males 21-45 with discretionary income. Who wouldn’t want to sell products to this particular demo? I think as we have grown, advertisers and sponsors are realizing the value in a program that carries such an actionable element especially when a form of sports gambling is ultimately legalized across the nation. Just look at what we did in Vegas with the show live from the MGM Grand that featured Captain Morgan.

PROGRAMMING

Turner Sports and CBS Sports saw gains for the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament as programming averaged a 6.1/14 across CBS, TBS, TNT and truTV. That score is tied with 2015 as the highest-rated first round in 28 years, according to Nielsen, anchored by Friday’s primetime window, which generated a 7.7/15, also the highest in 28 years. First Thursday coverage pulled a 6.0/14 metered market HH rating/share across TBS, CBS, TNT & truTV, to rank as the best in four years. NCAA March Madness Live set all-time records in both live hours and live streams for the first Thursday of the NCAA Tournament, up 26% and 24% respectively vs. 2018.

Meanwhile, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told Bloomberg that the league is exploring its options for the NFL Sunday Ticket package, currently carried by DIRECTV. “We’ve had a 25-year partnership and we want to continue that partnership, but we also are looking to see how we can change the delivery,” Goodell said in the interview. “We want it delivered on several different platforms.”

Speaking of the NFL, the league locked in the Rams and Cowboys for a trip to Honolulu this preseason. The game will take place on Aug. 17 at Aloha Stadium, marking the first time the NFL has played an exhibition game at Aloha Stadium since 1976.

Meanwhile, the NHL booked its own trips, this time to the Czech Republic, where the Flyers and Blackhawks will open the 2019-20 season on Oct. 4. In addition, the Sabres and Lightning will play two games in Sweden in November as part of the 2019 NHL Global Series. The games will bring the number of regular-season games played in Europe to 28.

A mighty congratulations to our luminaries at this year’s Cynopsis Sports Awards, with this year’s honorees set to include NFL Films as winner of the Legacy Award, ONE Championship claiming the Vision Award, NBC Sports’ CMO & EVP of Content Strategy Jenny Storms as the winner of our Navigator Award, and MGM Resorts being named the recipient of the Gem Award for Brand of the Year. Don’t miss this year’s festivities, as the event always sells out. Click here to see this year’s top nominees, and reserve your team’s table today.

In international news, ONE Championship locked in a multi-year deal with star Sports India, continuing the org’s fast growth, where it will be carried and streamed live in the country on the Star Sports cluster channels and Hotstar.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

The Cynopsis Sports Media Awards – April 25th | 8:30am – 10:30am | NYAC, NYC

In addition to our talented finalists, representing over 60 companies ( view here ) , we’re thrilled to celebrate the below Luminary Award winners:

GEM AWARD : MGM Resorts International

LEGACY AWARD : NFL Films

VISION AWARD : ONE Championship’s Victor Cui

NAVIGATOR AWARD & MARKETER OF THE YEAR : NBC Sports’ Jenny Storms

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Kraft Heinz unveiled the four finalist communities competing for the title of Kraft Hockeyville USA 2019. Each of the four finalists will receive funds for rink upgrades from Kraft Heinz, with the grand prize winner awarded the opportunity to host an NHL Pre-Season Game and receive $150,000 in rink upgrades. The four communities advancing to the public voting round are: Calumet Colosseum in Calumet, Mich.; Wexford County Civic Center in Cadillac, Mich.; Eagle River Sports Arena in Eagle River, Wis.; and Bernicks Arena in Sartell, Minn.

The LPGA signed Zimmer Biomet, a global leader in musculoskeletal healthcare, as an Official Marketing Partner with the company set to have a significant presence at four LPGA Tour events during the 2019 season. Zimmer Biomet will be designated the Official Joint Replacement Provider of the LPGA and the Official Joint Replacement Provider of the Symetra Tour, the LPGA Tour’s official qualifying tour. Additionally, LPGA and World Golf Halls of Fame member Nancy Lopez will serve as a brand ambassador.

DIGITAL, DATA & STREAMING

ESPN reports that this year’s ESPN Men’s Tournament Challenge game collected more than 17.2 million completed brackets and set new one- and two-day records for signups leading up to yesterday’s first game. By the end of the first day of the tournament, only 42,828 (0.25 percent) of all brackets remained perfect after just 16 games. At the end of ESPN’s Tournament Challenge Marathon Tuesday evening, ESPN had collected 9.3 million bracket entries, 1.1 million more than last year.

ESPORTS

Overwatch League Commissioner Nate Nanzer told that Johanna Faries will serve as commissioner for the franchised Call of Duty World League. She initially Activision Blizzard in October as head of the CWL with oversight of the strategic leadership, business operations, and product development for the league.

Allied Esports and CBS Interactive inked GameSpot as a sponsor of the premiere episode of PlayTime with KittyPlays, which debuted Sunday. The Allied Esports original production will be streamed in front of a live studio audience at HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas and saw GameSpot branding featured throughout the arena and on the live stream of the event as well as across Allied Esports and HyperX Esports Arena’s digital and social platforms.

The World Showdown of Esports announced WSOE 5: Hearthstone – The Return of Jia, as its latest event with four invited competitors competing for the chance to face reigning champion Jia from WSOE 2, Day 1 of WSOE 5 will be a double-elimination, Last Hero Standing tournament format to determine which player will challenge Jia for the title. Day 2 will feature the debut of our preliminary card: a series of 1 on 1 matches between competitors and special invitees before the main event.

Vivo announced a partnership with PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds Mobile to serve as title sponsor of the upcoming PUBG MOBILE Club Open 2019. Vivo will provide the official smartphones for the PUBG MOBILE Club Open 2019, which players from ten regions across the globe will be leveraging to battle their way through the Spring & Fall Split, for the total prize pool of $2.5 million.

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

Shaquille O’Neal signed on to become a member of the board at Papa John’s. In an interview with SiriusXM’s Joe Madison, Shaq stated that “Papa John’s is under new management, the right way management…we want to help create a culture where everybody is loved, respected, and included. So, with me being the first African American on the board, I must make sure that we maintain to that new culture that we’re trying to create.”

THE MAIN EVENT

Catch up on the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament with a quartet of games on ESPN at 4p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Here’s to Top Women in Media.

May we know them.

May we be them.

May we NOMINATE them.

You don’t have to be a woman to recognize the

extraordinary women moving the industry forward.

NOMINATE YOUR COLLEAGUE TODAY

Nominations are due April 16. Honorees will be celebrated at the

Cynopsis Top Women in Media Awards August 1 in NYC.

ON THIS DAY in 1947: Holy Cross wins the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship.

In the Know: Name a pair of teams located in the same state that faced each other in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game. (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Jeff Capel previously took which two teams (who also happen to be playing this year) into the NCAA Tournament as head coach? Answer: VCU and Oklahoma. Kudos: James Stuart-NBC/Stamford; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Mike May-PHIT America/Wellington; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Brian Robin-Pechanga Resort Casino/Temecula.

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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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