CYNOPSISSPORTS
03.22.17
Good morning. It’s Wednesday March 22, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
Get ready for a virtual pass to the NCAA Tournament. NCAA March Madness Live, managed by Turner Sports in partnership with CBS Sports and the NCAA, announced plans to serve up enhanced VR coverage of the 2017 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, offering multiple ways for fans to immerse themselves into the action starting with the Sweet 16 games in San Jose. The NCAA March Madness Live VR app with Intel True VR is sponsored by Intel and will deliver viewers with a virtual courtside seat through a VR premium ticket. VR coverage will also be offered for the NCAA Final Four National Semifinals and National Championship from Phoenix.
Tennis Channel is tapping the services of longtime sports staple Ed Goren to serve as an ongoing production consultant for the network. The longtime vice chairman of FOX Sports will offer strategic guidance and advice in all aspects of the channel’s live and studio production. "Working with David Hill in launching FOX Sports, there was an energy and excitement where nothing was impossible," said Goren. "Under Ken and Bob’s leadership, I feel the same creative excitement that is unique in the industry. Tennis Channel is not only the fastest growing cable channel in the country, its omniplatform approach provides limitless growth opportunities for the future."
NBC Sports Group is ordering another cycle of the Vuelta a Espana, the cycling race held by Amaury Sport Organisation. The deal, which runs through 2023, kicks in this August and will see NBC Sports Group continue as the exclusive US television and live streaming home for the Grand Tour race. The company is also extending its rights to the Tour Down Under through 2023 with both races offered on the 2017-18 “Cycling Pass” on NBC Sports Gold.
The Big Sky Conference renewed its ties with the AT&T Sports Networks, inking a multi-year extension to continue their partnership to air Big Sky football beginning with the 2017-18 season. All games will air on Root Sports-branded regional networks. The networks will air a minimum of eight games each season with at least one of those games slated to include the league’s defending football champion. The deal also sees Big Sky football fans have the opportunity to watch archived copies of the games on the league’s streaming network 30 days after the game airs on television.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver issued a memo to the league’s board of governors Monday, addressing the way teams are choosing to rest starters in some games as "an extremely significant issue for our league,” as national TV games have seen top stars stay on the bench, according to the AP. "Decisions of this kind … can affect fans and business partners, impact our reputation and damage the perception of our game," Silver wrote in the memo, which was obtained by The Associated Press. "With so much at stake, it is simply not acceptable for governors to be uninvolved or to defer decision-making authority on these matters to others in their organizations."
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman cemented his position on NHL players in the Winter Olympics, telling Reuters that fans should assume the league will not be sending its players to the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. "There are no negotiations ongoing," Bettman said of negotiations with the International Olympic Committee and International Ice Hockey Federation. "We were open to having discussions on a variety of things that might mitigate the damage to our season but that had no resonance.
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Relevent Sports unveiled the full lineup of clubs set to participate in the 2017 International Champions Cup presented by Heineken. The fifth installment of the tournament will showcase a slate of rivalry games across the US from July 19-30. Included in the lineup will be the first ever El Clasico to take place in the country as Real Madrid C.F. and FC Barcelona match up on July 29 in Miami. The Manchester Derby will also head stateside with Manchester City F.C./Manchester United F.C. meeting on July 20. Also will be current Italian Serie A champions Juventus F.C., current French Ligue 1 champions and defending International Champions Cup (ICC) champions Paris Saint-Germain F.C., as well as Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and Serie A club, AS Roma, all of whom qualified for the UEFA Champions League in 2016. Sponsors are set to include: Ally, Nike, Orlando, Chevrolet, AON, Groupon, VividSeats, Gatorade and Xyience with all matches carried on ESPN networks.
ESPN’s Fan and Media Intelligence group presented key viewership findings from the first full year of Out of Home data, working in collaboration with Nielsen Media Research, with findings spanning Dec. 28, 2015 to Dec. 25, 2016. The ESPN survey revealed that 75% of OOH viewing occurrences and instances are at places other than bars and restaurants, including health clubs, waiting rooms, college dorms, airports and hotels while OOH increased ESPN’s total day audience by 6.2% with ESPN2 scoring a 4.1% rise. Among people 18-24, OOH lifts for ESPN and ESPN2 were 9.1% and 6.7%, respectively.
Bellator is getting back into the PPV scene, announcing plans for a Madison Square Garden event on June 24 for Bellator 180. The event will be headlined by Chael Sonnen/Wanderlei Silva with additional fights will be announced later. The PPV will mark the promotion’s second in history.
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** Preview the list of finalists & register for the Awards event **The Red Sox will take the next step toward developing a new generation of fans with the creation of a special 30-minute animated show, Wally’s Opening Day, which will showcase the team’s mascot on April 2 before Opening Day. The special will be geared towards 4-8-year-old baseball fans and marks the first time a Major League Baseball club has produced an animated television show in their market. The show is presented by ’47 Brand with support from Red Sox partners XFINITY On Demand and New England Ford Dealers. “Using animation to capture the attention of younger fans was particularly appealing, and the idea to tell the story of the club and the ballpark through the eyes of Wally the Green Monster gave us a relatable way for children to connect,” said Linda Henry, Executive Producer of Wally’s Opening Day and wife to Principal Owner John W. Henry.
NASCAR locked in a multi-year partnership with Hotels for Hope the makes the company the “Official Hotel Booking Partner of NASCAR.” As part of the partnership, a landing page on NASCAR.com is now up and running, allowing the industry and fans to book hotels for upcoming race weekends through its "Raceday Hotels by Hotels for Hope" platform. For each actualized room night booked through Hotels for Hope, one dollar will be donated to The NASCAR Foundation.
Under Armour announced that it will offer financial assistance, aka PHIT America GO! Grants, to four schools in near its headquarters to jump-start active lifestyles and their PE programs. More than 900 students will be impacted by the PHIT America GO! Grants, which will be offered to local schools in need are two schools in Baltimore — New Song Academy and Jeffers Hill Elementary as well as two schools in Washington, D.C. — Kelly Miller Middle School and Ross Elementary School.
As the World Baseball Classic heads toward its championship tonight at 9p, MLB Network announced its launch on PlayStation Vue. The platform is accessible via devices such as PlayStation 4, Apple TV, Roku, web, mobile devices and more. MLB Network will be available in PlayStation Vue’s Core plan, starting at $34.99 ($44.99 in cities with most major live local broadcast stations: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, and Miami).
Esports heavyweight Cloud9 announces that it had closed a Series A financing round with investments, according to the LA Times, led by a slate of athletes and tech moguls. Leading the pack is Daniel Fiden of FunPlus Ventures, with investors that also include: Giants outfielder Hunter Pence; Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian; HOF QB Joe Montana; former NBA center Andrew Bogut; Warriors co-owner Chamath Palihapitiya and more. “Growing up, I wanted to own an NFL team,” Ohanian said in a statement. “Now, the obvious move is to invest in an eSports franchise and I’m thrilled it’s Cloud9.”
Blizzard is bringing Hearthstone caster TJ Sanders in-house, where he will now join the game’s eSports Broadcasting and Production team. On Reddit, he posted that he “Just wanted to come and make it clear some of the things I’ll be doing at Blizzard. I’ll be working specifically on broadcasts – which means building player stories and being creative with media and show segments for most of Blizzard’s Hearthstone shows. I’ll also still be casting for the HCT, and working closely with casters leading up to shows to help deliver the best narratives.”
CSE Football announced that Michael Katz has been named as Co-President of the division where he will join his brother Jason in that role. In addition, CSE Football announced the signing of Pro Bowl free agent Zach Brown to its roster.
Troika named Aaron Sapiro as new its account manager of sports branding and marketing at the agency. Sapiro is responsible for building the agency’s sports media portfolio and leading its expansion into league, team and media branding and marketing in the U.S. and internationally.
World Baseball Classic Championship on MLB Network at 9p.
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"These fans are very smart people where it’s hard to get access to them these days. Traditional ads just don’t reach these guys because they have ad blocks and other things." -George Woo, global eSports marketing manager-Intel (Source: Event Marketer)
That’s why the smart marketers, brands & agencies will be joining us on 4/12 in NYC to learn how to understand and leverage this market.
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Partners/Sponsors: Go To Team, PromaxGAMES, Polygon, Bruin Sports Capital, theScore, eSports Ad Bureau, rEvolution, rEvXP.
ON THIS DAY in 1989: Pete Rozelle announces retirement as NFL Commissioner.
In The Know: What school remains the only 15 seed to reach the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)
Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Which country was crowned champion in the first two editions of the World Baseball Classic? Answer: Japan. Kudos: Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; Lewis Blaustein-GreenSportsBlogger/NY; Scott Jenkins-Gracenote/NY; Joe Brucia-NBC Universal/NY; Ken White/Charlotte; Michael Narracci-NESN/ Watertown; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Deerfield Beach; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Michael Benjamin-Spectrum SportsNet/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Willie Price-American Forces Network/Riverside.
Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
03.22.17
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JOB OPENING: DEVELOPMENT MANAGER/Oriental DreamWorks/LA or NYC: Finding, evaluating and developing ideas for feature animation projects. Min 2 yrs executive level exp in creative development. Strong knwlg of global entertainment mktg. Mandarin Proficient a +. Full info/apply HERE (3/24)
JOB OPENING: DIR, SPORTS & SPECIALS/NBCU/NYC: Responsible for prospecting, targeting, and presenting all Sports & Olympics sales efforts. Min 8yrs of media sales, sponsorship, league/team sales or mktg focusing on client direct relationships. Full info/apply HERE (3/24)
JOB OPENING: ASSOC PRODUCER/OUTSIDE TV/Westport CT: Write/produce Short form videos & full length TV Programs that support brand. BS Deg. Exp in ths field & post production. Great opportunity for a self-starter to join our team and help grow our digital and TV footprint. Res/cover HERE (3/24)
JOB OPENING: SR ANALYST, AD SALES RSRCH/NBCU/NYC: Description: NBCU/NYC: Produce insightful reports for national ad sales & mrktng. Analyze trends, position NBC Entertainment in the marketplace & measure effectiveness of client campaigns. Ful info/apply HERE (3/23)
JOB OPENING: EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT, PROGRAMMING/NYC: Support 3 sr progrmng exec. Generate presentations and spreadsheets for meetings. Coord travel, meetings, exp reports. 5-7 yrs of work exp & BA degree req’d. Flexible hours. Full info/apply HERE (3/23)
JOB OPENING: SR MGR ON AIR PROMO PLANNING/Lifetime/NYC: Dvlp/implement on-air media plan’g strategies that support network. Min 5 yrs exp exp planning and executing on-air promotional logs for brdcst or cable. Ability to mng a team of individual’s resp for scheduling mult networks. Full info/apply HERE (3/23)
JOB OPENING: SENIOR WRITER/PRODUCER/EDITOR/IFC/NYC: Lead creative for IFC Originals launches and brand campaigns. Idea-generating/writing/producing/directing mastermind with a comedy background and "Always On, Slightly Off" sensibility. 6-8 years’ experience. Submit resume and reel link HERE (3/23)
JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, MEDIA SALES/BRITE MEDIA/NYC: Senior sales role to lead and cultivate programs with brands and agencies. Client and agency relationships – OOH, shopper, multicultural, promotional, sampling experience desired – 7+ years exp. Resume HERE (3/23)
JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY/TV LAND/LA: Responsible for dvlpng, overseeing, & implementing communications strategies for scripted series P&D. 8+ yrs exp TV comm (preferably scripted) or media relations. Superb writing & excellent verbal & interpersonal skills a must. Full info/apply HERE (3/23)
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