“We successfully brought to life the first virtual NFL Draft last week, and we are now very excited to work with Cleveland to incorporate some of the innovations and special access from 2020 into our planning for 2021,” said Peter O’Reilly, NFL executive vice president of Club Business & League Events. “We look forward to partnering with the Browns, the City of Cleveland, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission and Destination Cleveland to create a memorable celebration of football for such a passionate fan base and community.”

PROGRAMMING

ESPN’s latest episodes of The Last Dance continued to score on night number two. Episodes 3 and 4 averaged 5.9 million viewers across ESPN & ESPN2 from 9-11p, according to Nielsen, with episode 3 averaging 6.1 million viewers and episode 4 (averaging 5.7 million viewers. Combined with last week’s premiere episodes, the documentary series now represents the four most-viewed original content broadcasts on ESPN Networks since 2004 and is averaging 6.0 million viewers across its first four episodes based on initial Nielsen reporting.

Speaking of The Last Dance, Chicago-based content studio Teamworks Media launched a “next day” show titled Backstage At The Last Dance and featuring insights and stories from insiders, producing a weekly Monday series throughout the five-week window of the show. Episodes launch live at 3p on Twitter every Monday (available for on-demand playback on Twitter and TeamWorks Media’s website) and will focus specifically on the previous night’s episodes of The Last Dance.

The NBA informed its teams that, as numerous state and local governments have announced modifications of stay-at-home orders and other restrictions on non-essential business activity beginning this week, the league is planning to modify its guidance regarding the use of team practice facilities and player training. The move is designed to allow for “safe and controlled environments for players to train in states that allow them to do so, and to create a process for identifying safe training options for players located in other states.” The league advised teams that it is targeting no earlier than May 8, as the commencement date for the new rules. Restrictions would include: no more than four players would be permitted at a facility at any one time; no head or assistant coaches could participate; group activity remains prohibited, including practices or scrimmages; players remain prohibited from using non-team facilities such as public health clubs, fitness centers, or gyms.

PBR Canada extended its broadcast agreement with TSN for 2020. For the third consecutive year, TSN will broadcast PBR competition for 32 weeks, once again recapping action from both Canadian and American-based tours. Beginning today, the weekly, one-hour highlight shows will feature events from the Monster Energy Tour, Canada’s premier bull riding series; U.S.-based PBR Unleash The Beast, the sport’s elite tour showcasing the Top 35 bull riders in the world; and the PBR Global Cup, a five-nation, team-formatted event regarded as the “Olympics of bull riding.”

Sunday’s GEICO 70 broadcast from a virtual-reality Talladega Superspeedway drew 1.24 million viewers, according to Nielsen, to rank as the second highest of the NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series’ five events.

Don’t miss this one tomorrow! With live sports and esports events being cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak, where are the fans going during lockdown and how are they engaging? Find out by during Cynopsis’ Webinar: Building A Super-Bond with Fans During the Pandemic. On Thursday, April 30 at 1:30p ET, you’ll learn how leagues, rights holders & brands are strengthening their connections with fans. The panel of speakers include:
· Damian Bazadona, Founder & President – Situation
· Doug Bernstein, GM of House of Highlights – Bleacher Report
· Heidi Browning, CMO – NHL
· Nathan Lindberg, RVP, Global Sponsorships – Twitch
· Vikki Neil, EVP & GM Digital Studios Group – Discovery Inc
· Johannes Waldstein, CEO & Founder – FanAI Inc

The ACC is shifting its men’s basketball tournament back to Greensboro, North Carolina in 2023. The ACC Tournament will be held in DC next year and in Brooklyn in 2022. In a statement, ACC Commissioner John Swofford said “The partnership between the ACC and the city of Greensboro is extremely special, and one that has spanned nearly seven decades. The decision to bring the ACC Men’s Basketball Tournament back to the Greensboro Coliseum was the right thing to do and we look forward to returning in 2023.”

A special edition of E60, Project 11, will debut on ESPN on May 1 showcasing NFL veteran Alex Smith’s injury and recovery while quarterback for the Washington Redskins. The program debuts at 7:30p on ESPN. “No NFL player has ever been through what Alex Smith has,” said Andy Tennant, E60 executive producer. “He’s normally a very private person but he wanted to document his road to recovery as well and as detailed as possible, with the hope that future players could use it as a road map.”

Time for another appearance from ESPN 8: The Ocho, which will now take over ESPN for an 11-hour slate of “seldom seen sports” on Saturday. Programming will include a world record deadlift attempt by Thor Bjornsson kicks-off the schedule at noon live from Reykjavik, Iceland. Other featured events include Jelle’s Marble Runs, Cherry Pit Spitting and the Stupid Robot Fighting League. Bjornsson—2018 World’s Strongest Man champion, three-time Arnold Strongman Classic and “The Mountain” from Game of Thrones—will attempt to deadlift 1,104 pounds live on ESPN 8.

With the Kentucky Derby postponed until Sept. 5, NBC Sports delivers a special show on NBC at 3p on Saturday, May 2 headlined by American Pharoah’s Kentucky Derby win five years ago. The three-hour The First Saturday In May: American Pharoah’s Run to the Triple Crown will look back at American Pharoah’s down-to-the-wire victory in the 141st Kentucky Derby, while introducing new stories and content. In addition, the broadcast will highlight Churchill Downs’ first-ever virtual horse race – The Kentucky Derby: Triple Crown Showdown.

As golf courses across North America begin to reopen, GOLF Channel’s Morning Drive introduced one of two weekly segments produced from daily data released by GOLFNOW, which provide viewers with the latest industry news and the opportunities for recreational play. “Since the availability of golf in every state has been a moving target throughout this pandemic, GOLFNOW has been doing a great job of collecting the latest data to keep the industry informed,” said Morning Drive executive producer Kevin Schultz. “We’re excited about the opportunity to tap into that data with the latest information for our Morning Drive viewers.”

It’s critical for marketers and rights holders to be on top of their game in strengthening their connections with audiences. You’ll learn:
· How to effectively build content that audiences are engaging with for the first time
· Which metrics matter most when quickly scaling audience
· How brands can integrate seamlessly with established followings
· How to curate content on social media platforms to keep viewers coming back

REGISTER

Meanwhile, the Association of Volleyball Professionals released a public service announcement encouraging fans to continue to stay home to save lives in the ongoing fight against COVID-19. AVP owner and CEO Donald Sun is joined by AVP Pro and two-time Olympic medalist April Ross, along with Todd Rogers, Casey Patterson, Dain Blanton, Jen Kessy, and more for the PSA.

Minor League Baseball announced the launch of MiLB CommUNITY First, a new national initiative developed in conjunction with Feeding America, to raise funds for local food banks and to honor individuals risking their lives on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. MiLB’s national partners, including BAM Live, ECHO Incorporated, Guardian Protection, ISM Connect. “In times of uncertainty, coming together to help others is crucial to the health, well-being and stability of our local communities,” said Minor League Baseball President & CEO Pat O’Conner. “With the support of our fans and through the Feeding America network of food banks, we want to do our part to continue to fight hunger across America during this pandemic. When it is possible to hold games once again, our teams will provide local heroes across the country with unforgettable experiences in our ballparks.”

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Tennis Channel launched an international subscription streaming service, the first-stage rollout for what is intended to become a global tennis-media destination. Initially launching in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, with plans for other worldwide markets, the OTT platform will offer content on the new Tennis Channel International app, with the service available in all three countries on www.tennischannel.com. The product debuts ahead of the Tennis Point Exhibition Series, a four-day tennis competition between men’s tennis professionals May 1-4 – the first professional-level tennis in two months – which will be shown live and on-demand on Tennis Channel International. With the launch, Tennis Channel will make its programming available for purchase outside the United States for the first time.

The B/R Gridiron 2020 NFL Draft Show streamed live on the B/R app for the first time and propelled the show to record highs in addition to tripling viewers overall from last year’s NFL Draft Show. The move to the app, designed to take advantage of the social features native in the app, also created a 10% increase in time spent for users.

On May 15th at 2p, Facebook and Instagram will stream a special event: #Graduation2020: Facebook and Instagram Celebrate the Class of 2020, a multi-hour streaming event will feature remarks from Simone Biles, a commencement address from Oprah Winfrey, words of wisdom for the class of 2020 from the likes of Awkwafina, Jennifer Garner, Lil Nas X and more coming soon, as well as a special musical performance from Miley Cyrus of her song, “The Climb.” Plus, for graduates and their schools, teachers, friends, and family, the Facebook App will provide resources to help people host their own virtual graduation ceremonies and parties – including a virtual graduation hub, custom filters, family and friends celebrations enabled by Rooms, and more.

ESPORTS

DreamHack and ESL locked in a three-year deal with Twitch to bring some of the biggest esports tournaments organized by the two companies to be live streamed to the service on Twitch in 2021 and 2022. The deal announcement confirms Twitch as the global digital media partner of major ESL and DreamHack competitions on a non-exclusive basis in 2020, before acquiring exclusivity of English language digital live streaming of major events in 2021 and 2022. As part of the deal, all tournaments streamed in English within ESL Pro Tour for CS:GO and StarCraft II & Warcraft III, including the ESL Pro League, ESL One, Intel Extreme Masters, DreamHack Masters, DreamHack Open, ESL National Championships, will be exclusively on Twitch in 2021 and 2022. As part of the partnership, Twitch will become a centralized hub for streaming ESL and DreamHack competitions. The company will work directly with ESL and DreamHack to coordinate broadcast integrations and maximise sponsorships of some of the biggest esports tournaments going forward.

FaZe Clan and Sugar23, Academy Award-winning manager-producer Michael Sugar’s emerging management and creative platform, partnered up to launch FaZe Studios in a move to fuel, produce and source new film and television projects. FaZe Studios will look to introduce “culturally impactful movies and television shows that specifically speak to and for youth, shaping the cultural zeitgeist.” FaZe Studios will operate in Los Angeles with Sugar23 running development operations. Foxhoven will be pointing the initiative for Sugar23, while Ramos and Okusanya (VP, Content) will be leading the endeavor on behalf of FaZe Clan.

The NBA 2K League announced that the start of its 2020 regular season will now begin on May 5, and offer at least six weeks of remote gameplay. All 23 NBA 2K League teams will participate in regular-season gameplay from their local markets with games simulcast live on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels. Games will begin at 7p and run every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday with four distinct matchups each night. Over the course of the six weeks of remote gameplay, each team is scheduled to play at least eight matches that will count toward its regular-season record. Each match will be played in a best-of-three format, which will allow the NBA 2K League broadcast to switch between games in real-time and give fans more opportunities to experience the league’s key moments. The 2020 season will once again include three in-season tournaments: The Tipoff, The Turn and The Ticket.

North American’s largest collegiate esports league, Collegiate StarLeague is teaming up with short-form video platform TikTok to launch the TikTok Cup. The new event will allow collegiate players to have the opportunity to compete online across four titles, earning their share of the $60K in prize money to support education expenses; that will be split amongst the winners. Starting May 9, participants can face off in the TikTok Cup playing Fortnite, League of Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Rocket League in online matches.

The 2020 Overwatch League season received its May slate, which will now include the introduction of new single-elimination regional tournaments. During the first three weeks of May, all 20 teams will play three qualifier matches. Team records, map scores, and standard tiebreakers in those qualifier matches will determine team seeding in two regional tournaments in North America and Asia. Both tournaments have a combined US $225,000 prize pool with tournament champions receiving $40,000. Matches leading up to the tournaments will feature a wider variety of matchups in North America, with all 13 teams now able to play each other on shared servers.

INDUSTRY & ROSTER MOVES

The Drone Racing League brought in Rachel Jacobson as President where the former NBA SVP of Global Partnerships will help continue to scale DRL and develop landmark opportunities to engage league partners with more than 250 million global fans. In her new role, Jacobson will spearhead global partnerships and media rights deals, and lead the marketing and business development teams, bringing to DRL her legacy of creating transformative partnerships with leading sports and technology brands.

Famer, the sports coaching and mentorship mobile platform, announced a partnership with elite basketball trainer, Tyler Relph. “We welcome Tyler to our growing list of partners across all sports we touch, but his impact in engaging the basketball community will be key in our next stage of global development,” Famer CEO Rich Abend said. “Having Tyler engage on Famer both through one on one training and in a group setting with players from around the world will be both unique and time efficient as he continues to manage a very demanding schedule that includes everyone from professional players to rising stars and through our work, those on the grassroots level as well. It is a new way of thinking about skills training that we are proud to champion.”

Registration will open soon. Questions? Contact [email protected]

In the Know
Who was the first NBA player to score 2,000 points in a single season? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city).

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question
ow high off the court is the rim of a pro/collegiate level hoop? Answer: 10 feet. Kudos: Keith Marder-Halstead Real Estate/NY; Michael Ritz-Lenox Advisors/NY; Aymon DeMauro-ADM Media & Marketing/NY; Chris Madigan-BZA PR/NY; Mike May-R2 Innovative Technologies/Wellington; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Travis Wacker-ESPN Chicago/Chicago; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Joe Lyons-ESPN/Dallas; John Ward-Gamut/Chicago; Greg Moloznik-GLM Media/Scottsdale; Rich Wolfe-Lone Wolfe Press/Scottsdale; David Hauptman/Denver; Dave Sikula-San Francisco State University/San Francisco; Anne Wettig-Fox/Fox Sports S&PLA; Andy Babb-Super League Gaming/Santa Monica; Bob Ramsey/Palm Springs