04/06/18: Major League Rugby wraps up media deals

Good morning. It’s Friday April 6, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

The upcoming Major League Rugby locked in a broadcast agreement with AT&T Sports Networks for MLR’s inaugural season, which launches this month, completing the league’s distribution package. Deal points will see AT&T Sports Networks carry a 17-game package with rights to six MLR teams including Austin, Houston and NOLA on AT&T SportsNet -Southwest region. ROOT SPORTS in the Northwest will carry Seattle matches and AT&T SportsNet -Rocky Mountain region will host Glendale and Utah games. San Diego will have a separate local rights agreement for their market. The networks will televise home and away broadcasts of all games except the MLR Game of the Week, playoffs and championship match, which will air on CBS Sports Network. MLR programming will run in prime weekend time slots on Saturday afternoons and Sunday evenings on the networks.

ON THE AIR

In other deal news, the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Charlotte Sports Foundation inked a 10-year agreement that will keep the Dr Pepper ACC Football Championship Game in Charlotte through the 2030 season, played at Bank of America Stadium. Charlotte is also scheduled to host the 2018, 2019 and 2020 championship games.

April 10 will see ESPN open the doors to SportsCenter, programming a special SportsCenter All-Access at 10p, giving viewers a real-time look into what it takes to create the sports news and information program. The live episode – presented with limited commercial interruptions – will follow ESPN’s telecast of the New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox and will run until midnight and be anchored by Steve Levy and Michael Eaves and include roving reporters Elle Duncan and Marty Smith. Planned access includes a live look inside SportsCenter’s home, Studio X, and the SC control room; entry into the screening room, where highlights are created; a visit to the SC Top 10 laboratory; a stop in the SC Green Room and other unseen workspaces within the state-of-the-art Digital Center 2, where the show originates from.

Univision Deportes Network reports record-breaking ratings and double-digit growth this first quarter in key metrics for its sports content across media platforms. UDN finished the first quarter as the No. 3 sports network, regardless of language, during primetime among Adults 18-49, led by Liga MX which averaged 326,000 Total Viewers P2+ and 191,000 Adults 18-49.

South Carolina forward A’ja Wilson, the winner of every major 2018 national player of the year award issued thus far, will topline a list of 10 prospects who will attend WNBA Draft 2018 presented by State Farm on April 12 at the Nike New York Headquarters. ESPN2 carries the first round at 7p, followed by coverage of the second and third rounds on ESPNU at 8p. The other prospects who will be in attendance are guards Lexie Brown (Duke), Jordin Canada (UCLA), Diamond DeShields (Cukurova), Kelsey Mitchell (Ohio State), Kia Nurse (Connecticut) and Victoria Vivians (Mississippi State); and forwards Monique Billings (UCLA), Azurá Stevens (Connecticut) and Gabby Williams (Connecticut). The Las Vegas Aces (formerly the San Antonio Stars) hold the No. 1 overall pick after winning the WNBA Draft Lottery presented by State Farm in November.

Showtime announced that undefeated lightweight Devin Haney will face Mason Menard in the 10-round main event of ShoBox: The New Generation on May 11 at 10p. The event takes place in Philadelphia and is promoted by Greg Cohen Promotions, Devin Haney Promotions & Hard Hitting Promotions.

NBC Sports Group serves up the UWW Men’s Freestyle World Cup this weekend with coverage of 16 duals and 160 matches, beginning with live streaming coverage of Session 1 on Saturday at 11a and culminating with live gold medal match coverage Sunday at 5p on NBCSN. Live coverage of Team USA begins Saturday at 11aon Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, featuring their match against India.

FOX Sports South and FOX Sports Southeast will be the first FOX Sports regional network to leverage state-of-the-art augmented reality technology in its studio-based productions, starting with coverage of the 2018 Atlanta Braves regular season. The networks will integrate the versatile technology into the Braves LIVE pre- and postgame shows starting today at 3;30p.

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Premier League staple Manchester City picked up a deal with dating app Tinder for a multi-year partnership. The partnership will see the dating app team up with the club’s men’s and women’s sides along with sister club New York City FC. “Tinder is a huge global platform which, just like football, is bringing millions of people together every day all around the world,” City Football Group’s Chief Commercial Officer Tom Glick said in a statement on the club’s website.

The NBA launches its new Playoffs spot, “Streets” – created with agency Translation – during the Houston Rockets/Oklahoma City Thunder game on ABC Saturday Primetime on Saturday at 8:30p. The campaign will run across TV, digital banner and radio through The Finals, is part of “I’m Why,” the latest installment in the NBA’s ongoing “This Is Why We Play” global platform. The Playoffs top off on April 14.

DICK’S Sporting Goods and DICK’S Team Sports HQ announced that its bulk baseball and softball equipment business A.D. STARR has been named the Official Ball Supplier of the Little League World Series. Additionally, A.D. STARR will serve as the Official Ball for the Little League World Series in all seven divisions of baseball and softball, including the Little League, Junior League, and Senior League World Series, and the Little League Intermediate (50/70) Baseball Division World Series.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

ESPN announced that its new basketball analysis series created with Kobe Bryant and his Granity Studios, Detail, would debut on April 12, exclusively on ESPN+. The series will feature Bryant’s high-level analysis and insights as he breaks down games throughout the 2018 NBA Playoffs, including the NBA Finals. Bryant will provide in-depth observations from the standpoint of a current NBA player in a game featured on ESPN or ABC.

Meanwhile, B/R Live – Turner’s new premium live sports streaming service –will showcase Johnny Manziel’s debut in The Spring League on Saturday at 5:30p. B/R Live’s streaming content including The Spring League is available as part of a free preview period available throughout the opening months of the product.

WWE announced that the upcoming Greatest Royal Rumble, featuring 50 participants in Jeddah’s King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, would stream on WWE Network at noon on April 27,

ESPORTS

ELEAGUE is setting into reality series, serving up a five-part reality show, ELEAGUE The Challenger: Street Fighter V, starting April 20 at 11p on TBS. The series will follow seven players who will live in an Atlanta-area house and compete in SFV: Jonathan “JB” Bautista, Leah “Gllty” Hayes, Sherry Nhan, Jesse “Commander Jeese” Espinoza, Rob “RobTV” Burney, Jayce “BigBossDayasha” Alexander and Dalauan “Low Tier God” Sparrow. They will take on unique “Challenge” activities and the last person remaining will earn a spot in ELEAGUE’s upcoming Street Fighter V Invitational 2018. Steve “Tasty Steve” Scott and Stephen “Sajam” Lyon co-host.

Twitch is partnering with Nexon and Stunlock Studios to launch the inaugural season of Battlerite Pro League, with Season 1 competition starting on April 12. The league will see teams compete for a piece of the $80,000 prize pool, including more than $25,000 in the LAN finale prize pool. Twitch is the exclusive live streaming partner for the league.

ESP Gaming and Poker Central unveiled their new studio, built from the ground up at ARIA Resort & Casino. In addition to serving as the exclusive home for all Poker Central-owned live events distributed on its over-the-top subscription service, PokerGO, ESP Gaming also will use the space to host its own live esports event productions including the Vainglory Premier League. The more than 10,000 square-foot studio will feature multiple sound stages including a main studio, break desk area and a streaming lounge, which will provide flexibility to host a wide variety of poker and esports events.

Counter Logic Gaming is teaming with CORSAIR for a marketing partnership, naming the brand as the Official Peripherals Partner of the team. The agreement provides CORSAIR with premier brand integration across digital platforms, team jerseys and team events for Counter Logic Gaming. As part of the partnership, CORSAIR will see exposure throughout CLG’s team and player livestreams and videos, as well as on the CLG website. Additionally, CORSAIR will be featured on all CLG team jerseys at esports competitions and be involved at CLG team events, and CLG players will make appearances at CORSAIR events throughout the year.

Overwatch League is beefing up its content offering courtesy of the Overwatch League All-Access Pass on Twitch. Viewers who purchase the pass will be given access to the Overwatch League Command Center, which will offer a second stream during matches with player POVs, alternate in-game camera angles, backstage cameras, and real-time stats. In addition, passholders will receive behind-the-scenes video content. On Twitch, viewers who purchase the all-access pass will receive exclusive global emotes, including character abilities and golden team logos, as well as a global twitch icon.

THE MAIN EVENT

A champion will be crowned at the Masters on CBS on Sunday starting at 2p.

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ON THIS DAY in 1992: The Orioles win their first game at Camden Yards.

In the Know: In 1988, The Orioles opened the season with a record of how many losses in a row? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Continuing our run on Masters trivia, what is the name of Hole 1 at Augusta National Golf Club? Answer: Tea Olive. Kudos: Rich Boland-Oath/NY; Sara Henika-The First Tee/St. Augustine; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Joe Lyons-SOS Global/Dallas; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Nick Monroe-Monroe Photography/San Diego

Later – Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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