05/21/19: PWHPA unites

Good morning. It’s Tuesday May 21, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Top female hockey players announced that formation of the Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association, designed to serve as a vehicle dedicated to promoting and supporting the creation of a single, viable women’s professional league in North America. Over 200 of the world’s best players had previously announced that they would sit out the upcoming pro hockey season. Now, the PWHPA will look to help help players coordinate training needs and opportunities and develop support from sponsors. In addition to Olympic medalists and World Championship winners, PWHPA members include those who have not played on a national team. Members hail from the United States, Canada, and Europe.

“We are fortunate to be ambassadors of this beautiful game, and it is our responsibility to make sure the next generation of players have more opportunities than we had,” said Kendall Coyne Schofield, who won an Olympic Gold Medal with Team USA in 2018. “It’s time to stand together and work to create a viable league that will allow us to enjoy the benefits of our hard work.”

PROGRAMMING

Conference USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod and the NFL locked in a new four-year contract for a 10-game package of C-USA football games to be broadcast on NFL Network. The partnership will begin in the 2019 football season with one game each week on Saturday afternoon. “We are excited to showcase the next generation of NFL athletes to our fans on a weekly basis,” said Hans Schroeder, Chief Operating Officer of NFL Media. “Our fans crave live football, and partnering with Conference USA – a conference which boasts several Hall of Fame players – provides us with an excellent opportunity to do so.” The full NFL Network slate of games will be released with the rest of the 2019 C-USA Football multimedia schedule at a later date.

Women’s racing league W Series unveiled a new partnership with NBC Sports to carry the new series’ inaugural season across the country, which would join existing partnerships for coverage that now reaches 130 million households in 57 global territories. W Series features 18 drivers from 13 countries with carriage set to include six, one-hour encore presentations of races. “NBC Sports is excited to announce this new partnership with the W Series for its inaugural season,” said Michael Perman, VP, Programming, NBC Sports. “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to add more women’s sports and racing to our portfolio, and continue to give our consumers new and exciting content to enjoy.”

Of course, NBC Sports serves up coverage of the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500 Presented by Gainbridge over the next week with nearly 50 hours of programming across NBC, NBCSN, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and NBC Sports Gold, leading into the network’s inaugural broadcast of the Indy 500 on Sunday at 11a. Raceday sees more than eight hours of live coverage beginning with extended pre-race coverage on NBCSN at 9a, switching to NBC at 11 with a green flag at 12:45p. NBC Sports’ lead Indycar commentary team of Leigh Diffey (play-by-play), Townsend Bell(analyst), and Paul Tracy (analyst) will call the 103rd Indianapolis 500 alongside pit reporters Marty Snider, Kelli Stavast, Kevin Lee, Jon Beekhuis, Robin Miller and Dillon Welch.

Tennis Channel served up French Open plans, with live coverage every afternoon of the 15-day event, televising and digitally streaming up to 12 courts per day. With the main draw underway May 26-June 9, the network will feature a new set based at the top of the tournament’s main court, Philippe-Chatrier, becoming the first American channel with a studio stage in the arena. Tennis Channel’s main-draw coverage begins with the first matches of the tournament on Sunday at 5a and typically running through 3p.

Speaking of tennis, World TeamTennis announced that CBS will carry a matchup between the Philadelphia Freedoms, featuring Franchise players Grigor Dimitrov and Danielle Collins, and the Vegas Rollers, bolstered by Bob and Mike Bryan, Sam Querrey and Monica Puig, on July 21 from 4-6p. Additionally, CBS Sports Network will televise 15 matches live during the WTT season.

ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and the ESPN App will combine to offer more than 24 live hours of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 28-30, with Matt Barrie hosting the event. ESPN3 carries preliminary rounds with a second stream carrying the Play Along version. Live coverage of the Finals will begin May 30 at 10a on ESPN2 while the Play Along Version for both sessions will air on ESPNU.

Turner Sports announced that the 2019 PGA Championship set several all-time records across Turner-managed PGA Digital assets. Thursday set a new record in live hours of video consumption for any single day of the PGA Championship, and – with Tiger Woods in action – Thursday and Friday combined to deliver a 35% increase in live hours of consumption across digital. PGA social media accounts managed by Turner Sports netted a record 4.8 million video views through the first three days of coverage across Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

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Taking it In-House: How Brands Are Measuring and Interpreting Data Themselves

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Sponsored by: NCC Media, Videa, Tubular Labs, TVSquared and tunity

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

International Cricket Council announced that Uber, signed on to become an official sponsor of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. The partnership will make Uber the first mobility and food delivery app to strike a sponsorship deal with the ICC for the event, which will be played in England and Wales from May 30-July 14 with an estimated global viewing audience of 1.5 billion. Uber’s campaign ‘This World Cup, Every Fan Wins” will look to “create a culture of togetherness and puts cricket lovers at the heart of the celebration, which includes the World Cup’s first and very own anthem – Way-O, Way-O.

FedEx and the PGA TOUR are bringing back the FedEx Junior Business Challenge, a program in conjunction with Junior Achievement Worldwide to empower youth entrepreneurs. The program will kick-off at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth tomorrow and will feature Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware and four-time PGA TOUR tournament winner Ryan Palmer among the judging panel. Over the past two years, the FedEx Junior Business Challenge has impacted hundreds of students across North America, donating more than $200,000 to participating JA chapters.

As part of Discover’s partnership with the NHL as the Official Credit Card of the NHL, the brand awarded the Stanley Cup to “a deserving group/individual, who serves as a champion for the hockey community and leader in their local community” with this year’s recipient being Buffalo girls’ hockey team, the Buffalo Bisons. Discover made a $10,000 donation to the Buffalo Bison Hockey Association in recognition of Shelley Looney (from Gibraltar, Michigan – Detroit suburb), director of the Buffalo Bisons and the organization’s commitment to empowering girls and women of all ages to play and excel in hockey. The Day with the Stanley Cup spot ran on NBC during Game 5 of the West Conference Final (also ran during Game 4 of the East Conference Final) and also runs across Discover, NHL and NBC Sports social channels.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Fanatics is partnering with Kohl’s to broaden the fan gear assortment for Kohl’s customers shopping online beginning in fall 2019. The deal will see hundreds of thousands of items across team apparel, jerseys and additional merchandise categories that will give Kohl’s customers access to a deeper selection of products, including NFL, NCAA, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and more. “We are continually seeking opportunities to evolve our product offerings in order to give our customers even more of what they’re looking for, and this expanded partnership with Fanatics conveniently brings more officially-licensed products across more favorite sports teams to Kohls.com,” said Doug Howe, Kohl’s chief merchandising officer. “Furthermore, we’re able to offer the same convenience and value that customers have come to know and love from Kohl’s – including the capability to buy via the Kohl’s App, as well as the value of earning and redeeming Kohl’s Cash.”

UFC and Weibo tied in a new strategic alliance that will see China’s social media platform serve as the “Official Social Media platform” of UFC throughout the country, with access to UFC live event content including athlete and executive interviews, fight highlights, fight night results, athlete metrics, fight announcements, and content highlights from the soon-to-open UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai.

Getty Images is partnering with the World Surf League to become the exclusive provider of imagery from the WSL’s global calendar of events. Additionally, as part of the deal, Getty Images will now represent roughly 70,000 historical WSL images, dating back to 2000.

Tunity Analytics’ top five out-of-home sports programs for the week of May 13. Show/Network/Data/(OOO’s)

NBA – Trail Blazers/Warriors: May 14 on ESPN (4891.2)
NBA – Draft Lottery: May 14 on ESPN (4240.0)
NBA – Trail Blazers/Warriors: May 16 on ESPN (4159.0)
NBA – Warriors/Trail Blazers: May 18 on ESPN (3674.5)
SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt: May 16 on ESPN (2897.4)

Source: Tunity Analytics. Viewing estimates are derived from Tunity mobile app usage for the week of May 6, 2019. OOH viewer impressions are calculated using Tunity Analytics proprietary estimation model.

ESPORTS

News yesterday that Turner Tenney, the 21-year-old professional gamer known worldwide as Tfue, sued his team FaZe Clan sent shockwaves around the industry, with claims that the team is violating California law and the Talent Agency Act by taking up to 80% percent of his earnings. His Twitch streams have been viewed more than 120 million times, and he has more than 10 million YouTube subscribers and 5.5 million Instagram followers and is now asking the court to terminate his agreement with the company in addition to “fair payment for his services plus disgorgement of Faze Clan’s profits and punitive damages,” per THR. However, the team replied to the accusations, claiming that it has only secured $60,000 from its partnership with Tfue while Tfue has made millions of dollars as a member of FaZe Clan, noting that FaZe Clan has not taken any percentage of the earnings the Twitch personality has collected from tournament winnings, Twitch or YouTube revenue nor any social platform.

Complexity Gaming officially opened the doors to its new headquarters, titled the GameStop Performance Center and forwarding its vision for the “Esports 3.0” era, “where esports athletes are treated like professional sports athletes.” At The Star in Frisco, Complexity’s 11,000-square-foot headquarters sits near the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters, allowing for seamless coordination between the two organizations and “establishing Complexity as one of the first esports organizations to fully integrate and connect with a traditional sports franchise,” according to the team. The GameStop Performance Center houses a public area and retail space for visitors as well as cutting-edge performance facilities for team members, including recovery, wellness and mental health amenities in addition to featuring advanced training rooms, a mind gym, a decompression porch, innovation lab and stream studio.

A|X Armani Exchange announced a deal to become the first fashion brand to dive into esports waters, locking in a sponsor with the Italian team Mkers for the 2019-20 season for the team to serve as the global ambassador for the brand and wear a new official uniform at tournaments. “We are proud to be the first e-sports team chosen by a prestigious brand like Armani Exchange,” said Mkers CEO Paolo Cisario in the announcement. “It is a reward for all the effort sustained up until this moment, and it gives great credibility not just to us and the investors that believed in our project, but also to the entire Italian e-sports industry. Now the real challenge will be to yield tangible results.”

704Games, the Race Team Alliance and NASCAR announced that the inaugural eNASCAR Heat Pro League season will make its debut Memorial Day Weekend live from Charlotte Motor Speedway. The historic first races precede Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 with the green flag dropping at 3:30p at the NASCAR Trackside Live stage as well as on NASCAR’s Facebook and 704Games’ Twitch via livestream. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace will be on-hand for the pre-race festivities. “The eNASCAR Heat Pro League is a result of incredible industry collaboration and a shared commitment to growing NASCAR through innovation,” said Tim Clark, senior vice president and chief digital officer, NASCAR. “The esports community is massive, highly engaged and passionate, and our league presents an unparalleled opportunity to reach new and existing fans.”

EGENCY, founded in 2018 as a premier esports production, marketing and talent management firm, announced that the company will change its name to Abacus3 effective immediately. According to company President Mark Nausha, “The esports and video gaming space is rapidly changing. The community is always building, growing, and evolving, and we felt we needed to go to market with a name that signifies that we are much more than merely an agency specializing in esports.”

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

At its annual Spring meeting held today in San Francisco, the Pac-12 CEO Group approved measures to support student-athletes and enhance Pac-12 men’s basketball program performance. The CEO Group voted to extend the annual $3.6M of funding to the Student-Athlete Health & Well-Being Initiative for a period of 5 years with a review of the program after 3 years. Additionally, the CEO Group voted to significantly increase to $1.1M annually the portion of funding to on-campus mental health services to provide more support. Meanwhile, following support from the Pac-12 Council and Pac-12 Athletic Directors at their meetings earlier this month, the CEO Group voted to introduce non-Conference scheduling standards to enhance Pac-12 men’s basketball non-conference schedules. This follows approval by the Pac-12 Council of a move to a 20-game Conference men’s

40 Yards of Gold announced plans to launch the inaugural Tournament-Style, All-Star Speed Competition designed to crown the fastest pro football player. Athletes will race head-to-head in a one-night extravaganza and culminate with the Champion of the Offensive Division facing the Champion of the Defensive Division. Quince Imaging will incorporate projection mapping onto the field to give the illusion that the participants are running on futuristic platforms.

THE MAIN EVENT

Sharks/Blues on NBCSN at 8p.

ON THIS DAY in 1881: The United States National Lawn Tennis Association is formed.

In the Know: Who was the original winner of the NFL’s Fastest Man Competition in 1986? (Hint: he won it multiple times.) (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Before being known as the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, who was the award named after? Answer: Walter A. Brown. Kudos: Michael Ritz-Northwestern Mutual/NY; Mike Seidel-CSI Sports/Jersey City; Synda Kollman/Deerfield Beach; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Rick Pike-InterMedia Advertising/Woodland Hills; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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