05/24/19: NBC's Indy symphony

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM CBS SPORTS NETWORK

WNBA ON CBS SPORTS NETWORK

Chicago Sky

at Minnesota Lynx

Tomorrow 8 PM ET

Good morning. It’s Friday May 24, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Ahead of NBC Sports’ first-ever broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, NBCUniversal is flicking the switch on its “Symphony” marketing program to promote the event across its broadcast, cable, regional, digital, social, radio and theme park assets with programs such as TODAY, NBC Nightly News, and Golf Channel’s Morning Drive, among others, featuring related promotion and editorial content leading up to Sunday. Other activations include NBC News channel interviews, Mario Andretti and family appearing on TODAY & The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a Secret Life of Pets 2 promotion and content, and more. Coverage begins Sunday, with eight hours of programming: a pre-race show on NBCSN at 9a; pre-race coverage continues at 11a on NBC; and race coverage at 12:30p.

PROGRAMMING

ESPN laid out its college football bowl season plans for 2019-20 with a 35-game slate on 14 dates across a two-and-a-half week stretch, and will include the College Football Playoff Semifinals and the entire New Year’s Six, as well as The College Football Playoff National Championship from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. This year will see the slate begin on Dec. 20 with the Makers Wanted Bahamas Bowl at 2p on ESPN, followed by the Frisco Bowl at 7:30p on ESPN2, with six more bowl games the following day. Meanwhile, the College Football Playoff Semifinals will be played on Dec. 28 this year with the two semifinals being the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl in Atlanta, and the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl in Glendale.

NBC Sports launches exclusive coverage of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final on Monday at 8p on NBC with the Blues/Bruins in Game 1 of the best-of-seven series. Pre-game coverage begins at 6p on NBCSN with a special two-hour edition of NHL Live amongst the fans outside of TD Garden. Mike “Doc” Emrick, analyst Eddie Olczyk, and Pierre McGuire will call the 2019 Stanley Cup Final on NBC and NBCSN. Mike Tirico will host Game 1 coverage from TD Garden on Monday night with Liam McHugh anchoring pre-game, intermission and post-game coverage on-site throughout the series. Meanwhile, Wednesday night’s San Jose/St. Louis WCF Game 6 averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 1.9 million viewers on NBCSN, up 22% vs. the last WCF Game 6.

Around the dial, NHL Network heads to Boston this weekend to begin its more than 70 hours of live programming on-site at the 2019 Stanley Cup Final with Media Day on Sunday. NHL Network studio shows NHL Now and NHL Tonight will air live from Boston’s TD Garden and St. Louis’s Enterprise Center starting at 4p on Monday for Game 1 and continuing for the duration of the Stanley Cup Final. NHL Network analysts including 2003 Stanley Cup champion Mike Rupp, E.J. Hradek, Stu Grimson, Brian Lawton, Barry Melrose and Kevin Weekes, along with hosts and reporters Jamison Coyle, Tony Luftmanand Jackie Redmond will provide in-depth previews, interviews, highlights and post-game analysis each day.

Rounding out hockey news, ‘The Great One on 1,’ a multiplatform series featuring NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, will return for its second season with four podcast episodes on Monday on NHL.com. The Hockey Hall of Famer will lead in-depth conversations with Stanley Cup winners Mark Messier, Luc Robitaille, T.J. Oshie and Martin St. Louis.

NBA TV tips off its 45-game 2019 WNBA game schedule with the season opener featuring the Indiana Fever visiting the New York Liberty tonight at 8p. NBA TV’s WNBA schedule will feature appearances from all 12 WNBA teams, along with extensive coverage of the league throughout the season including highlights and postgame interviews with players and coaches following key WNBA matchups.

GOLF Films unveiled its biggest slate ever, with five films scheduled to premiere in 2019, beginning with Hogan, a two-night, comprehensive biopic on the life and legacy of Ben Hogan. Hogan running June 17-18 at 9p. Other centerpieces will include: Tiger Woods – Chasing History; Tom at Turnberry – The 2009 Open; The Road to Royal Portrush; The Legend of East Lake; and Payne. “Storytelling is a hallmark of NBC Sports, and GOLF Films is a tremendous example of our commitment to telling authentic, engaging and heartfelt stories,” said Mike McCarley, president of GOLF, NBC Sports Group. “Golf is a sport rich with compelling stories and unforgettable moments that we chronicle through both long-form documentaries and short films. Our 2019 GOLF Films slate is our most-robust ever, expanding our library of high-quality, award-winning and critically-acclaimed projects.”

Turner Sports wraps its first season of multi-platform coverage of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League with a pair of all-English blockbuster matches, expanded studio programming and special guests across TNT and B/R Live, beginning with UEFA Champions League Final – Liverpool/Tottenham – on June 1 at 3p. Next week’s live match coverage will kick off with the UEFA Europa League Final –Chelsea vs. Arsenal – on May 29, at 3p.

With the 2018-19 TV season in the books. Univision Deportes Network reports that it ranked as the top Spanish-language sports channel among adults 18 to 49 in primetime, and had the highest concentration of those viewers among 10 dedicated sports networks, irrespective of language. UDN was also the youngest network among this group, with a median age viewer of 43. All told, the programmer aired the 13 most-watched soccer matches this past TV season, led by the 2.56 million viewers for Cruz Azul-America on Univision on Dec. 16, 2018.

Beginning Tuesday, ESPN’s Jason Fitz and Sarah Spain will see their roles evolve at the company with Fitz becoming a regular part of ESPN Radio’s weekday morning lineup as host of ESPN Radio’s First and Last on weekdays during the 5-6a hour. Spain, meanwhile, will host a new weeknight radio show, Spain and Company for three hours every Monday-Friday from 6-9p. The duo had hosted ESPN Radio’s Spain and Fitz since the beginning of 2018.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

To celebrate the tipoff of the NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV, ESPN announced plans to transform The Rooftop at Pier 17 –above ESPN’s South Street Seaport studio in New York City into the ESPN House featuring a live headlining concert from Top Dawg Entertainment recording artist, ScHoolboy Q, in addition to recording artist YG, followed by fan experiences during Game 1 of the NBA Finals live on ABC. ESPN and ABC coverage for Game 1 will include live look-ins during the concert and fan experience and include fan activations.

Meanwhile, the NHL, in partnership with the City of Boston, will celebrate the start of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final with a free outdoor concert and viewing party at Boston’s City Hall Plaza on Monday with the line-up of performers, announced at a later date.

FanDuel Group and fuboTV announced a partnership that will make FanDuel Group the exclusive sportsbook, online casino, horse racing and DFS partner of the live TV streaming service. The companies have also signed a media buy which will make FanDuel the exclusive advertiser on fuboTV in these categories. Additionally, TVG and TVG2, America’s horse racing network and an affiliate of FanDuel Group, will also be available to fuboTV subscribers nationwide.

UFC announced a new multi-year, global marketing partnership with Thorne that names the company as the “Official Sports Performance Nutrition Partner” of UFC. Thorne also becomes an “Official Partner of the Performance Institute”, UFC’s training and research. Under the terms of the agreement, Thorne’s line of NSF Certified for Sport products will be integrated into supplement plans.

The Professional Fighters League announced a multi-year partnership with Kaged Muscle, establishing the brand as the “Official Sports Nutrition Supplement” of the PFL. Kaged Muscle joins a growing portfolio of PFL brand partners, including ESPN, GEICO, Anheuser-Busch InBev and Air Force Reserve.

United World Sports, the owner and operator of the largest annual rugby events in the United States, announced that Dunkin’ of Greater Philadelphia will come back for the second consecutive year as the presenting sponsor of the Collegiate Rugby Festival Powered by Dunkin’ during the 2019 Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship on June 1-2. Dunkin’s presenting sponsorship features the second annual “Munchkin Rugby” coaching and demonstration area, featuring instruction for children in the sport of rugby by Rugby PA. This year, there will be multiple rugby matches in the “blow-up” stadium on the festival grounds. New sponsors, meanwhile, include Four ‘N Twenty and Wild Bill’s Olde Fashioned Soda Pop Co.

DIGITAL, DATA & STREAMING

EA Sports renewed its partnership deal with LaLiga through the 2023/24 season. The collaboration between the pair offer a number of integrations into the FIFA game, including a full broadcast package, and bring the authenticity of LaLiga to life in stadiums, banners, players and more.

ESPORTS

Twitch locked on a multi-touch advertising and sponsorship program with the Hershey’s and Reese’s brands designed to connect the brands across the spectrum of Twitch including media, team sponsorship, influencer sponsorship, event sponsorship, and ecommerce. In addition to video advertisements, the program will include all the following additional elements:

TwitchCon North America 2019 participation
Sponsorship with DrLupo and his wife, MrsDrLupo
Sponsorship with TimTheTatman
Additional Twitch influencer sponsorships to support key product initiatives
Twitch Extensions creation and bits usage

DreamHack Dallas announced that it will see The American Video Game League and High School Esports League launch high school and college esports matches at this year’s event form May 31-June 2. As part of the ongoing DreamHack + AVGL Collegiate Series, the AVGL will run Rocket League and Apex tournaments among 20 teams on the main stage of DreamHack Dallas. Rocket League tournaments will be held Friday, May 31 from 10a-3p, and Apex tournaments on Saturday, June 1 from 10a-3p. Participating universities include: University of North Texas, UT Austin, UT San Antonio, UT Arlington, Texas A&M, Louisiana State University, University of Oklahoma, Baylor University, Texas Christian University. The High School Showdown: Smash, presented by HSEL, will feature eight teams from area high schools who are showcasing five of their best Smash players each by busing them to Dreamhack where they’ll compete in a Crew Battles tournament.

Turtle Beach announced its continued partnership as the preferred audio partner for gaming YouTuber Ali-A. The partnership will see Ali-A continue to use Turtle Beach’s range of audio products and participate in community engagement. Ali-A has the largest Call of Duty channel in the world and has recently achieved the accolade of being the most popular global Fortnite YouTuber. Ali-A currently has over 22 million combined subscribers, and 12.9 billion minutes of his content was viewed on YouTube in 2018.

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

First Tee, a youth development organization dedicated to helping young people build character through the game of golf, will expand its programs and deepen its impact on young people in Texas courtesy of a challenge grant provided by Charles Schwab. The $5 million donation will also support further development of a First Tee College Scholarship program.

World TeamTennis’ Vegas Rollers added LMFAO singer Redfoo as an assistant coach to the team. Redfoo, aka Stefan Kendal Gordy, will be at every home match from July 20 – Aug 3. He previously attempted to qualify for the 2013 U.S. Open and is a member of the USTA while his Party Rock clothing line was the title sponsor of the USTA Pro Circuit Women’s $50,000 event played at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas in 2012 and 2013.

THE MAIN EVENT

Sunday sees the Coca-Cola 600 on FOX at 6p, while NBC carries the Indianapolis 500 at noon.

ON THIS DAY in 1935: The first Major League night game is played.

In the Know: What is the name of the trophy presented to the winner of the Indianapolis 500? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Name the only two cities that have seen their teams square off against each other in the World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Finals and Stanley Cup Final. Answer: Boston and St. Louis (most popular answer: New York and Los Angeles). Kudos: Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NY; Michael Ritz-Northwestern Mutual/NY; Bob Dudelson-Leverage Agency/NY; Joe Cassidy-Rowan University/Glassboro; Larry Kahn-GOLF Channel/Orlando; Steve Scheer-FOX Sports/Morristown; Stephanie Ann-Freelance Sports Producer/Baltimore; David Hauptman/Denver; Stacey Schuman–Ten100 TV/LA; Brian Robin-Copywriter-Pechanga Resort Casino/Temecula; Greg Dudsic/Venice; Allison Stevens-Comcast Spotlight/San Francisco

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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