Speaking of the US Open, the USGA will offer a lineup of interactive experiences for fans during the festivities. Highlights include the Main Merchandise Pavilion, Fan Appreciation Day, a speaker series in the USGA Member Experience, and the USGA Golf Innovation Experience. In addition, the Lexus Performance Experience in Fan Central will offer experiences that include a hole-in-one challenge for an opportunity to win a two-year lease of a 2017 Lexus RX, a photo opportunity with the US Open Trophy and a chance to relive history by taking part in the “Putt Like a Pro” Challenge.
Velveeta S hells & Cheese inked a deal with Richard Childress Racing and the No. 31 Chevrolet SS team to serve as primary sponsor for select races, beginning June 18 at Michigan International Speedway, and associate sponsorship for the remainder of the 2017 season. The partnership is highlighted by a comprehensive marketing and content program, including a national sweepstakes that will grant one grand prize winner an all-expenses paid VIP weekend at the NASCAR Championship at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
IMG College Licensing reached an agreement with St. John’s University to manage its domestic trademark licensing program. The relationship will align with the multimedia rights contract between St. John’s and IMG, which runs through 2026. Through this new partnership, St. John’s will gain access to IMG College Licensing’s industry-leading brand protection, management and development services.
PlayStation Vue sent a notice to subscribers that it would be dropping beIN Sports from its service starting yesterday. In a statement, beIN Sports said that “For soccer fans and passionate viewers of the quality programming on beIN Sports, we regret to inform you we’ve reached an impasse involving our contract with Playstation Vue. Sony has refused to renew the contract with our channel and chosen to remove us from their PSVUE service. Because of this unilateral decision, our loyal subscribers like you will be deprived of access to beIN as of today. We made every possible effort to reach a deal with Sony since we believe the top sports leagues, games, insights and analysis should be made available to the largest possible audience of fans. Regrettably, Sony has decided that our value proposition is not enough for their viewers.”
Esports and gaming company aXiomatic announced that Jeff Vinik, owner and chairman of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning, minority owner of Fenway Sports Group and owner of the Tampa Bay Storm joined the group as an investor, co-executive chairman and voting manager. Vinik will serve beside co-chairmen Peter Guber and Ted Leonsis. In addition, Jac Sperling — former CEO and co-General Partner of Minnesota Sports and Entertainment (NHL’s Wild), Founder of Grit Rock Ventures, and former NBA Governor of the New Orleans Pelicans — is joining the investment group with Vinik.
ESL announced plans for the E3 Esports Zone, powered by ESL, as part of a multi-year partnership with the ESA. The dedicated esports stage on the E3 show floor will feature top players and teams for the mobile MOBA game Vainglory as well as Quake Champions on June 13-15. The area will feature a full-size esports stage and over 300 seats in the surrounding spectator area. The esports stage will be located on the show floor in Booth 947 in the South Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center.
A new report from the Esports Advertising Bureau and Magid found that women currently comprise nearly one-third of the esports audience and could account for half of all growth in viewership over the next year. The study was conducted in March of 2017 among 1,000 consumers 16 to 45 years old who watch TV, movies, sports or play video games and that have either watched esports at some point over the past year or have some interest in the category, and shows that while 54% of the audience has watched esports in the past three months, the 46% that have not are interested in doing so. The study also points out that women make up half of the audience most interested in watching esports in the near future, with 78% of them following esports just within the past year. More than 50% of the audience reported engaging on some level with esports content at least once a week.
Amazon Appstore announced Mobile Masters Invitational (M2), a new tournament series featuring mobile esports titles Summoners War, Vainglory and Hearthstone. Competitions will take place from June 23 – 24 in New York and August 18 – 20 in Los Angeles in conjunction with Korean pop culture festival KCON. In addition, Amazon is also announcing the return of Maria Ho as host for Amazon’s esports events.
Riot Games is changing League of Legends’ North American Challenger Series to a best-of-three round-robin format, effective immediately, according to TEO. Starting this week, North American CS teams will now battle over two best-of-three series every Wednesday and Thursday with Riot streaming one full NA CS series every Thursday.
Discord announced that it had hired Andy Swanson, formerly of Twitch, as head of publisher relations for the company. Swanson will now work with game publishers and developers on how best to use Discord’s voice and text chat across the gaming ecosystem.
Will the Warriors sweep? Warriors/Cavaliers on ABC at 6p tonight.
