07/10/19: Captain Morgan is mixing it up with MLS in a new sponsorship deal

Good morning. It’s Wednesday July 10, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Captain Morgan is toasting Major League Soccer, courtesy of a new agreement to become the league’s official spiced rum and exclusive spirits partner through 2022. The new deal names Captain Morgan as an official sponsor of MLS All-Star – taking place in a few weeks in Orlando – Campeones Cup (August 14) and MLS Cup (November 10). In addition, the rum brand becomes an official sponsor of: Chicago Fire Soccer Club, D.C. United, New York City FC, Philadelphia Union and Seattle Sounders FC. Fans will soon be able to purchase custom labeled bottles of Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum featuring official team colors and crests to be enjoyed responsibly with their fellow supporters.

“From New York to Seattle to Los Angeles, everything about Major League Soccer, its intensely passionate fanbase, the atmosphere at each match, and the exciting growth of the sport in the U.S. mirrors the energy that Captain Morgan stands for,” said Christina Choi, DIAGEO Senior Vice President, Rum, Gin & Tequila. “Our goal is to reward that dedicated fanbase, and the crews that get together to support their clubs each and every week, with the fun only Captain can bring because we know there is more fun to be had. We’ll kick off the fun later this month when we’re on the ground at All-Star Week in Orlando, and we can’t wait to see the fan fervor firsthand.”

PROGRAMMING

The UFC laid out its event plans through the end of the year, culminating in South Korea on Dec. 21. Overall, 21 more events are on the calendar, with locations cemented for all but two events. Highlights include a return to Madison Square garden on Nov. 2, Abu Dhabi on Sept. 7 for UFC 242, Singapore on Oct. 26, and Vegas for UFC 245 on Dec. 14.

Meanwhile, Monster Energy AMA Supercross confirmed its own 17-round schedule for the 2020 season, lining up returns to markets like St. Louis, Tampa and Foxborough. The season finale will shift to Salt Lake City on May 2. The season opens on Jan. 4 in Anaheim. “Our goal is the continued growth of the sport and rotating markets every couple of years, expanding Supercross Futures events and moving the finale to a new location helps keep the series fresh and exciting for the fans, as well as for the race teams and athletes,” said Todd Jendro, Vice President of Operations – Motorsports, Feld Entertainment. “Utah has become synonymous with elite, world class sporting events and we thought hosting the finale in Salt Lake City would be a fitting choice.”

NBC Sports and NASCAR are deepening their partnership with the launch of the #MyTrackMyRoots Grassroots Racing Tour, an initiative designed to celebrate and promote local tracks across America. Current and former drivers from the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Gander Outdoor Truck Series will join with NBC Sports and NASCAR to spearhead a nationwide initiative to visit and promote more than 500 local tracks across the country over the next four months. NBC Sports will showcase the tracks featuring photos, highlights and interviews throughout race coverage on NBC and NBCSN, on its daily studio show, NASCAR America, and on its NASCAR on NBC social media platforms on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

June saw ESPN grow its average audience numbers by 12% year over year during the daily 7a-7p window with a 5% rise in its 24-hour average to 518,000 viewers, according to the company. Get Up continued its monthly viewership streak with a 21% climb over the comparable 8-10a timeslot in 2018, while the 7a edition of SportsCenter was up nine percent in June from the comparable one-hour window last year, according to Nielsen. First Take experienced its third straight month of year-over-year viewership growth, up 6% over 2018.

Mark your calendars! Sept 10-12 will see the return of the Esports Business Summit, the industry’s biggest esports business event, with days of networking, outings, play, awards and a bevy of C-level executives and global brands sharing their insights into opportunities in competitive gaming. Click here for more information and get your tickets now!

Mexican television personality Giselle Zarur signed on to join FOX Deportes as the newest member of the network’s extensive talent lineup. Zarur will serve as part of the network’s Liga MX broadcasts.

NFL Network laid out its slate slate of 65 preseason game telecasts in 2019, anchored by13 live games on the schedule. NFL Network’s live preseason schedule kicks off Aug. 8 with a double-header starting at 7p with Jets/Giants. The slate concludes with a Week 4 double-header on Aug. 29 with the Eagles/Jets at 7p and Chargers/49ers at 10p. Live preseason games on NFL Network are subject to blackouts in the local markets of the participating teams.

Maverick TV, an All3Media America company, announced plans to adapt Howard Bryant’s book The Heritage: Black Athletes, a Divided America, and the Politics of Patriotism into a multi-part documentary series. Filmmaker Sacha Jenkins signed on as an executive producer of the series, along with his production company Mass Appeal, and will direct an episode. Each subsequent episode will be helmed by a different African-American filmmaker “to provide a unique and personal perspective on the story.”

NBC Sports Chicago announced across-the-board increases over 2018 on TV and digital for its Chicago White Sox game telecasts at the All-Star break, averaging a 1.18 Chicago market Household rating to rank as the highest White Sox average at the All-Star break in five years and up 36% over last season at the break. The White Sox on NBC Sports Chicago averaged a 1.57 HH rating in June, which was the network’s highest-rated June in seven years.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

“ The future of AI is similar to the future of most every new technology, which in short is improvement, commoditization, and democratization. How do we make it better, cheaper and get it into the hands of more people?”

–David K, Sr. Product Mngr, Watson Video Analytics – IBM Watson Media

(Featured speaker at That Big TV Conference on Sept. 9 – 10 in NYC)

DON’T MISS OUT

Sponsored by: Sinclair – NY Interconnect – Friend MTS – iSpot.tv – NCC Media – Simpli.fi – TV Time – Tubi

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Following the U.S. Women’s National Team winning the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, U.S. Soccer and Allstate locked in a multi-year partnership headlined by Allstate’s presenting sponsorship of the five-game Victory Tour. The tour begins Aug 3 when the USA hosts the Republic of Ireland at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, carried on ESPN2. The next four matches of the Victory Tour will be on August 29, September 3, October 3 and October 6 at venues around the country. As part of its new multi-year sponsorship, Allstate becomes an official sponsor of the U.S. Men’s, Women’s and Youth National Teams, as well as presenting sponsor of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy and designates Allstate exclusively as the Official Insurance Sponsor of U.S. Soccer, running through 2022.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

NBC Sports Gold launched its upgraded Premier League Pass, as well as its new Premier League MatchDay Pass for the 2019-20 season with both offerings featuring 140 exclusive live matches and at least four matches per club. For the first time, Premier League Pass”will also include full-event replay for all 380 matches on demand, new Sky Sports content, and more than 1,400 hours of Premier League shoulder programming.

ESPORTS

Activision’s Call of Duty World League made the appointment of Johanna Faries to Commissioner of Call of Duty Esports official. Faries had previously served as Head of Call of Duty Esports. In announcing the appointment online in the Activision Games Blog, Faries noted that “During my initial phase on the job, my team’s focus was really on setting a new product vision for Call of Duty as a city-based franchised league and to design an experience that we believe can grow to become one of the biggest sports leagues on the planet. Now that we have begun to sell franchises to ownership groups all over the world, it’s less about going from a white sheet of paper to what we have shaped now, and more about operating and managing this competitive ecosystem in a best-in-class way.”

GIANTS Software signed Corteva Agriscience to serve as the lead sponsor for the 2019/2020 season of Farming Simulator League. Europe teams will face off in the Farming Simulator League to compete for the title of Farming Simulator Champion, competing in the 3 vs 3 competitive game mode. “Inclusion of Corteva Agriscience products marks the first time in-game seeds, and herbicide are represented by real brands,” said Christian Ammann, Chief Executive Officer, GIANTS Software. “As we continue to make the Farming Simulator experience more realistic, inclusion of Corteva herbicide, and iconic Pioneer seeds, will enhance the experience and excitement for players.”

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

Global marketing and representation agency Wasserman promoted Elizabeth Lindsey to President, Brands and Properties. Lindsey, who previously served as Managing Partner based in the agency’s Raleigh, North Carolina and New York City offices, and will now oversee all of Wasserman’s brands and properties business, including the agency’s wholly owned subsidiaries: creative and digital agency Laundry Service and production and influencer marketing company Cycle.

NFL International Combine is headed to Germany for the first time, where up to 50 athletes will be selected to go through a series of tests in front of NFL evaluators at Sportschule Hennef, a sports training facility outside of Cologne on Oct. 19. Following the Combine, a select number of athletes who meet specific performance standards and display the potential to play in the NFL, will be invited to train in the US for 3 months.

The National Basketball Association, the International Basketball Federation and the Senegalese Basketball Federation announced that Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa 2019 will take place July 28-31 in Senegal. BWB Africa 2019 will bring together the top male and female players ages 17 and under from throughout Africa to learn directly from current and former NBA and FIBA players, coaches and legends and to compete against the best young players from the continent. BWB Africa will also include NBA Cares and Jr. NBA outreach efforts in partnership with local community organizations.

THE MAIN EVENT

The ESPYS at 8p on ABC.

ON THIS DAY in 1914: The Red Sox purchase Babe Ruth from the Orioles.

In the Know: Which NASCAR driver was known as The Onion? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your company and city).

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: The Philadelphia Eagles entered the NFL following the demise of which other team? Answer: The Yellow Jackets. Kudos: John Ferlazzo/London; Mike Seidel-CSI Sports/Jersey City; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Joe Keaney-The Switch/Burbank

Later–Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
Kerry Smith Division President Access Intelligence Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina 203-218-6480 Albert Nassour 917-545-3129	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

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