08/14/18: NBC Sports bolsters NHL lineup

Good morning. It’s Tuesday August 14, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

NBC Sports released its broadcast schedule for the upcoming 2018-19 NHL season, locking in the most games for carriage since the company first acquired rights to the league with 109 regular-season contests on deck starting Oct. 3 on NBCSN with the Bruins/Capitals. This year’s schedule will see the debut of Wednesday Night Hockey on NBCSN, with 17 of 25 Wednesday Night Hockey showcases on NBCSN being doubleheaders and feature multiple appearances by Tampa Bay, Colorado, Toronto, Vegas, Edmonton, Nashville, and Winnipeg. The defending champion Washington Capitals lead all teams with eight Wednesday Night Hockey appearances. While some games will begin at 8p, the majority of Wednesday Night Hockey games and doubleheaders will begin at either 7 or 7:30p, with the second game often starting at 9:30p, earlier than past years.

Other highlights include the 2019 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic between the Bruins/Blackhawks from Notre Dame Stadium on Jan 1;l the 2019 Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game between the Penguins/Flyers on Feb. 23; and the 2019 NHL All-Star Weekend from SAP Center in San Jose on Jan. 26 on NBC, marking the first time the All-Star Game will be televised live on a broadcast network since 1997. Meanwhile, NBC Sports will present 13 NHL games on NBC, beginning with the 2018 Discover Thanksgiving Showdown on Nov, 23.

ON THE AIR

With Tiger power in full swing, CBS Sports’ final-round coverage of the 2018 PGA Championship on Sunday drew an average household metered market rating/share of 6.1/14, up 69% from last year’s 3.6/8 as Brooks Koepka held off Tiger Woods and Adam Scott to win his second major of the year. This year’s 6.1/14 marks the highest rating for the Sunday final round of the PGA Championship since 2009, led by the St. Louis market with a 11.5/24.

Meanwhile, Turner Sports’ coverage of the PGA Championship saw TNT notch its most-watched PGA Championship coverage since 2015, averaging 1.3 million viewers for an 11% markup over last year. Additionally, the event produced its most-viewed third and fourth rounds since 2010. The Turner-managed PGA suite of digital products established new all-time records – and triple-digit year-over-year gains – in live video starts (up 119% vs. 2017), time spent viewing (up 105%) and total audience (up 107%, based on unique visitors) for the tournament.

The premiere of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Cleveland Browns on HBO drew an audience of 781,000 viewers, making it the second highest performing debut for the franchise in the past seven years. The top two markets for episode #1 premiere were Cleveland, which delivered a 13.2 HH rating, and Oklahoma City, which registered a 3.9 HH rating.

WWE announced that the historic 1,000th episode of WWE SmackDown Live will take place from the Capital One Arena in DC on Oct. 16, running live on USA Network. “1,000 episodes is a tremendous milestone reinforcing the longevity and popularity of WWE,” said Vince McMahon, WWE Chairman & CEO. “But it’s only the beginning, and the best is yet to come forSmackDown.”

ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 will once again team up to show “every pitch, swing and diving catch” from all 32 games of the72nd Little League Baseball World Series presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods. The action starts Thursday and continues through Aug. 26, with the Little League Baseball World Series Championship game at 3p on ABC. The United States Championship, International Championship and two other matchups throughout the tournament will also be available on ABC, with the remaining games available on ESPN or ESPN2. Karl Ravech, Dave Flemming and Adnan Virk will call the action as ESPN’s play-by-play voices throughout the tournament. They will be joined by a team of rotating analysts including Jessica Mendoza, Kyle Peterson, Tim Kurkjian and Major League Baseball World Series Champion and former Little League player David Ross.

The NFL won’t be playing in London’s new Tottenham Hotspur stadium after all. Developers announced delays in opening the venue due to safety concerns so this year’s NFL game that was set for the location will now take place at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 14. The game will feature the Seahawks and Raiders.

College football’s Heart of Dallas Bowl is now more, with ESPN announced that the annual postseason game, played at Cotton Bowl Stadium in Dallas, has been renamed the SERVPRO First Responder Bowl. Kickoff for the newly christened game will take place on Dec. 26 at 1:30p. The agreement between ESPN Events and SERVPRO was brokered by Denver-based Impression Sports & Entertainment.

The Chicago White Sox and NBC Sports Chicago announced a joint production of a brand new documentary that chronicles the life and career of Ken “Hawk” Harrelson. This special, Hawk, premieres Sept. 13 at 7p CT on NBC Sports Chicago, NBCSportsChicago.com, and on the NBC Sports app.

In other local news, NESN is reporting that the channel is besting all four broadcast networks in Prime Time during the four-month period from April thru July. The channel is averaging a 7.03 average household rating on game nights, with a 3.73 on non-game nights.

beIN Sports announced a network distribution renewal agreement with Verizon Fios. “This renewal with this valued distribution partner could not come at a more exciting time, as we approach the start of the soccer and Conference USA football seasons,” said Antonio Briceno, Deputy Managing Director of beIN Sports North America. “These popular sporting events have proven to be fan favorites and we’re thrilled that our loyal viewers and fans won’t miss a minute of the action.”

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Ahead of the 42nd Ryder Cup, the PGA of America is launching the 2018 Ryder Cup Trophy Tour in New York City with Captain Jim Furyk presenting the Trophy at the Yankees/Mets game at Yankee Stadium. Furyk will then visit other locations in a move to build support and excitement for the United States Ryder Cup Team including Miller Park, Soldier Field, NRG Stadium, Minute Maid Park, AT&T Stadium, Stanford Stadium and Heinz Field.

ESPN, as part of its Life Needs Sports campaign, is offering MLB fans the chance “to ditch their daily routine and enjoy an afternoon at the ballpark.” In a hunt for fans to share their best excuses for ditching work, ESPN – in collaboration with creative agency Droga5 – will distribute a total of 300 game tickets. “We wanted a tangible and fun way to share the Life Needs Sports campaign with our fans. Giving them a way to take the day off and enjoy sports is the perfect way to do it,” said Wanda Young, SVP Marketing and Consumer Engagement. “We look forward to seeing the fan’s creativity.”

Exeo Entertainment announced a deal to become an Official Headphone Partner of the Vegas Golden Knights. The company will work with the team to drive awareness with Krankz signage at City National Arena as well as T-Mobile Arena. Exeo Entertainment, Inc. will participate in various game night activities during home games including multiple activation events throughout the season.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

NBA Digital is releasing Something in the Water, its latest installment under the banner of Players Only Films, exclusively via Facebook Watch. The offering showcases the players making their journey to the NBA from the former war-torn Yugoslavia and illustrates the three-decade tradition of multifaceted stars from the former Yugoslavia, through the experiences of Luka Doncic and Dzanan Musa.

SB Nation announced that the platform has added Natalie Weiner to cover the NFL and general sports news. She previously covered sports and culture for Bleacher Report.

ESPORTS

FIFA and Electronic Arts are reporting that the FIFA eWorld Cup 2018 Grand Final generated a record global audience, drumming up more than 29 million views across online platforms during this year’s three-day event. According to the organizations, the global online audience for this year’s tournament marked a 400% rise in digital viewership over 2017 numbers with peak concurrent viewership during the Grand Final broadcast on Aug. 4 reaching an estimated 322,000 across 12 digital platforms, in addition to being delivered to 19 broadcasters covering over 60 territories around the world.

After its inaugural regular season, the NBA 2K League is now gearing up for its first-ever playoffs, unveiling the official playoffs bracket with all games set to be carried on Twitch. But it wasn’t all bad news for some of the teams that didn’t make the postseason. The action tips off on Friday at 6p with a quartet of single-elimination quarterfinal matchups that will pair top seed Blazers Gaming against 8 seed Kicks Gaming, along with Pistons GT/Heat Check Gaming, Raptors Uprising GC/Cavs Legion GC and 76ers GC/Wizards District Gaming.

Dive deeper! Don’t miss daily esports news at CynopsisEsports.com.

Magid released findings from new research about esports. In an analysis conducted in June 2018, Magid found that 54% of consumers have heard of esports, up from 49% in 2017. On the other hand, viewership has remained relatively stable, as 23% of consumers report having watched some esports content, up from 21% in 2017. Overall, esports viewers are more likely to be male (69%), between the ages of 18-34 (51%) and married (64%) than the average consumer. Additionally, this group is more likely to be educated, as 54% of viewers have a college degree.

ROSTER MOVES

DraftKings announced that the company recently opened an office in San Francisco and is planning to open an office in Las Vegas. Additionally, DraftKings has hired several gaming and sports betting executives including Jamie Shea as head of digital sportsbook operations; Frank Kunovic as director of retail sportsbook operations; and Sean Hurley as head of commercial growth.

Canadian Premier League Commissioner David Clanachan announced senior appointments, including Roy Nasrallah as Vice President of Marketing, Eva Havaris as Vice President of Strategy and League Operations; Kurt Larson as Managing Editor, CanPL.ca and the CPL’s Director of Content and Micki Benedetti as Director Communications.

THE MAIN EVENT

Brewers/Cubs on MLB Network at 2p.

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2018-2019 Short Form Video Festival

Call for Entries Opening in August

Deadline: October 17

Event: March 2019 (NYC)

[ View last year’s event & award winners]

ON THIS DAY in 1982: Pete Rose records at-bat #12,365 to take over first place on the league’s all-time at-bats leaders.

In the Know: What is the standard/traditional color for the 1 ball in pool? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: The first NBA/BBA game, played in 1946, featured a contest between the Toronto Huskies and which other team? Answer: The NY Knicks. Kudos: Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; Rich Dubroff-BaltimoreBaseball.com/Baltimore; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank

Later – Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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