08/29/18: The PGA’s new driver

Good morning. It’s Wednesday August 29, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

With Pete Bevacqua off to NBC Sports, former Deutsche Bank Americas CEO Seth Waugh has been tapped as the new Chief Executive Officer of the PGA of America. An Independent Director on the PGA of America Board of Directors, Waugh is wrapping up a three-year term of service and served as a Senior Advisor and then a Managing Director at Silver Lake, where he will continue on as a Senior Advisor to the firm. Waugh succeeds Bevacqua, who was recently named NBC Sports Group President, and will officially start at the PGA on Sept. 24.

“It is an honor and privilege to be invited to lead this remarkable Association into its second century,” Waugh said. “Like so many, I share a passion for the game that has given so much to me, and in the process, has somehow become a huge influence in my life. The opportunity to work with the nearly 29,000 PGA Professionals and others in the game to give back and to help our beautiful sport evolve is a true gift. I look forward to getting into the field to engage with our Members, learn more about the issues that matter most to them, and look for ways to enhance their careers and lives. I am grateful for the trust that the Officers and the Board are showing in me. It will be exciting to see all the good that we can do together as an Association and an industry.”

ON THE AIR

FOX Sports announced the expansion of its FS1 studio programming lineup, which will include the addition of Marcellus Wiley as new co-host of Speak for Yourself with Jason Whitlock starting Sept. 10 as well as the fall premiere of the network’s first-ever sports gambling show Lock It In also on that day. Lock It In aims to make the avid sports fan smarter and more informed about the world of sports betting and will feature host Rachel Bonnetta, “Cousin Sal” Iacono, Clay Travis and Oddsmaker Todd Fuhrman. “The thing I love most about Lock It In is just how much fun it will be to watch. All four cast members have such big personalities and what sets the show apart is their shared love of sports, humor and competitiveness,” said Charlie Dixon, Executive Vice President, Content, FS1. “In the end, the show is not only about being right, it’s about being interesting.”

Stadium announced an expanded fall lineup slated to debut on Sept. 4 and highlighted by the addition of The Territory, a new weekday morning show hosted by Michael Kim and featuring insiders that include Shams Charania, Jeff Goodman and Brett McMurphy, running weekdays at 10a. Sauce & Shram will take the state at noon on weekdays, with Dave Ross and Tyler Jacobs. At 2p, the channel offers Emerge, spotlighting the best high school talent across the country, and hosted by Amina Smith and Michael Felder. That will be followed by Campus Insiders at 2:30p, where each day will see a different conference highlighted. 6p brings The Rally: Gametime in America, spotlighting overlooked stories, teams and athletes.

FOX Sports’ broadcast of the BIG3 championship game on FOX on Friday reached an average of 1,004,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research, to mark the most-watched BIG3 telecast ever with audience viewership up 59% better than last year’s average audience delivery of 632,000 viewers. Overall, the 2018 season on FOX/FS1 averaged 444,000 viewers, up an impressive +108% over last season.

Maria Taylor inked a new deal with ESPN where the host, analyst and reporter will continue her roles on a number of franchise programming including ABC Saturday Night Football, Saturday Primetime (men’s college basketball) and studio host for Big Monday, Thursday Showcase (women’s college basketball) and the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

NBA TV exclusively carries the 2018 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremony from Springfield on Sept. 7, at 7p. Network coverage will begin with the 2018 Hall of Fame Red Carpet Show at 6p, hosted by Casey Stern alongside David Aldridge and Kristen Ledlow. This year’s class will be celebrated throughout the week via dedicated programming on NBA TV, beginning Saturday with a showcase on Ray Allen.

Don’t miss the biggest esports business event of the year from Oct. 1-3. Get your tickets to the Esports Business Summit now, with five tracks of programming: teams/competition; media/content; sponsorship/activation; venues and investment. Plus: The Tempest Awards, killer field trips and deep-dive workshops. Today’s panel spotlight – Sports Authority: Lessons Learned from the Sports/Esports Connection featuring speakers from the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLS all discussing their esports endeavors, how they have leverage the industry to connect with audiences and lessons learned along the way. Click here for tickets.

Golf Channel announced the field for the 2018 East Lake Cup collegiate match play championship in Atlanta from Oct. 29-31. Headlined by the reigning NCAA national champions – Oklahoma State (men) and Arizona (women) – the field features the eight NCAA Golf Championship semifinalists returning to compete head-to-head. Other men’s teams include Alabama, Auburn and Duke. Women’s competitors will also represent Alabama, Stanford and USC.

CSI Sports’ FIGHT SPORTS announced a deal with StarHub TV platform extending its distribution into Singapore. The network now reaches over 40 countries with over 200+ carriage agreements within under 6 years from launch.

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Cheers to the Tempest Finalists & “The Watch List” Honorees!

Winners to be announced at the Tempest Esports Business Awards Gala:

OCT 2 | 7PM – 9:45PM | The Luxor Esports Arena, Las Vegas

In addition to our talented category finalists, the event will spotlight “The Watch List” honorees. These are the esports executives whose creativity and innovation have put them at the forefront of the industry. Don’t take your eyes off these esports game-changers (click here to view “The Watch List”).

VIEW FINALISTS AWARDS EVENT REGISTER TODAY

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

NBC Sports is partnering with the Premier League to launch a new series of Premier League Mornings Live fan events around the country with the first stop in D.C. in Sept. 29. The fan festival will include a turf pitch, the Premier League trophy, club mascots, special guests, contests, and more. Meanwhile, NBC Sports’ Premier League Mornings studio team of host Rebecca Lowe and analysts Robbie Earle, Kyle Martino, and Robbie Mustoe will broadcast live from the event on N. Capitol Street beginning at 7a on NBCSN, and be joined by several special guests throughout the day

The Association of Volleyball Professionals unveiled new partnerships and alliances across the country, including the acquisition of Volleyball America, the largest recreational outdoor volleyball organization in the US. AVP’s Grassroots Initiatives now include: AVPNext; the extension of the Gold Series Events to amateur programs; AVPFirst; AVPAcademy; and collaborations with orgs such as Seaside Volleyball Tournament. Volley America will change its name to AVP America to reflect its new home under the AVP umbrella.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

Ahead of the 2018 NASCAR Playoffs, NASCAR unveiled a new playoffs edition of its fantasy game, NASCAR Fantasy Live, with players able to register at NASCAR.com/fantasy. The playoffs game will launch with the first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sept. 16 and will also be accessible via the NASCAR Mobile app. “The NASCAR Playoffs are the most exciting and pressure-packed time of the NASCAR racing season, and the new fantasy game is designed to match the intensity each week of the postseason,” said Tim Clark, vice president, NASCAR Digital Media. “We look forward to seeing how players adjust their strategies and driver lineups – both leading up to and during each of the 10 NASCAR Playoffs races.”

NBC Sports Gold is relaunching its international Notre Dame Football Season Pass to give fans in 13 countries access to every Fighting Irish home game during the 2018 season. Powered by NBC Sports’ Playmaker Media, the direct-to-consumer pass will offer fans abroad comprehensive coverage of seven Notre Dame football home games live and on-demand, available online, as well as on mobile devices and tablets in: Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK.

Speaking of which, NBC Sports Digital and Above Average’s sports brand The Kicker, owned by Broadway Video, announced the short-form original digital video series Draftsville will return for a second season ahead of NFL Kickoff 2018. The first two episodes will debut this Thursday, Aug. 30 on NBCSports.com, NBC Sports’ YouTube channel and Facebook Watch.

FloSports announced a multiyear deal with United World Wrestling, the international governing body for the sport of amateur wrestling, to provide live and on-demand coverage of the World Grappling Championships on FloGrappling.com. The deal enables FloGrappling to exclusively air all four days of both gi and no-gi grappling competitions, as athletes from around the world compete for the championship title. Coverage runs Sept. 6-9.

2K today announced a partnership with HB Studios to publish The Golf Club 2019 Featuring PGA TOUR. The title marks the franchise’s first release featuring the official PGA TOUR license and will include improved ball physics, swing mechanics, swing feedback and other core gameplay mechanics. In addition, for the first time in franchise history, players will experience an officially licensed PGA TOUR Career Mode.

ESPORTS

Madden NFL developer Electronic Arts announced that the company has cancelled upcoming events for the Madden Championship Series, following the shootings in Jacksonville. Andrew Wilson, CEO, Electronic Arts, posted an open letter, stating that “The event was a qualifying tournament for the Madden Classic, our first Madden EA Major competition of this season. While these qualifying events are operated independently by partners, we work with them to ensure competitive integrity and to gather feedback from players. We have made a decision to cancel our three remaining Madden Classic qualifier events while we run a comprehensive review of safety protocols for competitors and spectators. We will work with our partners and our internal teams to establish a consistent level of security at all of our competitive gaming events.”

Splash Damage is partnering with FACEIT to launch a competitive ecosystem for fast-paced, free to play shooter, Dirty Bomb. Players from Europe and North America are now able to compete in Hubs on the FACEIT platform. “We strive to bring the FACEIT experience to new communities. The platform offers a competitive structure like no other where the community can come together to collaborate and compete.” said Michele Attisani, CBO & Co-Founder of FACEIT. “We’re also big fans of Splash Damage and the experiences they gave us through games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory which played a big part of my gaming career, so we’re excited to be working on Dirty Bomb and utilising our technology to provide players with more ways to play.”

ROSTER MOVES

Amazon reportedly hired former ESPN executive Marie Donoghue to oversee sports for Prime Video, according to The Information. Donoghue was a 19-year veteran of ESPN who left the network in June 2017.

THE MAIN EVENT

Primetime at the US Open on ESPN at 7p.

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CALL FOR ENTRIES

The 2^nd Annual Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival

The Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival is searching for the most cutting-edge creatives from individuals and teams worldwide, including: production companies/studios, producers, networks, composers, lyricists, animators, video game developers/producers, website developers, mobile & app developers/producers, marketing companies, PR firms and more. Submissions will be judged by a panel of industry experts and finalists will be announced in mid-November.

SUBMIT VIDEOS

ON THIS DAY in 1978: USTA National Tennis Center opens in Flushing NY.

In the Know: Three teams from “Power 5” schools have never recorded a 10-win season in college football. Name two. (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Of the PGA TOUR Majors, which was the first to be won by Tiger Woods? Answer: The Masters. Kudos: John Ferlazzo/London; Denis Barry-CBS/NY; Brian Schweibert-Publicis Media/NY; Aymon DeMauro-ADM Media & Marketing/NY; Ken White-KWTV/Charlotte; Sonia Durr-Carat/Atlanta; Rob Smith-Turner Sports/Atlanta; John Ward-Tennis Media/Chicago; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; John Kukla-KDFW/KDFI/Dallas-Ft. Worth; Joe Lyons-ESPN/Dallas; Kevin Micklo-Pinnacle Advertising/Chicago; Rich Wolfe-Lone Wolfe Press/Scottsdale; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Andy Babb-Super League Gaming/Santa Monica

Later – Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Diane K Schwartz Senior Vice President Media Communications Group	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina \| 203-218-6480 VP, Sales	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak \| 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

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