08/10/17: NBA shops restful cushioning

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Good morning. It’s Thursday August 10, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

The NBA is reportedly set to unveil a schedule for the new season designed to reduce the stresses of travel and give players a chance to recover, according to ESPN. The upcoming slate is designed to protect key national television matchups in a move to ensure that teams (and their star players) aren’t playing on back-to-back night with the season starting one week earlier in October. According to the report, other improvements include: eliminating stretches of four games in five days and 18 games in 30 days; a reduction of five games in seven nights; a reduction in number of back-to-backs and single-game road trips; and an increase in weekend games.

ON THE AIR

Speaking of the NBA, the league joined Zignia Live to announce that NBA Mexico City Games 2017 will feature the Brooklyn Nets playing regular-season games against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Dec. 7, and the Miami Heat on Dec. 9, at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico. The games will mark the first time the NBA has hosted four regular-season contests in Mexico in the same calendar year with the new games broadcast live by ESPN and Televisa in Mexico.

HBO reports that Tuesday’s premiere of Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers scored 671,000 viewers on its main channel. That marks an uptick of 32% over last year’s premiere for the Rams edition over the show. Viewership in the Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg market registered an 8.4 Nielsen rating, up 494% over the national average.

NBC Sports Group takes on the Solheim Cup as it returns to US soil with matches running Aug. 18-20 in West Des Moines, Iowa. NBC carries play from 4-6p on Aug. 19-20 to mark the Cup’s return to network TV for the first time in 15 years, while Golf Channel will join in to bring total coverage to nearly 30 hours of live tournament action. Golf Channel and NBC will implement the popular “Playing Through” enhancement that will see a split-screen model for a select number of national commercial breaks. This enhanced break will display both the commercial with audio as well as a continuous feed of the Solheim Cup action. Coverage will be led by play-by-play host Terry Gannon and Judy Rankin. Grant Boone and Karen Stupples will rotate with Gannon and Rankin in the booth during the three days of coverage. Joining the team this year will be Carin Koch, making her Golf Channel debut as an analyst for the network’s news coverage on Golf Central and Morning Drive.

ESPN lined up a Holiday Baseball presented by Land Rover afternoon doubleheader for Labor Day this year on Sept. 4. Programming will see the Brewers/Reds at 1p, followed by Cubs/Pirates at 4p.

The United Soccer League added another market to its roster, announcing that the league would return to Austin for the 2019 season. A new soccer-specific venue at the Circuit of The Americas has been approved by the USL to become the club’s new home. “The USL’s return to Austin is a major moment for the league as it continues to lead the growth of professional soccer across the country,” said USL CEO Alec Papadakis. “We could not be happier to be doing so with Bobby Epstein as the new leader of the organization’s ownership group. His work alongside the league’s leadership over the past two years to ensure professional soccer’s long-term stability in an outstanding city with a passionate fanbase has been exceptional, and we are delighted that this day has arrived.

In talent news, Chiefs’ voice Len Dawson is retiring from the broadcast booth after more than five decades in broadcasting. Dawson has done color analysis for the team since 1984. “Looking back on my career, I’ve been blessed for what I had the opportunity to do,” said Dawson in a statement on the team’s site. “I could not have accomplished so much without my teammates and colleagues, and I’m grateful for each of them.”

Former ESPN staple John Clayton is joining the Seattle Seahawks broadcast team where he will serve as a sideline reporter. In addition, according to local reports, he will host a daily show on 710 ESPN Seattle.

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GENERATION Z

Gen Z is the largest, most diverse group of media users ever and their attention is a massive opportunity for networks and marketers. Learn how to reach these young but savvy decision-makers in Cynopsis Digital’s newest webinar: How to Connect and Engage with Gen Z, on Tuesday, September 26.

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Emirates is rebooking its ticket with The Football Association, announcing a three-year contract extension to their existing partnership that runs through 2021. The deal will see its tournament remain named The Emirates FA Cup. “We are delighted to be continuing our partnership with Emirates through to 2021, said Mark Bullingham, FA Group Commercial Director. “Working alongside such a well-established and iconic global brand has helped us to make the competition more accessible to fans across the world.”

The Verizon Center is no more, with Monumental Sports and Entertainment locking in a deal with Capital One to become the new naming rights partner for the arena in downtown Washington. The venue will now be known as the Capital One Arena. “Capital One is one of the most influential local businesses in our region over the last two decades, so we couldn’t be more pleased to partner with another homegrown company to create more incredible memories for sports fans, music fans, families and friends all across our region,” said Ted Leonsis, Founder, Majority Owner and CEO of Monumental Sports and Entertainment. “Capital One shares our deep commitment to both economic and philanthropic investment in the larger Washington, D.C. community and we look forward to working closely with them.”

DIGITAL & STREAMING

ESPN Fantasy Football launched its 22nd season with new content and game play features on the ESPN Fantasy App and ESPN.com, with improvements to navigation designed to make it easier to search for players, add free agents and share team moves and draft picks. The app will also continue to provide fantasy analysis and access to video right from the app’s home screen, as well as game logos, player headshots, sticker packs, and animations; draft and live scoring features; and personalized notifications tailored to fans’ rosters. Kicking off the fantasy action will be an ESPN Fantasy Football Marathon, with Eric Karabell, Mike Clay and Daniel Dopp leading a special edition of Mock Draft Mondays from the set of the Marathon on Aug 14 from 7-11p.

Speaking of fantasy, FanDuel announced the launch of Championship leagues – designed as a new way to play season-long fantasy sports with friends, family and colleagues and allowing fans to play season-long fantasy using FanDuel’s salary cap roster format. “We’re entering football season stronger than ever and are changing the way people play season-long fantasy — we’ve truly designed an offering with commissioners in mind,” said Nigel Eccles, CEO, FanDuel. “This is our big jump into the season-long fantasy market and there isn’t another product that gives users the flexibility and prize options that we have now.”

Elsewhere, NeuLion announced a partnership with the National Collegiate Hockey Conference that extends their relationship through the 2021-22 season. The deal sees several new features and supported devices on NCHC.tv for the upcoming 2017-18 season that now includes timeline markers that give fans the ability to re-watch and navigate live and on-demand events as part of a product rollout in December.

SendtoNews Video launched SportstoNews.com, a full service sports page hosting service that offers publishers a golf news site, entirely automated, curated and monetized by STN. “We know while publishers resources are stretched, their audience demands more, specifically more video content,” explained Matthew Watson, CEO of SendtoNews. “SportstoNews.com allows our publishers to offer rich and diverse golf content to its viewers without any cost or resources.”

Sports Illustrated’s 2017 College Football Preview Issue will feature four AR-enabled regional covers that showcase college football quarterbacks that include Alabama’s Jalen Hurts, Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett, Oklahoma State’s Mason Rudolph and USC’s Sam Darnold. The augmented reality activation is presented by Holiday Inn Express and launches into an exclusive video experience from SI, previewing all the action from the upcoming college football season.

ESPORTS

In this week’s edition of Cynopsis Esports & Gaming…

Nintendo World Championships respawn
HyperX celebrates 15 years
Paris eyes esports play during 2024 Olympics
ESL One New York prepares for Brooklyn Beatdown
Tencent’s Clash Royale assault
Dan Harmon’s Good Game warms up
Breaking down the gamer segments

THE MAIN EVENT

The PGA Championship tees off on TNT today at 1p.

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Cynopsis Rising Star Awards

Friday, September 15 | Dream Downtown | NYC | 3PM – 5PM

This year’s finalists join us from Mediacom, Epix, Maxus, E!, BET, Univision, one2one Media, ABC, Discovery, Boingo, Viacom Velocity, Nielsen, Horizon Media, NBC Universal and more!

View all honorees and register your team now!

ON THIS DAY in 1980: Jack Nicklaus wins the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in New York.

In the Know: Who was the last European to win the PGA Championship? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: In The Royal Tenenbaums, Richie – portrayed by Luke Wilson – is considered to be a prodigy at what sport? Answer: Tennis. Kudos: Keith Marder-Halstead Property/NY; Traci Liner-WME/IMG/NY; Jamie Euster-WME/IMG/NY; Lori Paterson-Spectrum Reach/NY; Lauren Tietjen-Octagon/Stamford; Tom Lopez-UPS/Atlanta; Richard L. Mann-Mann marketing/Dumont; Patrick Erickson-Valassis Digital/Livonia; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Matt Fumagalli-Levy/Chicago; Chris Hartweg- Huddle Pro/Chicago; Tom Doherty-Starcom Media/Chicago; Greg Dudsic/Venice; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo; Tom Tyrer-Circle Change Media/LA; Jaime Martinez-KMEX/LA

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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