08/24/17: NBC RSNs are now birds of a feather

Good morning. It’s Thursday August 24, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

It’s the end of the line for CSN-branded networks, as NBC Sports Regional Networks announced that the five remaining RSNs under the CSN moniker (as well as two under the TCN name) will incorporate “NBC Sports” with each of the networks’ regional designations named as of Oct. 2. Affected channels include CSN Chicago, CSN Northwest and CSN Philadelphia, which will become known as NBC Sports Chicago, NBC Sports Northwest and NBC Sports Philadelphia. TCN will transition to NBC Sports Philadelphia +, and continue to house separate material produced by NBC Sports Philadelphia. Meanwhile, CSN Mid-Atlantic, TCN Mid-Atlantic and CSN New England will go under the titles NBC Sports Washington, NBC Sports Washington + and NBC Sports Boston, respectively. In addition to new names, the NBC Sports Regional Networks will feature enhanced logos and graphics. The sole regional outlet owned by the company to not go under the moniker will be New York’s SNY.

ON THE AIR

FOX Sports is going for two with the BIG3, which will see its championship game take place on Aug. 26. The company extended its media rights agreement with the new league after its inaugural season this year. “We think we have something great with the BIG3 and are thrilled to add another year to our partnership,” said FOX Sports Head of Business Operations David Nathanson. “In its inaugural year, the league provided competitive, entertaining basketball that really resonated with fans, as evidenced by its television ratings on FS1 and packed arenas across the country.”

College football season will see ESPN’s SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt hit season three with an expansion to six nights a week during football season. A new Sunday night edition will launch on Sept. 10 and begin at midnight or when the Sunday night NFL game ends, Van Pelt will bring viewers a summary of the day’s games and stories as well as take a look at the previous day in college football and other big sports events, all with his unique perspective.

Meanwhile, CBS Sports Network kicks off the college football season on Saturday at 2:30p with a double-header that will see Oregon State take on Colorado State with play-by-play announcer Carter Blackburn, analysts Aaron Taylor and Rick Neuheisel and sideline reporter Jenny Dell. That game will be followed by USF/San Jose State at 7:30p. Ben Holden and Randy Cross call the action, with Jon Schriffen reporting. Host Brent Stover is joined by analysts Houston Nutt and Christian Fauria in-studio for halftime and post-game coverage of Week Zero action.

NBC Sports saw the Solheim Cup’s return to broadcast television notch record viewership for Golf Channel and NBC, according to Nielsen. Golf Channel’s Final Day of play on Sunday delivered a .52 U.S. HH rating and 795,000 viewers, the most watched women’s golf telecast on cable since 2009. NBC’s Saturday coverage ranked as the most-watched women’s golf Saturday telecast in 2017 with a .68 U.S. HH rating and 968,000 viewers.

FOX Sports locked in broadcast teams for supporting Mayweather/McGregor programming on FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes. Taking part will be Sugar Ray Leonard, Daniel Jacobs, Tyron Woodley and Dominick Cruz as desk analysts in Las Vegas for Saturday’s coverage. Kate Abdo hosts the FOX Sports shows. Leonard joins blow-by-blow announcer Brian Kenny to call the prelims live. Coverage kicks off on Saturday at 6p with the one-hour prefight show on FOX and FOX Deportes.

Under Armour, Intersport and ESPN announced that the 2018 Under Armour All-America Game will take place on Jan. 4 in Orlando and televised live on ESPN2 at 6p. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the game, which annually spotlights more than 100 of the nation’s elite high school football players.

ESPN drew heat after reports revealed that it had opted to reassign Robert Lee from broadcasting University of Virginia football games because of his name’s similarity to Robert E. Lee. While various pundits called the move unnecessary or too-PC, the company stated that the move was made with Lee’s blessing following the events in Charlottesville and that “In that moment, it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue,” the company told SI.

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March 7, 2018 | NYC

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

ESPN Events announced that Bad Boy Mowers had come aboard as the new title sponsor for the annual college football postseason game played in St. Petersburg. Bad Boy Mowers will serve as the title sponsor through the 2019 season with the bowl now known as the Bad Boy Mowers Gasparilla Bowl. The title sponsorship with Bad Boy Mowers was brokered by Denver-based Impression Sports & Entertainment.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

Stadium locked in a deal with Facebook to carry an exclusive, season-long package of live college football games that will include a 15-game lineup with nine Conference USA match-ups and six games from the Mountain West Conference. Custom-produced for a Facebook audience, Stadium will introduce uniquely coordinated production assets and social elements to create a first-ever viewing experience. Elements include: a live curated chat experiences from well-known and well-respected football personalities; a dedicated social production team and correspondents; and ongoing integration of real-time social elements provided by the competing schools. The action kicks off on Sept. 2 with Miami (OH)/Marshall at 6:30p.

NASCAR fans attending the Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Sept. 3 will be able to share their race-day experiences through a premium ‘Our Story’ on Snapchat covering The Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR. The Our Story stream of video and photo Snaps, will provide a unique, behind-the-scenes look at The Official Throwback Weekend of NASCAR from the perspective of fans and drivers during race day in Darlington.

ESPORTS

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

Sliver’s big slice
OpTic Gaming’s Texas-sized feats
The Peach Belt tries esports on for size
NBC Sports hits the Rocket League homestretch
G2 Esports’ new injection
COD’s aerial feats
Comcast’s new Duty
AMD gets ready to Quake

ROSTER MOVES

Billy Payne retired as Chairman of Augusta National and the Masters Tournament. Payne assumed the position in 2006 and presided over 11 Masters Tournaments. He will be replaced by Fred Ridley.

Physimax Technologies named long-time Olympic sport executive Skip Gilbert as president where he will lead Physimax activities across the America and focus on the overall development and growth of its business operations. Previously, of course, he had served as Chief Executive Officer of USA Triathlon, Chief Marketing Officer of USA Swimming, VP of Sales for US Soccer and the Arena Football League and most recently, Managing Director, Pro Tennis Operations & US Open Tournament Manager for the US Tennis Association.

THE MAIN EVENT

Red Sox/Indians at 7p on MLB Network.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Adapt your marketing strategy to fit a new (and impactful) generation

Cynopsis Live Online Event: How to Connect + Engage with Gen Z

Tuesday, September 26 | 1:30-3:00pm ET

Gen Z is the largest, most diverse group of media users ever, according to a new report from Nielsen. In this live online event, you’ll learn: How to encourage conversation around TV shows and brands, how to employ apps and social platforms that are most popular with Gen Z, how to engage with Chatbots and VR and much more!

ON THIS DAY in 1989: Pete Rose gets lifetime ban from baseball for gambling.

In the Know: What was the name of the play Boise State used to beat Oklahoma in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: The question got butchered yesterday, so an even bigger kudos to those who figured out the answer anyway. Answer: Jamal Anderson. Kudos: Scott Leslie-UPS/Atlanta; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Deerfield Beach; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; John Baghdassarian-Olympusat/LA

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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