08/29/17: Golf Channel/NCAA tap in big deal

Good morning. It’s Tuesday August 29, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

The NCAA and Golf Channel locked in their long game, announcing a long-term extension for live coverage of the NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Golf Championships that will run through 2029 and includes all media rights, worldwide, for Golf Channel’s presentations of the national championships. “There is an inherent passion to traditional college sports on television that we’ve seen translate incredibly well to the golf course,” said Mike McCarley, President, Golf, NBC Sports. “Our partnership with the NCAA has exceeded our expectations because each year the men’s and women’s national championships seem to produce some of the most exciting moments on the golf calendar. The coverage has not only helped elevate the collegiate game, but also introduced some of golf’s future stars to the sport’s broader audience.”

ON THE AIR

Due to the devastation of Hurricane Harvey to the city of Houston and the surrounding areas, the NFL is shifting Thursday’s Cowboys/Texans game originally scheduled to be played in Houston to AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Kickoff on Thursday will remain at 7p CT. In addition, the NFL Foundation announced that it will match the Texans’ $1 million contribution to the United Way Relief Fund to address the immediate needs of those impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

Meanwhile, ESPN announced that the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff between BYU/LSU, originally scheduled to be played in NRG Stadium in Houston, will now take place at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. The game will still be played on Sept. 2, at 9:30p.

NBC notched a 4.7/8 TV-only overnight score for Sunday night’s 49ers/Vikings game for a rise of 9% over the network’s second preseason game a year ago. Top local ratings included: Minneapolis 20.7/35; New Orleans 8.6/12; San Fran 8.2/18; Albuquerque 8.2/13; and Sacramento 7.8/15.

Elsewhere in ratings news, ESPN saw double digit gains for all three of its Little League World Series Championship games on ABC this past weekend, according to Nielsen metered market rnumbers. Sunday’s Little League World Series Championship Game, in which Japan won its fourth title, generated a 2.1 rating, up 24% from a 1.7 for the 2016 title game. Meanwhile, Saturday’s United States Championship Game snagged a 2.0 rating, up 11% from a 1.8 last year. Overall, the three ABC broadcasts averaged a 1.9 metered market rating, rising 19% from a 1.6 last year.

In talent news, ESPN locked in four NFL commentators with contract extensions with Wendi Nix, Louis Riddick, Dianna Russini and Darren Woodson on board. In addition to the extensions, SportsCenter anchor Lisa Kerney has been named the new host of Fantasy Football Now while Jeff Darlington, who joined ESPN in September 2016 as a SportsCenter reporter, will now focus primarily on the NFL, reporting from game sites for Sunday NFL Countdown, contributing news and features, and more.

SiriusXM is adding Phil Simms to its roster, where he will serve as an NFL analyst on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio channel throughout the 2017 season. Simms will join host Christopher “Mad Dog” Russo each week for Simms and the Mad Dog, starting Sept. 7 at 4p. In addition, SiriusXM also announced that addition of Danny Kanell as a new daily host on its 24/7 college sports channel where he will host Playbook every weekday afternoon at 1p with co-host Jason Horowitz.

On the local front, SNY announced that Willie Colon has joined the network as studio analyst Jets coverage. Colon will appear across SNY’s slate of studio programming including its critically acclaimed Jets Post-Game Live presented by Toyota and all-new Jets Pre-Game Live.

Showtime carries the Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor fight on Saturday at 9p. The presentation will be immediately followed by the premiere of ALL ACCESS: Mayweather vs. McGregor Epilogue, revealing the drama of fight night by going behind the scenes into the locker rooms, corners and inner circles.

FOX Sports hits college football season with a lineup of games that will include one contest per week that will run in 4K for a title of 13 contests. Games are televised on FS1 and simulcast in 4K with select providers including DIRECTV, and will include Maryland/Texas on Sept. 2 at noon, Minnesota/Oregon State on Sept. 9 at 10p, Northern Illinois/Nebraska on Sept. 16 at noon, UCLA/Utah on Nov. 3 at 9:30p and Iowa/Nebraska on Nov. 24 at 4p.

beIN SPORTS announced a lineup of content distribution renewal agreements with RCN, Atlantic Broadband, EnTouch Systems, Advanced Cable, Hotwire, and Claro. “Renewals of this nature with core cable partners could not come at a more exciting time for us as we approach the beginning of the new 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 beat of the action in the coming months.”

FOX Sports and the National Hot Rod Association unveiled plans to deliver a record nine hours of live multi-platform coverage from the Chevrolet Performance US Nationals on Aug. 30 – Sept. 4. Dave Rieff handles play-by-play from the “Big Go,” drag racing’s long-running Labor Day event, with Tony Pedregon offering analysis. Jamie Howe and Bruno Massel report from the pits, with John Kernan and Amanda Busick providing feature coverage.

The Volvik World Long Drive Championship, running Sept. 5-6, in primetime on Golf Channel, will see back-to-back nights of live from 9-11p. Golf Central will preview live event coverage both nights, with a special hour pre-game show analyzing the matchups, which also will include interviews with those in the field preparing to compete. Bob Papa will handle play-by-play duties, while Michael Breed will serve as analyst, and Jerry Foltz will handle interviews.

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The “Early-Bird” Rate Expires Tomorrow!

Cynopsis Esports Master Class – Reserve your space, while you can

Friday, Sept 15 | Barclays Center | BKLYN

Cynopsis is partnering with ESL to provide you with the ultimate esports experience, including:

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Space is limited – Register by 8/30

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

IMG unveiled the first-ever Wendy’s College Tailgate Tour, designed as an interactive, fan-focused pre-game experience that will serve up food, music, games and special guest appearances at 12 college football games this season. The tour kicks off Sept. 3 at the Rose Bowl with Texas A&M/UCLA and concludes during Rivalry Week on Nov. 25 with Ohio State/Michigan. Each stop will be anchored by a customized, Wendy’s-branded, 18-wheeler that includes a patio, roof-top party deck, IMG Audio radio desk, indoor lounge and a 14-foot Daktronics videoboard that will display live college football and sponsor content. Brands including Nissan, Pringles, Coca-Cola and TCL will bring the activation to life.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

Whistle Sports is teaming with the NFL to for the launch of Game Recognize Game, a four-episode social series will that will pit NFL players against soccer athletes in a series of football versus soccer challenges, with pairings that include the likes of Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero/Houston Texan’s JJ Watt on Sept. 1 and the Giants’ Landon Collins/Tottenham’s harry Kane on Aug. 30. “This is a great example of the power of what Whistle Sports and the NFL can do together. Through our partnership, we expect to see more content like this as we lead into the 2017 season. We continue to work with the league on attracting young audiences across social, and we’re excited to premier this content on Whistle Sports and create a social conversation with players, leagues, teams and fans,” said Jeff Urban, co-founder and President, Whistle Sports.

NFL Media is launching a new 30-minute live show on Twitter starting today. #NFLBlitz will be produced by NFL Network from its studios in Los Angeles and can be seen at NFL.twitter.com and via @NFL with hosts Marc Istook and Erin Coscarelli covering breaking news, game highlights, key storylines, fantasy projections, team power rankings and pre-game updates.

The Mayweather/McGregor fight propelled Sports Illustrated to traffic records for the site and its platforms. Traffic to SI.com over the weekend reached almost 7 million UVs, with Saturday and Sunday ranking as the two biggest traffic days this year, and the most traffic to the site since LeBron James’ exclusive “coming home” announcement on SI.com three years ago. Additionally, engagement on SI’s social channels over the weekend include: more than 1.7MM video views on Facebook, more than 2.5MM Twitter video views and 800K views on Instagram.

Brent Musburger’s Vegas Stats & Information Network is launching its expanded lineup this week. The fall weekday lineup will include Follow the Money at 7a, A Numbers Game at 10a, The Edge at 3p and My Guys in the Desert at 6p. Weekends will see Point Spread Saturday/Point Spread Sunday at 11a and The Green Zone at 1p.

The PGA TOUR is partnering with Korea’s Eclat to launch the first Korean-language version of PGATOUR.com. PGA TOUR Digital has created and will operate the infrastructure for the site, while Eclat will produce and manage all content. This marks the first time the PGA TOUR has undertaken such an arrangement for an international version of its website, where its Digital team controls the infrastructure from PGA TOUR Headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach.

ESPORTS

NASCAR locked in plans for the NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series, an esports-driven online racing series designed to showcase up and coming drivers that currently compete in certain NASCAR-sanctioned series including the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and NASCAR XFINITY Series as well as other racing disciplines. Partnering with iRacing.com, the slate revs up today at 8p for an eight week four-race schedule that will include the likes of Christopher Bell, Harrison Burton, Todd Gilliland, Blake Koch and more. Tonight’s event will be broadcast live at www.iRacing.com/live and will be followed by the NASCAR PEAK Antifreeze Series powered by iRacing, which sees oval sim racers compete for over $20,000 in cash and prizes. “Through our long-term partnership with iRacing.com, NASCAR has been at the forefront of competitive gaming for years,” said Blake Davidson, Vice President, Licensing and Consumer Products, NASCAR. “The NASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational will further connect our drivers to the growing fan base of esports in an engaging and authentic way.”

Boise State announced plans to host esports teams as an officially sanctioned varsity activity for undergraduate and graduate students with teams recruited and selected from current students who have part or full-time status at Boise State University. They will compete in intercollegiate play as part of NACe. Teams will compete in the NACe regular season against member schools and selected tournaments from TESPA, uLOL, Collegiate Star League (and other organizations as part of intercollegiate play. Games selected for the inaugural eSports season will include League of Legends, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and Rocket League.

The Overwatch World Cup locked in pairings for its conclusion at BlizzCon 2017 with eight teams still in contention. The randomly-drawn brackets will see the UK/Sweden and Canada/Australia in Group A while, Group B sees China/France and South Korea/US with the main event starting Nov. 3 in Anaheim.

ROSTER MOVES

MP & Silva named Chris Lencheski to oversee the global sponsorship division of the company. He will be based in New York and manage the company’s global sponsorship team across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

Troika appointed Andy Hann to Creative Director of the company. He joins Troika from ModOp as Creative Director, where he most recently executed and oversaw yearlong social campaigns for brands such as Bud Light, Budweiser, Stella and Hoegaarden.

THE MAIN EVENT

Indians/Yankees on MLB Network at 7p.

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77 impressive Rising Star Honorees

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a one-of-a-kind awards reception!

Cynopsis Rising Star Awards | September 15 | NYC

Kick off the weekend with a networking and cocktail reception filled with promising, young innovators in media and the brands they represent. Click here for event information and a full list of this year’s Rising Stars.

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ON THIS DAY in 2004: The 28th Olympic Games closes at Athens.

In the Know: The longest match in US Open history (by time played) clocked in at 5 hours and 26 minutes, and saw Stefan Edberg facing off against what American player? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Who is the youngest player to become a US Open singles champion, spanning both male and female tournaments? Answer: Tracy Austin. Kudos: John Ferlazzo/London; Marc Wollis-Cadent Network/NY; Cathy Kelly-Viamedia/NY; Jon Show-Show Sports Media/Charlotte; Jerry A. Kapner-Kapner Group/Montclair; John Douglas Miller-NBC Olympics/Stamford; Ron Cioffi-USTA Southern/Peachtree Corners; Peter Steckelman-Tennis Channel/Santa Monica; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo

Later — Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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