09/21/17: Coke’s new FIFA play

Good morning. It’s Thursday September 21, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

A year before the World Cup, Coca-Cola has signed a new athlete from FIFA to serve as an ambassador for the brand. The star? Alex Hunter, the centerpiece of EA Sports’ FIFA franchise, a virtual athlete who returns to anchor FIFA 18 as part of “The Journey: Hunter Returns” mode in the upcoming game (out Sept. 29). The game will feature Hunter sign a contract to serve as the brand’s ambassador to launch the new Coca-Cola Zero Sugar with the partnership extending to the real world with specialized packaging and retail partnerships within the US and globally as well as an ad spot that echoes the brand’s famed Mean Joe Green commercial that will be shared on social channels.

“This is an exciting brand innovation,” said Matt Wolf, Vice President of Entertainment, Ventures & Strategic Alliances at The Coca-Cola Company. “Signing Alex Hunter puts Coca-Cola at the intersection of gaming and brand marketing within the most popular franchise sports game in the world.”

“It’s great to be a part of this truly unique collaboration, the first of its kind,” said Dave Madden, Head of Global Brand Partnerships for EA. “This in-game Coca-Cola endorsement gives our fans a taste of life as a renowned football star and the opportunities that come along with it.”

ON THE AIR

NHL Network is recruiting a slew of new talent for the upcoming season, announcing that 2009 Stanley Cup-winning head coach Dan Bylsma, three-time Stanley Cup champion Ken Daneyko, 14-year NHL veteran Stu Grimson, and former Sportsnet anchor Jackie Redmond had all signed on as on-air talent appearing for the network’s studio programming. Bylsma, Daneyko and Grimson will contribute as studio analysts, and Redmond will serve as a studio host and reporter.

CBS Sports locked in its SEC on CBS football game for Sept. 30, adding Georgia/Tennessee to the schedule at 3:30p. Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and reporter Allie LaForce call the contest from Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.

The tragic 7.1-magnitude earthquake that devastated Mexico City will see the NFL reevaluate if the Nov. 19 game between the Raiders and Patriots will proceed as scheduled. The contest is slated to take place at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City with NFL exec Mark Waller noting that stadium officials were conducting a full review of the stadium, noting that the initial information from that review is that the stadium is “remarkably well in good shape.”

The North American Soccer League is heading to court, filing an antitrust lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation after US Soccer denied the league’s application for Division II status in 2018 after several conditions for approval were not met. “The NASL has taken this step to protect not just the league, but also the game, fans, and everyone with a stake in the future success of professional soccer leagues based in this country,” said Rocco B. Commisso, Chairman of the NASL’s Board of Governors and principal owner of the New York Cosmos, per ESPN. The complaint claims that the USSF has violated federal antitrust laws through its anticompetitive “division” structure that splits men’s professional soccer for U.S.-based leagues based on what the NASL describes as “arbitrary criteria that the USSF has manipulated to favor Major League Soccer (MLS), which is the commercial business partner of the USSF.”

ESPN reports that the company’s two weeks of exclusive live “first ball to last ball” coverage of the US Open from Aug. 28-Sept. 10 averaged a total live audience of 968,000 viewers, up 8% over 2016. The TV audience also was up 8%, to an average of 948,000 viewers across ESPN and ESPN2 for the 150 hours of coverage from the Billie Jean National Tennis Center. Linear streaming feeds generated an average minute audience of 20,300, up 43% from last year, and 175.1 million total minutes viewed, up +48%.

Under Armour announced the roster for the second annual Under Armour Reunion college basketball double-header, slated to take place at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York City. Year two match-ups of the Under Armour Reunion include Texas Tech University/Seton Hall University at 6:30p, followed by Temple University/University of South Carolina at 9p. “

ESPN picked up Australian rights to three upcoming exhibition games pitting teams from the country’s National Basketball League and the NBA. The sports broadcaster will show all three fixtures live, starting with the Sydney Kings’ trip to the Utah Jazz on Oct. 3. “We are excited to be able to have these games broadcast live in Australia,” said Jeremy Loeliger, Chief Executive of the NBL. “It’s a great opportunity showcase Australian basketball on the biggest basketball stage in the world. While this is a first for the NBL, we hope these games can become a regular event in years to come.”

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Golf Channel is revving up for the 2017 Presidents Cup (running Sept. 25-Oct. 1 from Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City) with the launch of a social media-integrated scavenger hunt around Manhattan on Sept. 26. The activation will see fans challenged through video clues presented by on-air talent from across NBCUniversal shared via Golf Channel’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts to find oversized replicas of the Presidents Cup trophy throughout the city. The six respective location winners will receive a pair of one-day grounds tickets to the 2017 Presidents Cup, while winners of both the location-specific ( as well as the digital version) of the scavenger hunt also will be entered to win a trip for two to the 2019 Presidents Cup in Australia, which will include tickets to the event, airfare, hotel, transportation and spending money.

Visa announced its global Team Visa roster for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, lining up over 40 Olympians and Paralympians from 17 countries, including Mikaela Shiffrin (USA), Chloe Kim (USA), Mark McMorris (Canada), Gus Kenworthy (USA), Oksana Masters (USA), Lee, Sang Hwa (South Korea), Kamil Stoch (Poland), and Hilary Knight (USA). “We are excited to welcome all of our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to Team Visa and we think this roster is the perfect embodiment of what the Visa brand stands for, as these athletes push boundaries every day in everything they do,” said Chris Curtin, chief marketing innovation and brand officer at Visa Inc. “Team Visa athletes remain at the heart of Visa and we are excited to cheer them on in their pursuit of Olympic and Paralympic Gold in PyeongChang.”

The NFL and its teams will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a series of special events during Hispanic Heritage Month. The league, Hispanic Heritage Foundation and Nationwide have partnered for the seventh annual NFL Hispanic Heritage Leadership Awards. The theme of this year’s Hispanic Heritage Month recognition is “Feel the Orgullo.”

McDonald’s named Atlanta as the host city for the 2018 McDonald’s All American Games. The 2018 Games will be played on March 28 at Philips Arena. “On behalf of the Atlanta Hawks, Philips Arena and the great city of Atlanta, we’re proud to host the 2018 McDonald’s All American Games and are excited they are returning to a region of the country with such a storied legacy of basketball,” said Dominique Wilkins, Vice President of Basketball for the Atlanta Hawks and a 1979 McDonald’s All American. “Having spent much of my life playing and living here, I know the city and fans will enjoy hosting this event and seeing the next great crop of basketball talent.”

DIGITAL & STREAMING

15 Seconds of Fame and the University of Kentucky have announced a partnership to provide football fans at Kroger Field with their videoboard moments with the deal making Kentucky the first SEC program to partner with 15SOF. Starting with Saturday’s Kentucky/Florida matchup, fans who download the free 15SOF app and take a “selfie” to sign up will receive their personal video moment on their phone when they appear on the videoboard. The digital clip can then be shared instantly across social media channels.

The Samford University Center for Sports Analytics released its inaugural NFL Relevance Rankings based on data from 6.9 million US sports fans and developed in partnership with Affinio. Topping the rankings were the Dallas Cowboys with a score a 7.8, followed by the Patriots (6.5), Steelers (5.8), Broncos (5.5) and Panthers (5.5). The org defines relevance as a measure that taps into the emotional connection fans have with sports teams with rankings based “on a deep dive into social media data from 6.9 million U.S. sports fans.”

ESPORTS

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

Blizzard starts OL countdown at 12
EA athlete Alex Hunter strikes it big
Q&A: Coca-Cola talks game theory
Asian Electronic Sports Federation targets IOC injection
YouTube Gaming has a new pitch
Jump Gaming prepares for launch
The Madison Square Garden Company conjures esports head
Everton’s feathered friends

ROSTER MOVES

fuboTV appointed Yale Wang to the position of VP, head of North American Marketing where he is charged with leading the company’s expanded North American marketing efforts. His main area of focus is to leverage his expertise in data-driven digital marketing to drive subscription growth to fuboTV. He joins fuboTV from Warner Bros. Digital Networks, where he was VP and head of marketing for DramaFever.

THE MAIN EVENT

Rams/49ers on NFL Network at 8p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Cheers to the Winners of the Kids !magination Awards!

Sponsored by Universal Kids

Cynopsis Kids honored the year’s best in children’s, tween and family content at the 6th Annual Kids !magination Awards during a breakfast and networking reception September 19 in NY. In addition to our 2017 finalists, Cynopsis Kids honored three Luminary Award winners.

View Winners + Honorable Mentions

ON THIS DAY in 1986: Dan Marino passes for six touchdowns against the Jets.

In the Know: What team did Dan Marino play against in his only Super Bowl appearance? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Ernie Banks joined Johnny Bench and Joe Namath for a cameo in an episode of one of FOX’s early sitcom hits (not The Simpsons). What is the name of that show? Answer: Married… with Children. Kudos: Traci Liner-WME/IMG/NY; Brian Traynor-WME/IMG/NY; Greg Conner-Tennis Channel/NY; Thomas Steward-Jamestown Community College/NY; Jonny Codalata-CSM/Zionsville; James J. Pepe-Hop Hill Brewing Co./Bethlehem; Rick Rosenfelt-New York Red Bulls/Harrison; Chris Schwartz-International Speedway Corporation/Charlotte; Joe Lyons-SOS Global/Dallas; Matt Fumagalli-Levy/Chicago; John Kukla-KDFW/KDFI; Dallas-Fort Worth; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Tony Reyes-Stoopid Buddy Stoodios/Burbank; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo

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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