Tissot, the Official Watch of the NBA, inked new partnerships with two NBA teams to tip off the 2018-19 season, lining up deals with the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards that designate Tissot as the Official Watch of each of these franchises, joining the brand’s existing partnerships with six other NBA teams and its status as Official Watch and Official Timekeeper of the NBA. The watchmaker also announced its partnership with three-time NBA Champion and four-time NBA All-Star Klay Thompson, top rookie Trae Young and a continued relationship with long-time brand ambassador and four-time NBA Champion and six-time NBA All-Star Tony Parker.
Old World Industries, makers of PEAK Coolant & Antifreeze and BlueDEF Diesel Exhaust Fluid and Equipment, is partnering with Stewart-Haas Racing to serve as the primary sponsor for driver Clint Bowyer and the No. 14 team for three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races in 2019 with associate sponsorship on the No. 14 Ford Mustang at all other races.
New Balance announced the signing of Sydney McLaughlin to a multi-year endorsement contract. McLaughlin joins New Balance after a standout freshman year at University of Kentucky, where she won the 2018 NCAA Outdoor 400m hurdles title, set a world junior record over 400m indoors with a time of 50.36, and set both World Junior and NCAA records for the intermediate hurdles event with a 52.75 clocking, the fastest time in the world in 2018.
FloSports announced that FloRugby.com will now offer live and on-demand coverage of 45 top-level matches this fall spanning the HSBC Women’s World Sevens Series, The Rugby Weekend, and all Autumn Internationals matches for the France and Scotland men’s national teams. Coverage of the HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series games launches Oct. 20-21 in Colorado featuring 34 matches. FloRugby.com is the exclusive home of the USA Eagles and the The Rugby Weekend, which features three matches from Soldier Field in Chicago on Nov. 3.
NBC Sports Chicago will launch Bulls Outsiders, a brand new live, multi-platform, fan-interactive Bulls program that will provide a “fresh take on that evening’s game and much more from three non-conventional sports show hosts.” Bulls Outsiders will make its network debut after the Bulls 2018-19 road/season opener on Oct.18on NBC Sports Chicago+, via live stream at NBCSportsChicago.com/WatchLive, and on Facebook Live. The series is hosted by Matt Peck, David Watson andJohn Sabine.
Cloud9 landed $50 million in funding, announcing a new investment round led by Valor Equity Partners. Other participants include TrueBridge Capital Partners, Reimagined Ventures, as well as Glassdoor founder Robert Hohman. Meanwhile, the new deal landed Cloud9 on Forbes’ list of the next billion-dollar startups for 2018, projected to earn $22 million in revenue this year, according to founder Jack Etienne.The Forbes article also states that Cloud9 launched plans for a 20,000-to-30,000 square foot training facility and home base for its operations in LA, writing that its “disparate teams will all practice at the facility, while also consolidating its staff of managers, a sports psychologist, a physical therapist and chef. While it’ll no doubt be finished by the end of 2019, Etienne is hoping to be up and running by the start of next year’s competitions.”
Brand new Canadian Overwatch League franchise, Vancouver, is partnering with Luminosity Gaming as the team prepares for its first season in the Blizzard organization. The partnership was announced on Twitter, with a post stating that “To ensure we hit the ground running, we have teamed upwith leading Canadian esports organization Luminosity Gaming and its CEO Steve Maida. They will be working closely with us to help craft and implement our strategy surrounding player acquisition, key staffing, day-to-day operations, marketing and more.”
Speaking of Overwatch League, the new Guangzhou Overwatch League expansion franchise tapped Sonny Xiao to serve as CEO of the team with Eddy Meng on-board as COO. Xiao currently serves as president of basketball operations for the Guangzhou Long Lions, which is also owned by the Nenking Group. Meng was most recently managing director of the Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Southeast Asia region for Activision Blizzard. Ethan Liu will serve as general manager.
Amateur esports company Super League Gaming unveiled a “first-of-its-kind” collaboration with Sony Pictures Entertainment designed to engage young video gamers through custom experiences connected to the animated feature film, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which hits theaters nationwide on Dec.14. The promotion will span from Oct. 27-dec. 9 and feature the Super League Minecraft player community given the opportunity to participate in three distinct competitions. In both Super League’s Minecraft City Champs tournament and Super League’s November Minecraft Monthly program, players will battle in a new Super League mini-game, “Spider-Verse: Domination.” In a national online competition, players will build their own Spider-Verse inspired creations.
Streaming platform Mixer announced the launch of Mixer Matchups x Microsoft Store North American Championship featuring Fortnite. The nationwide tournament will begin on Oct. 19, with players competing every Friday for a prize of $10,000 and a chance to win $15,000 in the championship. Play begins with a local stage, divided into four regions with 20 stores per region with the winner from each store is competing against the other 19 winners on the region. Regional champions and qualifying teams will then play until a champion is crowned on Nov. 10.
AMB Sports and Entertainment promoted Karl Pierburg to vice president, technology, data and analytics to lead all day-to-day technology and analytic operations across the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United of Major League Soccer and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
MLB Postseason continues, with Red Sox/Astros on TBS at 5p, while Brewers/Dodgers square off on FS1 at 9p.
