The New Jersey Devils and William Hill US locking in a multi-year deal to open a permanent activation inside the Prudential Center designed to cater to fans interested in sports betting. The deal marks the first time that a professional sports team in New Jersey has partnered with a sports book since the Garden State legalized sports betting in June. The William Hill Sports Lounge, will be located in the arena’s main concourse and is expected to open in the next several weeks.
Schick Hydro announced the debut of Locker Room Talk, a new webisode series hosted by Kevin Love. The series consists of an initial trailer featuring Love, followed by three episodes in which Love interviews guests, including Michael Phelps, Paul Pierce, and Channing Frye. Love and his guests will discuss “locker room talk” and what positive masculinity means today while simultaneously raising awareness and funds for the Movember Foundation and the Kevin Love Fund, and showing off their mustaches for Movember.
Warrior Hockey picked up a partnership with the National Women’s Hockey League’s Boston Pride. Warrior Hockey will work with the Pride on initiatives to promote the game and will boost marketing of the team and its players. In addition, Warrior will sponsor the honorary captains – chosen from Boston-area youth leagues – at all Pride home games.
IMG extended its multi-territory streaming rights partnership with the NHL through the 2020-21 season. “IMG is a proven leader in the distribution of real-time video streaming with a keen understanding of sports fans,” said David Proper, NHL Executive Vice President of Media and International Strategy. “Our partnership with IMG has brought long-term value and delivered significant benefit in extending the NHL’s reach in Europe.”
Esports ownership group aXiomatic locked in Michael Jordan and Declaration Capital as new investors into the company. Declaration Capital, the family office of David M. Rubenstein, focuses on venture, growth and family-owned investments. Rubenstein is the co-founder and co-executive chairman of The Carlyle Group. Meanwhile, the deal marks Jordan’s first step into the digital sports realm with an esports investment. Curtis Polk, the Managing Partner and Alternate Governor of Hornets Sports & Entertainment, and manager of the financial and business affairs of Michael Jordan and his related companies is also joining as an investor.
Blizzard Entertainment released major details about BlizzCon 2018, running Nov. 2-3. Livestreams are available via BlizzCon.com and the BlizzCon mobile app for Android and iOS. For the first time, viewers can watch livestreams using the BlizzCon TV app and the Blizzard Battle.net desktop app. Closing out the festivities this year will be American rock band Train, violinist and performance artist Lindsey Stirling, and DJ and actor Kristian Nairn. All three concerts will be streamed live in HD to online viewers via the Virtual Ticket. Community Night also returns with the Costume Contest, Talent Contest, Movie Contest, and Art Contest. Featuring popular VO actors Darin De Paul as host and Matthew Mercer joining the judge’s panel, Blizzard’s biggest annual community stage show starts at 7p on Friday. BlizzCon 2018 sponsors this year include Cisco, Intel, and Samsung SSD, along with sponsors that include CORSAIR, Facebook, Nintendo Switch, NVIDIA, NZXT, Republic of Gamers and T-Mobile.
Immortals announced the hiring of Brian Millman as Vice President of Corporate Partnerships. Millman will oversee partnership sales and activation for Immortals, and brings significant expertise in developing and fulfilling creative, solutions-based partnerships for premier brands.. Prior to joining Immortals, Millman served as a Director at Mindshare Spotlight, the sports, and entertainment consultancy division of Mindshare, within GroupM, the world’s largest media agency.
Amazon launched its newest feature for the Amazon GameOn brand in the GameOn Tournament Organizer. The Twitch extension allows creators to generate tournaments inside the Twitch experience with a click of a mouse and invite their players to join directly from within the game. The GameOn Tournament Organizer is already used by Darwin Project from Scavenger Studios, Paladins Strike from Hi-Rez, Overload from Revival Productions, Tactical Monsters Rumble Arena from Camex Games, and SCP: Secret Laboratory from Hubert. And, SCUM from Devolver Digital will come soon.
ELEAGUE will serve up the top plays and moments from its recent charity streaming event – which featured Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 – in a new series set to air over the next three consecutive Fridays on TBS, with the first episode premiering tonight at 11p. Friday, Oct. 26. Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 x ELEAGUE #CODNATION Challenge for Vets saw fans contribute to a charity drive with proceeds supporting veterans via the Call of Duty Endowment. To celebrate the cause and the launch of the game on TBS, ELEAGUE is continuing to facilitate fan donations through Nov. 9.
PlayVS, the startup bringing the infrastructure for esports leagues to high schools across the country, announced a deal with Champion athletic apparel as the primary jersey provider for the 2018-2019 school year. Jerseys are available for order on the Champion website in time for PlayVS’ Season Zero, the early-access season open to high schools in Connecticut, Kentucky, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island starting this October.
The Trade Group has partnered with Emerson College to create an esports mentorship program designed to offer students real-life opportunities to gain experience at esports and gaming events in their chosen field. Experience will include key esports and gaming events like E3, Pokemon World Championships, PAX West, and OP Live Dallas.
Red Sox/Dodgers tonight at 8p on FOX.