Full Sail University formally announced the opening of the Dan Patrick School of Sportscasting, an initiative that will kick off with the early 2018 launch of new undergraduate bachelor degree programs at the university, available on campus and online. The curricula of the programs have been designed with the primary focus of preparing the next generation of sportscasting talent by embracing storytelling and modern-day content creation techniques; aspects that Patrick identified as critical requirements for optimizing graduate employment opportunities. Students will learn from Patrick, as well as the likes of Steve Cohen – SVP of Sports Programming at SiriusXM; Ed Goren – President, Goren Media Group, sports journalist Jay Harris, Bill Simmons, Sage Steele and more.
The United Soccer Leagues entered into a national partnership with The Promotions Dept. in a multi-year agreement. This partnership will allow USL clubs to develop high-quality, team-branded promotional products to elevate their brands, create stadium atmosphere and recognize and reward fans. “The Promotions Dept. brings a wealth of expertise and innovation in engaging sports fans in meaningful ways,” said USL President Jake Edwards. “Our clubs are constantly looking for ways to enhance the fan experience and promotional items play a major role in those efforts. The Promotions Dept. has a long history in soccer. They understand our sport and our fans, and our teams will benefit from that experience.”
Bellator is debuting a new mobile app “tailored to be fan-focused and content-driven.” For the first time, Bellator fans will be able to watch live main card fights within the app, through television provider authentication in addition to preliminary cards which will be available worldwide and will stream live. The next-gen app also features the history of the promotion and its athletes.
Whistle Sports announced the continuation of its content series, Bad Joke Telling, featuring NASCAR driver and running on Whistle Sports’ Instagram and Facebook pages. The three-part series features Playoff drivers going head-to-head in a battle to make each other laugh with bad jokes with names that include Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, and Denny Hamlin. “This new edition of our massively successful series takes the biggest names in NASCAR and features them in a winning Whistle Sports content format,” said Jeff Urban, co-founder and President, Whistle Sports. “The humor may be corny, but the excitement and engagement the videos drive is no joke.”
The Washington Wizards announced that Wizards Radio 24/7, presented by WGL Energy, is now available on the Washington Wizards app and TuneIn radio. The platform will allow fans to hear the latest news on the team and features on the games along with exclusive interviews with players and coaches as well as discussions and debates with other programming that will include Off the Bench Podcasts, Daily Wizards Flash Briefing, Daily Wizards Shoot Around Report, Wizards Classic Games. In addition, the team has partnered with the NBA to launch an Alexa Skill allowing fans to ask Alexa Skill specific Wizards questions and keep up with schedules, scores, stats, standings, and news.
Riot Games laid out plans for the 2018 College League of Legends season, with the season beginning Jan. 15 and wrapping up with the League of Legends College Championship running June 7-10 at the NA LCS Arena in Los Angeles. Overall, there will be six rounds of regular season matches and the top teams will advance to the playoffs. Changes this season include: a move to the more competitive Swiss format, which matches teams with the same or a similar record against each other on a weekly basis; four regional conference champions will earn automatic bids into the college championship; and addotional conference champions and all conference runner-ups will meet in the Play-In event.
Evo 2018 booked another return trip to Las Vegas, this time running Aug. 3-5 from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, slightly later that its normal July tentpole. This year’s event saw nearly five million total viewers watch Evo’s Street Fighter finals.
Twitter and ESL are partnering up to offer fans the chance to vote for the MVP of ESL One Hamburg via a Direct Message experience. Fans can enter the experience via the ESL One Hamburg DM Card or by hitting ‘Message’ on the @ESLDotA2 profile page. Once fans have selected their MVP, the DM experience will allow fans to Tweet their vote, follow their favorite teams or players, or direct them to the live stream of ESL One Hamburg on Twitter.
Vainglory opened pre-registration for its upcoming 5v5 mode, which was built from the ground up by former competitive players and designers from leading PC MOBAs, will offer “the definitive 5v5 MOBA experience on mobile.” “When we started Super Evil Megacorp, we set out to challenge the notion that mobile-first gamers were somehow inferior to gamers on other platforms,” said Super Evil Megacorp CEO Kristian Segerstrale. “We believed that every phone was a portable next-gen console, and that every mobile player deserved games just as core, strategic and performant as players on PC. Over the past three years, millions of players across the globe rallied to our cause, embracing real-time multiplayer gaming on touchscreens, shifting the market in our direction.
The Los Angeles Chapter of Women in Sports and Events announced today that Janet Evans (Olympian & LA2028 Organizing Committee), Valorie Kondos Field (Head Coach, UCLA Women’s Gymnastics), and Christine Simmons (President & Chief Operations Officer, Los Angeles Sparks) have been selected as the recipients of the 2017 WISE Los Angeles Women of Inspiration Award. The ceremony will be held at the eighth annual gala on Nov. 8 at TAO Los Angeles.
Amy Palmer has joined Hollywood-based BRKLY as the design and content studio’s new Executive Producer, where she will oversee business development, as well as client and project management initiatives. She joins BRKLY from entertainment branding and marketing agency Troika.
Dodgers/Astros on FOX tonight at 8p.
