SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

 

Capital One Venture X will become the presenting sponsor of the 108th Rose Bowl Game on New Year’s Day on ESPN, with the deal coming as part of an agreement with Disney Advertising Sales. Capital One will also continue its sponsorship of the Capital One Orange Bowl, which will also be host of the College Football Playoff Semifinal on New Year’s Eve, on ESPN. “In line with the launch of our newest travel credit card – Venture X – we are excited to sponsor the highly anticipated 108th Rose Bowl Game presented by Capital One Venture X,” said Marc Mentry, Chief Brand Officer at Capital One. “We know many of our customers are passionate about sports and we’re thrilled to return as presenting sponsor of one of America’s most storied sporting events.”

BMW, the PGA TOUR and the Western Golf Association locked in a five-year extension for BMW to remain the title sponsor of the TOUR’s second FedExCup Playoffs event through 2027. Also announced was the return of the BMW Championship to the Chicago area in 2023 at Olympia Fields Country Club. “We would like to express our sincere thanks to BMW for their continued support of the PGA TOUR and the Western Golf Association through 2027,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “The BMW Championship played an incredibly impactful role in launching the FedExCup in 2007 and BMW’s commitment to presenting a best-in-class event each year continues to elevate the FedExCup Playoffs. We are also very appreciative of BMW’s dedication to fulfilling the mission of the Evans Scholars Foundation, having impacted thousands of lives over the last 15 years.”

Division Street, a sport venture company founded by University of Oregon supporters including Phil Knight, turned a rental property in Eugene, Ore., into a “first-of-its-kind athlete storytelling home” to benefit Oregon student-athletes who will host it on Airbnb. The redesigned house will serve as a hub for athlete brand development and name, image, likeness (NIL) deal content creation, as well as an actual listing that guests can rent, generating income for Oregon athletes who serve as hosts.

Speaking of NIL, Linktree announced the expansion of its sports vertical, highlighted by a focus on helping US college athletes “fully utilize their newfound name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights.” As part of the push, Linktree will be launching an educational content series to teach athletes how to safely and effectively capitalize on their NIL capabilities, including a podcast titled Game Face, hosted by Kristi Dosh, and begin seeking out partnerships with top colleges and athletes.

The National Lacrosse League unveiled NLL Unites, the league’s umbrella social responsibility program. NLL Unites will combine the efforts of the league, teams, players and partners to promote each of those pillars through storytelling, education, activation and access. In the coming season, players will wear a specially designed helmet decal with a Every Child Matters logo designed by Curt Styres and the Halifax Thunderbirds organization, raising awareness of the history and role of residential schools throughout North America.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

Adobe and Major League Baseball announced a major expansion of their partnership to “reimagine fan engagement and continue to bring America’s favorite pastime to the next generation of fans” via Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud, and Adobe Sign. New, fan-friendly features can include personalized promotions and notifications tailored to individual fans – at the ballpark potentially highlighting which entrances will offer the fastest journey to their seats, VIP parking promotions or discounts on grab-and-go concessions.

NBC Sports’ free-to-play NFL game, Sunday Night 7, is dangling its first-ever $1 million weekly jackpot over each of the next nine weeks beginning this Sunday, with the Browns/Ravens o Sunday Night Football. Sunday Night 7 on the NBC Sports Predictor app powered by PointsBet will feature a weekly $1 million jackpot for the remainder of the SNF season. “We are excited to potentially crown our first $1 million jackpot winner in Sunday Night 7 and look forward to many more fans joining us on the NBC Sports Predictor app, engaging with NBC Sports EDGE content, and watching their picks play out each week on Sunday Night Football,” said Will McIntosh, EVP, Digital & Sports Consumer Business, NBC Sports Next.

ESPORTS

ONE Esports reports that its Mobile Legends Professional League Invitational scored big growth year-over-year, as the best Mobile Legends: Bang Bang (teams in Southeast Asia competed for the crown. In addition to generating 87 million views across all streaming platforms, MPLI 2021 produced 1.7M peak concurrent viewers and 341K average minute audience, both notching a 140% spike year-on-year. Viewers watched over 14 million hours of the tournament.

100 Thieves co-owner and content creator CouRage announced that he is extending his run with YouTube as his platform. He currently sees 3.47 million subscribers on the platform.

EA is hosting its first-ever Madden NFL 22 Championship Series Ultimate Thanksgiving today as four of the virtual gridiron’s best will face off for their share of the record-setting season $1.65 million prize pool and earn points toward qualifying for the Ultimate Madden Bowl in February. Fans can tune into the MCS 22 Ultimate Thanksgiving on the official EA Madden NFL Twitch or YouTube channel at 7p.

Ghost Gaming acquired the esports content organization One Percent and appointed the One Percent Chief Executive Officer, Julian “Aeolus” Castro, as Managing Director of Content and Community for Ghost. “Ghost is the voice of Atlanta’s gaming culture, reaching the most coveted but otherwise elusive audience of 13-34 year olds,” said Andrew Steinberg, Chair of the Board, Ghost Gaming. “One Percent amplifies our audience throughout the South as a lifestyle brand, and we have other acquisitions on the roadmap as we cement our position as a next-generation, digitally-native media company.”

Subnation Media and the Greater Raleigh Convention and Visitors Bureau announced that Governor Roy Cooper’s signing of the State Legislature’s budget includes The Esports Industry Grant Fund, which will provide up to $5,000,000 in funds to encourage esports productions and events to be hosted in the State. “This is a major victory for Greater Raleigh and all of North Carolina,” said Ed Tomasi, Co-Chair of the Greater Raleigh Esports Local Organizing Committee (GRELOC) and Chief Managing Director of Subnation Media. “I’m proud to say that NC is now the first and only state in the United States to qualify and incentivize esports production and event groups regardless of where they are incorporated. This opens NC up to a global industry and makes NC a premier East Coast destination for esports to thrive.”

Raidiant, the women in gaming and esports media platform, named VIRUS International as a Founding Partner. The Raidiant.gg website, initiative and content hub will feature content created in collaboration with VIRUS International, offering educational and competitive resources to assist women with entering or advancing in the esports and gaming industries.

Envy Gaming announced the appointment of Katie Kristiansen and Kenneth Trader to the org as sales directors, where they will work to drive new revenue opportunities and develop brand partnerships nationally and locally for the esports organization and its Envy, OpTic and Dallas Fuel brands.

INDUSTRY & ROSTER MOVES

The new United States Football League revealed city affiliations, names, and logos for the eight teams taking the field when the league debuts in April 2022. In 2022, the USFL’S eight teams will play in one host city, the identity of which the new league will announce shortly. The teams will be split evenly between a North Division and South Division. The Michigan, New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh teams form the North Division, while Birmingham, Houston, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay teams comprise the South Division. Each team will play a 10-game schedule, followed by semifinals between the top two teams in each division, and a championship game between division winners. FOX Sports will serve as an official broadcast partner of the new USFL.

MLB Network President Rob McGlarry is stepping down in December, according to SBJ. McGlarry has served as an executive for the platform since the channel launched in 2009, where he was named president of the network in 2014.

The Pac-12 announced a new senior management structure that will see Teresa Gould promoted to Deputy Commissioner, Sports Management & Institutional Services; Deputy Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich will expand his existing responsibilities to also oversee finance, communications and a newly created strategy function; and the Pac-12 will hire a Chief People Officer who will report into Commissioner George Kliavkoff and oversee diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in addition to human resources, culture and engagement.

SPORTS BROADCAST JOURNAL w/David J. Halberstam

A collegian’s view of cancel-culture. Is the punishment fair? Are consequences for violators too harsh? Interesting perspectives.
Cancel culture: Is it fair? Is there any way to police it uniformly? Does society want reform or unending hell?

There aren’t and haven’t been many network Jewish broadcasters through the years but the list is impressive. In addition to the men, we also list the most distinguished women broadcasters.
The greatest Jewish sports announcers of all-time

Legendary Fox broadcaster Tim Brando emotes about the uneven way by which the college football committee chooses its four playoff teams. Teams like TCU or Cincinnati or for that matter any of the non-power #5 conferences have to do cartwheels to get into the cherished grouping. Not easy. Tim explains.
Fox’ Tim Brando takes on the CFP Committee; criticizing the process by which schools are selected

Happy Birthdays:
Mike –Gorman-11-24 – Celtics TV
Mike –Goldberg-11-24- UFC Broadcaster
Doris-Burke-11-24 – ESPN
Ben-McDonald-11-24- Orioles TV
Mike –Joy –11-25 – NASCAR TV
Bob-Rathbun-11-25- Atlanta Hawks
Ray-Bentley –11-25- Ex – Fox/ESPN
Jerry –Schemmel-11-26 – Ex- Nuggets radio/Rockies TV
Harold-Reynolds-11-26- MLB Network
Jiggs-McDonald-11-28- Retired NHL voice
Steve-Martin-11-28 – Retired Hornets
Sage-Steele-11-28- ESPN
Vin-Scully-11-29- Retired Dodgers/NBC
Ross-Porter-11-29- Retired Dodgers radio/TV
Al-Albert-11-30- Ex-Nuggets, Nets ,Pacers
Jamie-Erdahl-12-3 – CBS Sports