11/26/18: College football's conference championships

Good morning. It’s Monday November 26, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

College football locked in its teams and schedules for its conference championship games. For the first time in history, each major conference will play a conference championship game. The action begins on Friday with the MAC Championship pitting Northern Illinois/Buffalo on ESPN2 at 7p, followed by Utah/Washington for the Pac-12 title on FOX at 8p. Saturday action then kicks off at noon with the Big 12’s Oklahoma/Texas on ABC and the Sun Belt’s Louisiana-Lafayette/Appalachian State on ESPN, followed by the CUSA Championship at 1:30p on CBSSN pitting Middle Tennessee/UAB, and UCF/Memphis for the AAC title at 3:30p. CBS serves up the SEC Title at 4p, ESPN hosts the Mountain West’s Fresno State/Boise State at 7:45p, FOX features the Big Ten Championship at 8p pitting Ohio State/Northwestern, while ABC features the ACC matchup of Clemson/Pittsburgh.

ON THE AIR

Thanksgiving was fruitful for the NFL’s television partners, as all three networks saw growth over 2017 numbers from the holiday. Overall, the three Thanksgiving Day games averaged an 11.7 HH rating and 26.5M viewers, according to Nielsen, for upticks of 14% and 17% respectively. FOX saw its Redskins/Cowboys contest average 30,475,000 viewers with a 12.5 rating for its telecast. Viewership was up 23% over 2017, and 16% over the comparable window a year ago.

NBC’s Falcons/Saints Thanksgiving showcase drew an 11.4/24 in overnight numbers (not including digital) to rank as the best for NBC Thanksgiving night game since SNF record 2015 season, and up 18% from last year. The Saints delivered a 75 share in New Orleans with a 52.3 rating, to top all markets, followed by Norfolk 17.0/32; Atlanta 16.7/34; Buffalo 14.0/26; and Minneapolis 13.7/29.

Finally, CBS’ broadcast of the Bears/Lions drew a 15% increase for the network, as the NFL on CBS broadcast earned an average overnight household rating/share of 14.2/34, up 15% from last year’s CBS Thanksgiving Day game and up 11% from last year’s comparable window. Top five metered markets were led by Chicago at a 27.5/58, followed by Detroit’s 27.1/57, New Orleans’ 20.0/38; Dayton’s 19.5/41 and Norfolk at a 19.2/41.

ABC/ESPN report that their back-to-back primetime presentations of Oklahoma/West Virginia and Notre Dame/USC delivered multi-year highs on their respective networks. ABC’s Saturday Night Football presentation of Notre Dame/USC delivered a 5.1 overnight, SNF’s highest-rated Thanksgiving week game in six years and up 55% from the similar window last season. ESPN’s telecast of Oklahoma/West Virginia delivered a 3.4 overnight, the network’s highest-rated Friday game since 2010 and up 162% increase year-over-year from the similar game window last season.

Around the dial, FOX Sports reports that its coverage of Ohio State’s win over Michigan on Saturday served up an 8.0 metered market rating, to rank as the networks top regular season college football game of all time. The matchup was up 19% over last year’s presentation. Meanwhile, the broadcast network’s coverage of Washington’s win over Washington State drew a 2.6 in metered markets, up 63% over last year’s matchup.

With the season in the books, NBC Sports saw its presentation of the 2018 Notre Dame Football on NBC score as the network’s most-watched season in six years, according to Nielsen and Adobe Analytics. For seven games, the 2018 Notre Dame Football on NBC season averaged a Total Audience Delivery of 3.491 million viewers, up 40% over seven games for NBC/NBCSN in 2017 to mark the best viewership since the 2012 season.

Rounding out ratings news, ESPN drew its highest-rated NBA regular season game since 2016 last week for its Lakers/Cavaliers telecast. LeBron James’ return to Cleveland generated a 2.6 metered market rating for the channel, up 18 percent from last year’s comparable game.

The National Lacrosse League and the Professional Lacrosse Players Association agreed to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement that will ensure that the new season will go on as planned. The collective bargaining agreement is for a five-year term beginning with the 2018-19 season.

AXS TV announced plans to offer real-time same-week coverage of New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2019The new schedule kicks off with a same-day near-live two-hour broadcast of NJPW’s biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 13, on Jan. 4 at 8p.

In international waters, FOX Sports Latin America announced the renewal of multimedia broadcasting rights in South America to the Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores. The deal will see FOX Sports continue airing live Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores matches in South America for the next four seasons through 2022 on the FOX Sports channels.

UFC announced a new deal with SuperSport to carry events in Africa beginning in January 2019, offering over 40 live events a year and 100 hours of magazine programming,.

RIP to Houston Texans’ owner Bob McNair, who passed away on Friday at the age of 81. “During his nearly two decades as an NFL owner, Bob McNair left a lasting mark on his city and our league,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “His leadership and determination brought the NFL back to Houston, built a magnificent stadium that hosted two Super Bowls, and his beloved Texans are in the midst of another successful season and are again contending for a place in the postseason. Off the field, Bob served with distinction as the chairman ‎of the Finance Committee and was recognized in South Carolina, his adopted home of Houston, and elsewhere for his extraordinary philanthropic and community development work. He cared deeply about the league and was generous with his time and willingness to share his insights as an exceptional businessman. But above all, Bob was a family man. I extend my heartfelt condolences to Janice, their family, the Texans, and the entire Houston community.”

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Formula One locked in a new four-year deal with Pirelli as its tire supplier from 2020-23. Following the successful partnership, which was up for renewal at the end of 2019, Chase Carey, Formula 1 Chairman and CEO, said: “Pirelli have been an important and valued partner to Formula 1 since 2011. They are leaders in providing innovative state of the art capabilities. They are a premium brand, a clear global leader in motorsport and our ongoing partnership with them is proof once more of our desire to align F1 with the best in motorsport and beyond. We are delighted to have reached this agreement, which guarantees a long-term stable future for such a crucial component of Formula 1.”

Jaromir Jagr signed on to serve as the official hockey ambassador for the 2022 Olympic Games, taking place in China, according to reports. Jagr has participated in five Winter Olympics and helped the Czechs win gold 20 years ago in Nagano, the first Olympics to feature NHL players.

The first beach volleyball tournament of 2019 will be officially renamed the Fort Lauderdale Major presented by AutoNation, courtesy of a new deal, taking place on Feb. 5-10, 2019. AutoNation previously sponsored Major Series events in Fort Lauderdale in 2015, 2017 and 2018.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

Turner Sports will offer refunds to customers who paid $20 for Friday’s PPV showdown between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson after a technical problem forced the company to make the event available free via a live stream. The company issued a statement Saturday night confirming refunds for those who paid $19.99 to stream the match at Shadow Creek on Bleacher Report Live. On Friday, Comcast also said it would offer a $19.99 credit to customers who paid for “The Match” through its Xfinity platform, as did Charter Spectrum, Cox Communications, Dish/Sling TV and AT&T.

NBC Sports Gold will see its Philly Pass add Philadelphia Flyers pregame, postgame, and special programming content to its offerings starting Nov. 29. The addition of the Flyers to Philly Pass will add to the more than 200 pre- and postgame shows, more than 30 hours of studio shows and team-oriented content for all four Philadelphia pro-teams: Philadelphia Eagles, Sixers, Phillies and the Flyers.

ESPORTS

OverActive Media Group Inc. is going all in on Splyce, announcing that the company is taking ownership of the long-time esports operation, which includes more than seven international esports teams including the newly-awarded franchise in the League of Legends European Championship as well as over 40 team operations, marketing and content staff. The addition of Splyce and the LEC franchise alongside ownership of the Toronto Defiant of the Overwatch League and leading team organizations across Call of Duty, Rocket League, Smite, Paladins, Halo and Starcraft II consolidates OAM into a leading global esports brand joining Cloud9, Optic Gaming and Misfits as the only esports organizations in the world with permanent slots in both League of Legends and the Overwatch League.

ESL announced the launch of the US National Championship, a new program dedicated to showcasing and highlighting the best CS:GO players in the nation. Premiering in early December with season one, ESL in partnership with ESEA, the program will be divided between two weekly shows: Basecamp and The Ascent. Basecamp will run weekly on Mondays, hosted and casted by Mark “boq” Wilson, showcasing live matches and gameplay of the best Rank G games of the week. The Ascent will be broadcast on Fridays, and offer the week’s best plays, biggest leaderboard jumps, most interesting stats, clutch moments, and enticing interviews from the players who are all vying for their share of over $150,000 in global prizes. Shows kick-off Friday, December 7 immediately after the Mountain Dew Global Challenge Day 1 at approximately 9:30p.

Twitch is doubling down on TwitchCon, heading to Europe in April of next year for the debut of TwitchCon Europe. The event will take place in Berlin’s CityCube from April 13-14, offering a slate of expo halls, community and industry panels, and more. “TwitchCon was created to celebrate and inspire everyone who plays a role in the Twitch community,” said Kate Jhaveri, Chief Marketing Officer at Twitch, in the announcement. “It’s a vibrant, growing, and global community and we’re excited to bring TwitchCon to Europe for the first time.”

THE MAIN EVENT

Titans/Texans on ESPN at 8:15p.

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ON THIS DAY in 1917: The NHL is formed.

In the Know: Who is the NFL’s all-time leader in career interceptions (catching them, not throwing them)? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: What is the name of the school that is the setting of the movie Animal House? Answer: Faber College, set at the University of Oregon, we’ll take either. Kudos: Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NY; Rob Casalaina-ITN/NY; Dave Capers-FOX Sports/NY; Art Salisch-Hearst Television/NY; Carl Schellenberger-VCA/NJ; Jesse Demastrie-GMMB/DC; Kathi Gillin-Comcast Spotlight/Langhorne; B. David Ridpath-Ohio University/Athens; John Kukla-KDFW/KDFI/Dallas; Bill Robertson-WCHA/Bloomington; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Dory Petsrillo-CoxReps/Dallas; Rich Wolfe-RichCraft/Scottsdale; Dave Sikula-San Francisco State University/San Francisco; Jim Himmel-TCB Media/San Clemente; Miriam Aardahl-OMD/LA; Jim Bernard-VER/Glendale.

Later – Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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