11/28/18: MGM adds MLB to battery

Good morning. It’s Wednesday November 28, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

MGM Resorts locked in a trifecta, announcing a deal to partner with Major League Baseball that combines the MLB brand with MGM Resorts and play MGM brands across league and team sponsorships, data usage in gaming, promotion across MLB-owned media platforms, and domestic and international activations at MLB events. The deal with MLB joins other recent deals MGM inked with the NBA and NHL. The new multiyear agreement designates MGM Resorts as the first-ever “Official Gaming Partner of MLB” and “Official Entertainment Partner of MLB.” MGM Resorts will domestically promote its brand and gaming options across MLB’s digital and broadcast platforms, including MLB Network, MLB.com, the MLB At Bat app and additional fan engagement offerings to be jointly developed.

“We are pleased to partner with MGM Resorts International, a clear industry leader in the sports gaming area, to work together on bringing innovative experiences to baseball fans and MGM customers,” said Commissioner Rob Manfred. “Our partnership with MGM will help us navigate this evolving space responsibly, and we look forward to the fan-engagement opportunities ahead.”

PROGRAMMING

Tiger Woods next play is with Discovery Inc., as the 14-time Major champion inked an exclusive multi-year global content partnership with the company and the PGA TOUR. Starting in January, GOLFTV powered by PGA TOUR, the new global live and on-demand video streaming service, will collaborate with Woods on a wide range of programming, content creation and storytelling opportunities that will offer fans an authentic and regular look into the life, mind and performance of the game’s ultimate icon. Among the plans, Woods and GOLFTV are collaborating to develop weekly practice and instructional videos to improve a viewer’s game, as well as exclusive access into Tiger’s preparation routines, behind-the-scenes access before and after PGA TOUR rounds and unique and exclusive post-round commentary.

Speaking of Tiger, viewer interest in Turner Sports’ “The Match” between Woods and Phil Mickelson – which saw technical glitches prompt the event to be streamed for free – easily topped AT&T’s expectations for the event, according to WSJ. Initial estimates placed the event as high as 150,000, according to the report, but about 750,000 people ended up watching the contest on video service B/R live, not counting sign-ups and views from other pay-TV providers.

NBC Sports Group serves up exclusive live coverage of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Awards tomorrow night at 9p on NBCSN. A special edition of NASCAR America will open the evening at 8p with red carpet coverage from the Wynn Las Vegas, in Las Vegas. Rutledge Wood and Kelli Stavast host Thursday evening’s award ceremony while Carolyn Manno will anchor Thursday’s red-carpet edition of NASCAR America and be joined on set by NASCAR on NBC analysts Kyle Petty and Parker Kligerman.

Tomorrow also sees First Take’s Stephen A. Smith return to Dallas for ESPN where he will be based at Texas Live! in Arlington to discuss, debate and preview that night’s prime-time NFL battle between the Dallas Cowboys and the New Orleans Saints. Max Kellerman and host Molly Qerim Rose will be located at the First Take set from ESPN’s New York Seaport District Studios.

Speaking of ESPN, college football analyst Mack Brown is officially departing to return to the coaching ranks at UNC. In a statement, Lee Fitting, ESPN Vice President of Production said that “With a national championship pedigree and hall of fame coaching career, Mack was great for our college football coverage. His deep knowledge of the sport, combined with his signature warm demeanor, made our team better for the past five years. We wish Mack all the best as he resumes his title as ‘coach’ at UNC.”

Olympic Channel serves up a new season of Hitting the Wall, as fitness influencers travel the world to take on the intense workouts of Olympic athletes. The twelve-episode original series runs on olympicchannel.com and its mobile apps with each 8-10-minute episode featuring a duo of fitness experts challenging themselves to the training regimens of Olympic athletes in 12 different sports including, athletics, boxing, canoe, gymnastics, ice dancing, rowing, ski cross, sport climbing, artistic swimming, taekwondo, water polo and wrestling.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Celebrating the women who elevate sports media

The Cynopsis Top Women in Sports Awards

This is the perfect opportunity to show members of your team how much their contributions to sports media are valued. The program honors women from all aspects of the space, including: Technology, On-Air Talent, Production, Social Good, Social Media, Sports-Centric Brands, Marketing and Operations.

[ NOMINATE BY DEC 4 ]

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

The NFL announced a multi-month focus on player causes where teams will debut their players’ custom cleats for this weekend’s My Cause, My Cleats campaign, now in its third year. For games during Weeks 13-15, each NFL team will designate one home game as their My Cause, My Cleats game as players wear customized cleats reflecting their commitment to charitable causes during these games. Overall, more than 800 players are planning to showcase their causes on-field during the initiative with topics representing hundreds of different charitable organizations, from ones that focus on bullying prevention to those that work with autistic youth to those that support families impacted by gun violence. Players will share images of their cleats and the stories behind them on social media, using the hashtag #mycausemycleats.

Hulman & Company announced a multiyear agreement Tuesday with Speedway LLC, that designates the national convenience store chain as the Official Fuel and Official Convenience Store of INDYCAR, the IndyCar Series, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indianapolis 500 beginning in 2019. As the Official Fuel for INDYCAR, Speedway will provide the fuel powering every car at every race in the IndyCar Series and also calls for Speedway signage to be placed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Speedway media assets within NBC Sports’ exclusive coverage of the IndyCar Series starting in 2019.

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

The NBA and ByteDance, a leading technology company operating a slate of content platforms around the world, announced a new multiyear partnership that will deliver customized, short-form mobile content to ByteDance’s hundreds of millions of global users. The deal will see ByteDance leverage its artificial intelligence technology to deliver NBA content to fans in China through its Douyin, Toutiao and Xigua Video platforms. The extensive NBA content available in China will include daily NBA game highlights, behind-the-scenes videos, photos and news throughout the regular season, NBA All-Star, the NBA Playoffs and The Finals.

ESPORTS

A trio of familiar faces are teaming up to launch Electronic Sports Group, a global esports advisory firm, that will be anchored by MLG co-founder Mike Sepso and former NBA and IMG executive Bobby Sharma with Ken Hershman, former President of HBO Sports, and former Executive Chairman and Commissioner of the World Esports Association also serving as a partner. ESG will open with a strategic relationship with Nielsen in place to provide ESG with esports fan insights and sponsorship valuation data to support ESG’s consulting work. In addition, ESG announced a strategic partnership with Sports Media Advisors (SMA) as the two firms plan to jointly advise clients seeking media and esports expertise.

Former OpTic Gaming faces Simon Bennett and Markel Lee announced the launch of AoE Creative, described as “the first independent, full spectrum, Creative and Marketing agency specializing in esports, gaming, and nerd culture.” Bennett previously worked as Blizzard Entertainment, Razer, FACEIT, Houston Outlaws, Wargaming.net, and OpTic Gaming, while Lee’s background includes Evil Geniuses, OpTic Gaming, Houston Outlaws, KIT, EVO, CEO, Panda X Gaming, and PVP Live. The agency will offer design, creative, and branding solutions, as well the marketing strategies and fan activations to organizations within the gaming, nerd culture, and esports space. AoE’s first confirmed clients will be Linden Labs / Sansar Studios, who have created virtual spaces for both Fnatic (Fnatic Meta Bunker) and OpTic Gaming (Greenwall VR), as well as Boston Uprising.

Razer and Williams Esports, part of the world-famous Williams Formula 1 team, announced a new strategic partnership that will see Team Razer and Williams Esports collaborate in multiple areas of racing esports. This marks the first collaboration from Team Razer with a professional Formula 1 esports team and will see both Team Razer and Williams F1 Esports working together on future initiatives and activities, including the development of innovative technology solutions such as Hypersense, to give drivers greater immersion and situational awareness both in training and competition.

FIFA and EA SPORTS unveiled the FIFA 19 Global Series Rankings, which will serve as a new, dedicated world rankings platform for its esports players that will allow players and fans to be able to monitor the progress of the world’s top competitive FIFA players throughout the season on the Road to the FIFA eWorld Cup. The new FIFA 19 Global Series Rankings will be updated on FIFA.gg every Tuesday after Weekend League and competitive events within the Global Series, providing fans with an interactive platform to monitor the progress of the top FUT Champions verified FIFA 19 players around the world.

ELEAGUE revs up for The ELEAGUE Cup: Rocket League 2018, pitting eight of the top Rocket League teams in the world from Nov. 30-Dec. 2, beginning each day at 2p on Twitch and ELEAGUE.com. The org will then package its most exciting plays and stories to be presented in a series of episodes running Fridays stating Dec. 7 at 11p. Analysts Caleb “WavePunk” Simmons, Michael “Achieves” Williams and Adam “Lawler” Thornton will return to ELEAGUE after commentating last year’s tournament, while Joey “Jorby” Ahrens and James “Jamesbot” Villar will make their ELEAGUE debut. Alex “Machine” Richardson hosts.

THE MAIN EVENT

North Carolina/Michigan on ESPN at 9:30p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

JUST ANNOUNCED: 2019 Cynopsis Rising Star Honorees!

Cynopsis is excited to honor stand-out performers, innovators and emerging leaders in the media industry. The experience of these young superstars spans research, sports, digital, content and marketing – join us in congratulating them for jobs well done.

Honorees will be celebrated at the Cynopsis TV Awards, the ultimate gathering of media’s best & brightest, taking place this February in NYC!

[VIEW HONOREES]

ON THIS DAY in 1975: Bobby Orr plays his last game for the Bruins.

In the Know: Who had the longest run as manager of the Baltimore Orioles? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Which club was Ted Williams the manager for? Answer: The Senators/Rangers. Kudos: George L. Sauli-USIM/NY; Rick Ramage- United Talent Agency/NY; Denis Barry-CBS/NY; Matt Meachem-Gracenote/NY; Art Salisch-SMRC/East Windsor; Joe Schreiber-3 Penny Films/Bethesda; Larry Kahn-Golf Channel/Orlando; Peter Lasser-Lasser Productions/Atlanta; Joe Lyons-ESPN/Dallas; Kyle Krebs-KXAS/KXTX/Dallas/Fort Worth; Ron Salcedo-Zimmerman/Nashville; Andy Tabor-VMLY&R/Memphis; Greg Moloznik-GLM Media/Scottsdale; David Hauptman/Denver; Rich Wolfe-RichCraft/Scottsdale; Dave Sikula-San Francisco State University/San Francisco; Lawrence Fan-San Jose State University/San Jose; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo; Willie Price-American Forces Network/Riverside

Later – Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
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