Cynopsis: Sports
02.15.13

Good morning. It’s Friday, February 15, 2013, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing. 

MetLife stepped up to the plate to become a global sponsor of the World Baseball Classic, marking the fourth company to do so and joining the likes of Brand USA, Delta Air Lines and Konami. MetLife and its brand ambassador Snoopy will now be incorporated into multiple aspects of the event and the company will be the title sponsor of the All-World Baseball Classic Team. Meanwhile, MetLife blimps will be flying above all the games played in Phoenix, Arizona; Miami, Florida; Tokyo, Japan and in San Francisco, California for the games and will utilize a camera capturing footage to be used in game broadcasts on MLB Network, ESPN Deportes and the worldwide feed being distributed to more than 200 countries and territories.

On the Air

FOX Sports will continue to beef up the tech specs for its NASCAR coverage, announcing that when Speedweeks’ coverage begins this weekend, FOX Sports and SPEED will present a slew of new technologies for the racing broadcasts. Coverage this year includes a collection of new cameras and graphics that include in-car Gyro-Cams, the FOX Super Zoom 4K camera, virtual 3D graphics and the return of a suspended cable camera over the length of pit road.

MLB Network is also gearing up for the 2013 regular season with the return of 30 Clubs in 30 Days, and will feature a run of more than 150 Spring Training games throughout February and March.The schedule begins on Saturday, Feb. 23 at 1p with a Nationals/Mets game.

Jon Gruden’s QB Camp will return for its fourth season on April 4 at 8:30p with a lineup of 12 players (including three non-QBs) onboard. The series will continue throughout the month with segments on SportsCenter and NFL studio shows across ESPN networks. This year’s class will include nine QBs including Matt Barkley, Tyler Bray, Zac Dysert, Mike Glennon, Landry Jones, EJ Manuel, Ryan Nassib, Geno Smith and Tyler Wilson. In addition, OT Luke Joeckel, RB Marcus Lattimore and linebacker Manti Te’o will also take part.

HBO brings back World Championship Boxing on Saturday at 10:30p with a doubleheader headlined by a lightweight championship showdown between Adreien Broner and Gavin Brees. Jim Lampley will be joined on the telecast by Max Kellerman and Roy Jones Jr. 

NBA TV’s coverage of NBA All-Star 2013 in Houston wraps up on Monday, with interviews featuring Michael Jordan, Bill Russell and Charles Barkley. The three-hour block starts at 8p with One on One with Ahmad Rashad: Michael Jordan, followed by Mr. Russell’s House at 9p with Grantland editor-in-chief Bill Simmons, and a special encore presentation on Sir Charles at 50, as Barkley talks with Ernie Johnson.

FOX Deportes added renowned ex-professional soccer player Carlos Hermosillo to its line-up of commentators for talk show La Ultima Palabra. Hermosillo made his debut last week.

CBS Sports continues its celebration of 75 years of March Madness this weekend as Greg Gumbe lhosts CBS Sports Presents 75 Years of NCAA March Madness: Top 10 Improbably Heroes at 12:30 on Saturday, and Top 10 Buzzer Beaters on Sunday at 12:30p.

One more time. CBS Sports Network will carry ONE2ONE: Mike Krzyzewski on Tuesday, Feb. 19 at 6:30p. The 30-minute show features an in-depth interview with the all-time winningest coach in Division I men’s basketball history, who sits down with Alaa Abdelnaby to discuss how he and the sport have changed over the years, his rekindled passion for coaching, and the role his family plays in his success.

BTN is showcasing the channel’s most extensive baseball and softball coverage ever, with over 220 events airing on BTN, BTN2Go and BTN.com for the 2013 season. BTN will carry a minimum of 84 conference matchups this season, including the entire Big Ten Baseball Tournament. Coverage begins with the third game of a three-game series between Indiana and Penn State at noon on Sunday, March 24. BTN’s television coverage of softball launches with a doubleheader between Wisconsin and Northwestern on Thursday, March 28 starting at 6p.

The YES Network has lined up 19 New York Yankees Spring Training games this spring, marking the most in the network’s history. Programming begins with a matchup against Toronto on Sunday, February 24 at 1p.

As for the Mets, SNY is expanding its programming lineup with the additions of two news shows: Mets First Pitch presented by Cadillac and Mets Insider presented by W.B. Mason. The channel will feature more than 130 exclusive games this year beginning with its first Spring Training game on Saturday, February 23 against the Nationals with coverage beginning at 11:30a.

GolTV is debuting a new series designed to capture Europe’s best soccer called The Football Review. Two episodes will debut each week on Mondays and Thursdays at 8p.

Join Cynopsis: Sports and our panel of experts on February 26 for a jam-packed webinar about leveraging social media to boost fan engagement. Prior to the event, we’re hoping to capture some insight into your social media questions and needs.Please help us by answering this quick 5-question survey. Thanks!

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Cynopsis Sports Webinar
How to Leverage Social Media to Boost Fan Engagement
Tuesday * February 26 * 1:30-3:15p.m. ET

Moderated by: Mike Trudell (Lakers.com Beat Reporter + TWC’s SportsNet Lakers Sideline Reporter), along with:
Kate Guerra, Social Media Manager, INDYCAR
Susie Lokey, Sr. Director Consumer Marketing, Golf Channel
Gabe Lozano, Co-Founder/CEO, LockerDome
Caty Marzi, Manager of Social Media Business Devel., NHL
Register here: http://www.cynopsis.com/webinars/sports-social-media/.

Sponsorship & Promotion

NASCAR, Swan Racing and two-time Daytona 500 champion Michael Waltrip are teaming up for a special tribute designed to raise awareness and contributions for the Sandy Hook School Support Fund. The trio announced that the No. 30 Lean1 Swan Racing Toyota will instead garner the No. 26 Sandy Hook School Support Fund Toyotas so Waltrip’s ride for the Daytona 500 will honor the 26 victims of Sandy Hook Elementary School. The tribute will also feature a call-to-action decal encouraging the NASCAR community to make $10 donations by texting NEWTOWN to 80888.

Outback Steakhouse is bringing back last year’s popular Bloomin Monday promotion for the 2013 NASCAR season. Every time Ryan “Bloomin'” Newman finishes in the top-10 of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, fans will snag a free Bloomin’ Onion at Outback Steakhouse on the Monday following the race. Outback Steakhouse will be the primary sponsor of Newman and the No. 39 team for three races in 2013.

The Communitas Awards honored the National Hockey League as the winner of the 2013 Leadership in Ethical and Environmental Responsibility category for the League’s NHL Green initiative. Judges determined that the “National Hockey League clearly exhibits the spirit of communitas, a Latin word that means people coming together for the good of a community” for its portfolio of environmental initiatives.

The St. Louis Cardinals, The Cordish Companies and the Professional Bull Riders announced that PBR St. Louis: A Cowboy Bar is set to open at Ballpark Village, making the eighth location for the restaurant across the United States. PBR’s announcement at Ballpark Village coincides with the return of the PBR’s elite Built Ford Tough Series to St. Louis this weekend.

The value of a name? Here’s an interesting quote from Big East Commissioner Mike Aresco to ESPN. “The Big East has tremendous brand equity built up over a lot of years, in basketball and in football. And so consequently our preference would be to keep the name and just rebuild our league and rebuild the brand. I don’t think it needs much rebuilding, but clearly when you’ve had some of the publicity we’ve had, you need to deal with that and we will. So we think going forward with that brand, with that brand equity is more advantageous than not.”
 
Digital Fields

Golf Channel is in the bracket business, announcing the network’s first-ever World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship fantasy bracket game offered at GolfChannel.com. Fans will be able to fill out a bracket – March Madness style – for the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, the only match-play tournament played on the PGA TOUR calendar each year. The grand-prize winner will receive a trip for two to the 2014 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

Without even posting, Kobe Bryant has built a following a Chinese social media site Sina Weibo (a Twitter clone). According to the AP, the site verified that the NBA superstar set up an individual account and the Laker had already drawn over 100,000 followers within hours.

The Main Event

2013 NBA All-Star Game presented by Kia Motorson Feb. 17 at 7p on TNT.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

ON THIS DAY in 1998: Dale Earnhardt wins his first Daytona 500.

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Who is known as the Pink Panther in golf? Answer: Paula Creamer. Kudos: Marc Wollis-NBC Sports Group/NY; Anthony Sedita-Dish Media Sales/NY; Michael Brown-IMG Worldwide, Inc./NY; Fred McGraw-McGraw & Company,Inc./NY; Barry Abrams-ESPN/Bristol; TJ McGovern-Golf Channel/Orlando; Alexandra Lucio-Golf Channel/Orlando; Jeff Miller-Meredith Corporation/Atlanta; Bill Robertson-Tunheim Partners/Minneapolis; Ryan Nolan-Sportsman Channel/New Berlin; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Anne Wettig-MundoFox/LA; Brian Robin-Brener Zwikel & Associates Inc./Reseda; Tamara Brcka-Fox Consumer Products/Los Angeles.

In The Know: Dale Earnhardt (Sr.) was known by what nickname? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: Only the second four correct answers from each time zone will be mentioned; and once you’ve been mentioned in any of the Cynopsis editions, you can’t be mentioned again that calendar week.)

Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports
02.15.13

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