Cynopsis: Sports
06.14.13

Good morning. It’s Friday, June 14, 2013, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing. 

A triple overtime more than doubled NBC’s viewership from a year ago as Game 1 of the 2013 Stanley Cup Final averaged nearly 6.4 million viewers, according to Nielsen. That makes it the most-watched Stanley Cup Final Game 1 in 16 years as well as the most-watched Game 1 ever on NBC. The game delivered a 3.9 household rating and 6.358 million viewers, up 117% and 119%, respectively vs. last year. Locally, Boston received a 28.1 household rating, up 10% vs. the Bruins’ Game 1 rating for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final on NBC in the market while Chicago received a25.1 household rating, up 49% compared to the Blackhawks’ Game 1 rating for the 2010 Stanley Cup Final on NBC in the market.

On the Air

A day after announcing the ESPN 3D is moving off the lineup, ESPN has now confirmed to the Hartford Courant that the company has also cancelling two shows, UNITE and ESPNEWS’ Highlight Express, which were both off the air on Wednesday. UNITE was a late-night entertainment show that debuted in August on ESPNU while Highlight Express debuted in 2010.

NBC Sports Network airs the NHL Awards show Saturday night at 7p ahead of Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. The NHL Awards will be co-produced this year by NBC Sports Network and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) live from the United Center in Chicago. Due to the unique format of the 2013 NHL season, the NHL is splitting the awards into two television specials over two days with NBC Sports Network covering the Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player), Vezina Trophy (Outstanding Goaltender), Norris Trophy (Outstanding Defenseman), Calder Trophy (Outstanding Rookie) and Ted Lindsay Award (Outstanding Player) on Saturday night; while the NHL Network presents the remaining 11 awards tonight. NBC Sports Network’s coverage will be hosted by Liam McHugh, who will alternate interviewing award-winners with CBC’s Ron Maclean.

The National Women’s Soccer League revealed its 2013 national TV schedule with FOX Sports Media Group with live coverage of nine matches, featuring six regular-season matches and all three playoff matches, which include the two semifinal games on August 24 and the championship game on August 31. FOX Soccer will carry one game per week over the final six weeks of the season with each club appearing at least once on national television, leading up to the NWSL Playoffs. The action begins on July 14 at 8:30p when FOX Soccer features the Seattle Reign FC and Washington Spirit.

NBA TV offers up a new episode of Open Court on Wednesday, June 19, at 8p, with Keys to Life. The episode will feature “candid discussions on the importance of having a mentor and planning for life after basketball, among other topics.” Ernie Johnson moderates the panel with Charles Barkley, Reggie Miller, Steve Kerr, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Brent Barry and Steve Smith.

NBC Sports Group delivers a night of fighting tonight with five hours of boxing and MMA action starting at 8p. The lineup will see Fight Night at 8p featuring undefeated heavyweight Bryant “By By” Jennings against Andrey Fedosov. At 11p, the channel will showcase World Series of Fighting with a main event featuring welterweights John Fitch and Josh “The People’s Warrior” Burkman.

In anticipation of Wimbledon, ESPN Classic is offering a marathon of classic action from June 17-21 starting at 1a with Unmatched, the 2010 film from the 30 for 30 series that chronicles the rivalry and friendship between Wimbledon champions Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Other highlights will include both the 1980 and ’81 Borg/McEnroe duels, all three of the Federer/Nadal finals, the 1969 Ladies final between Billie Jean King and Ann Haydon-Jones and the most recent two Gentlemen’s Finals, the 2009 Federer/Roddick thriller and the official 2012 Wimbledon film.

HRTV continues to expand its programming slate, premiering Horse Talk TV, Series 3, on Monday, June 17 at 10:30p. The addition of Horse Talk TV will serve as part of the channel’s newly-introduced Planet Horse programming block on Monday nights. Other upcoming shows on the HRTV schedule include Horse Ball, Carl and Charlotte: Golden Year, Around the World on Horseback, Polo Crown, and Polocrosse Player.

We are officially counting down to unveil this year’s lineup of speakers! The annual Cynopsis: Sports Business Summit is set to take place on Aug. 14 in NY, and will feature some of the biggest names driving sports today. In addition, we are holding our Women of Action cocktail event celebrating and discussing the impact women are having in the sports industry on Aug. 13.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Sponsorship & Promotion

NBA TV revealed the winners of the2013 NBA Social Media Awards presented by SAPon Wednesday night, with Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant taking home two awards  the Social MVP Award and the 140 Award for the best use of characters in a tweet. Other honors in the promotional ceremony saw the Miami Heat’s Harlem Shake video, which has received more than 45 million views, winning the OMG Award for the team with the best video shared via social. Other winners included Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook receiving the #Trendsetter Award, and Portland’s Damian Lillard accepting the Social Rook of the Year Award.

FOX Sports is turning to Kasey Kahne and Jeff Gordon and a slew of other star athletes as part of a new ad for Fox Sports 1 that was filmed Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway, according to USA Today. The 90-second spot will air during the Major League Baseball All-Star Game next month and also reportedly features the likes of the NFL’s Joe Flacco and Patrick Willis, baseball’s Bryce Harper, women’s soccer star Alex Morgan, USC’s Lane Kiffin and even Mike Tyson. According to the report, Fox Sports is using more athletes, locations, days on set and money to film the ad than anything in its past.

The one-year countdown has officially begun for the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games, with organizers celebrating the Special Olympic movement while promoting the ideals of acceptance and inclusion through sport and highlighting the abilities of athletes with intellectual disabilities. Next year’s Games will see more than 3,500 Special Olympics athletes from throughout the United States traveling to New Jersey to compete in 16 sports. The organization is promoting supporters to volunteer, raise $2014 for 2014 and/or attend competitions.

Digital & Production

Yahoo! debuted its new Yahoo! Sports app (formerly Sportacular), designed to combine the best of Sportacular with new features including content, a faster experience, cross-screen viewing and a redesign for iOS devices and Android smartphones. In addition, the app is now available on iPad. Among the new features will be a curated list of local experts and writers live tweeting up to the minute stats and plays for fans following a favorite team, more content from the Yahoo! Sports editorial team, plus additional local content about the user’s favorite teams.

Digital content syndicator Campus Insiders, a partnership between Silver Chalice Ventures and IMG, introduced new mobile apps through the Apple Store and Google Play. The Campus Insiders Network offers original video programming anchored by hosts Seth Davis and Bonnie Bernstein, daily video-on-demand covering major stories as well as live games and events coverage.

NeuLion, Inc. announced that more than 30 colleges, universities and conferences have selected NeuLion’s suite of digital services recently, including the likes of Maryland, the Ivy League and eight Pac-12 member schools such as the University of Washington, UCLA and University of Arizona with over 175 colleges, universities and conferences now utilizing the company.

The Main Event, the featured game of the day sponsored by Thuuz, real-time sports discovery for mobile & connected TV platforms

Red Sox vs. Orioles Tonight, 7:05 pm ET. Thuuz rating: 83
Game 1 of a long series between AL East contenders. On NESN Boston and MASN HD Baltimore.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

ON THIS DAY in 1998: Michael Jordan leads the Bulls to its sixth NBA title.

In The Know: What team did the Chicago Bulls face twice in the NBA Finals? (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.)

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: What MLB team has a mascot named Screech? Answer: The Washington Nationals. Kudos: Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; David Schaefer-Golf Channel/Merion; Bernie Greenberg-The Sports Network/Hatboro; Shannon Malone-Red Rock Films/Chevy Chase; Scott Jenkins-Tribune Media Services/Queensbury; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Pam Tierney-Actress/VoiceOver/Chicago; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Los Angeles local/LA; Joe Snell-Fox Sports/LA; Patrick Reynolds-Reynolds Media Consulting/LA.

Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports
06.14.13

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