A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE FROM ESPN

Cynopsis: Sports
05.13.13

Good morning. It’s Monday, May 13, 2013, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing. 

Last month, USA TODAY Sports Media Group launched its newest digital sports property designed to offer social news to sports fans in For the Win. The platform marks the latest effort for an active company that has locked in a number of acquisitions and partnerships since forming. The site is sponsored by Right Guard, and focuses on “delivering content designed specifically to resonate on social networks and non-traditional media channels and platforms.” Editorial talent includes names from the likes of Buzzfeed, The New York Times, ESPN and Yahoo! Sports, among other outlets.

Always curious about the evolution of content, Cynopsis Sports spoke with Dave Morgan, SVP, Content and Editor-in Chief for the USA TODAY Sports Media Group about the launch, as well as how publishers are striking a chord in a digital world.

Morgan on strategy: The USA Today Sports Media Group was formed about a year and a half ago and basically unites all of the sports assets of the company including USA Today, 23 broadcast affiliates, the high school sports network, digital properties and more. The idea is that we have this very strong national brand that relates to USA Today Sports and the first thing was to restructure and reinvigorate breaking
news. Now we’re looking at other parts of the enterprise which includes how we better leverage our local content. The addition of For the Win is essentially about creating content in a totally social environment and make it about sharing and using the audience as curators. Early results show that people like the content, they are sharing it and they are interacting with it in all the ways that we hoped for.

On the merger of content and technology: In the end it’s really simple. Can I find it or does it find me? Is it easily accessible? If I have to jump through all these hoops to get to the content then you are going to have problems. Our platform particularly works well on mobile, and we’ve got this new product that looks like it was born on an iPhone. That makes it extremely accessible, and is a big reason why that content is resonating with the audience.

On brands establishing a unique voice: You have to be respectful of your audience. If you take the audience of The Big Lead and treat them the same way that you treat the audience at USA Today’s NFL channel, they are different. They have different motivations for getting their content to audiences. You have to be aware of that and our content has to be relevant to both its audience and its subjects to be successful, The people you are writing about need to have a level of respect that you know what you are doing, credibility cuts to the core of that. That’s been the recipe for success behind all of our outlets.

On the Air

Floyd Mayweather’s win against Robert Guerrero generated over a million PPV buys, according to Showtime, marking the fifth consecutive time a Mayweather bout has crossed the 1 million threshold. The bout also marked the first of six Mayweather fights over a span of 30 months that was secured by Showtime in February’s deal.

UK paper The Guardian reports that the NFL will support an initiative to form a professional rugby league stateside that could launch as early as next year and is driven by Premier Rugby Limited. NFL Network will reportedly carry a match between London Irish and a US team in Boston this August. If the match is successful, ESPN reports that it could be used as a springboard to attract sponsors and investors to support an East Coast league of up to six franchises.

FOX Sports Media Group is set to profile the New York City Police Department football team in the latest installment of BEING: The Finest that will air the week leading up to Super Bowl XLVIII on FOX Sports 1. The series will follow the NYPD’s semi-professional football team from the beginning of its season in April through its regular-season finale against The Bravest, the New York City Fire Department’s squad, in the Fun City Bowl at Hofstra University that takes place on June 2.

ESPN selected a Red Sox/Yankees matchup to anchor its June 2 edition of Sunday Night Baseball presented by Taco Bell. The 8p telecast will air on either ESPN or ESPN2 with Dan Shulman, analysts Orel Hershiser and John Kruk and reporter Buster Olney on microphone duties.

It appears that the NHL is close to resolving any lingering player issues with the IOC, as a tentative two-week break for the league has been slated for February, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation’s website. The site shows that the NHL would take its break from Feb. 9-24, 2014, if players are allowed to participate. NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed those dates to ESPN but said the participation has yet to be finalized.

TNT’s coverage of the second round of the NBA Playoffs continues tonight with an exclusive doubleheader featuring the Heat/Bulls at 7p and Thunder/grizzlies at 9:30p. Marv Albert will call the Heat/Bulls game alongside analyst Steve Kerr and reporter Craig Sager, while Matt Devlin will provide commentary for the Grizzlies/Thunder matchup with analyst Mike Fratello and reporter Marty Snider.

Mike Tyson is back in the lineup, although in an unexpected way. Adult Swim announced that Mike Tyson will move from the boxing ring to the streets in the animated series Mike Tyson Mysteries from Warner Bros Animation. The synopsis: “Armed with a magical tattoo on his face and a trusty associate by his side – a talking pigeon – if you have a problem that needs solving, Iron Mike is in your corner. The series incorporates live-action appearances featuring Mighty Mike himself, and the gloves come off as the former heavyweight champ and his fowl-mouthed partner gear up for weekly adventures as they put unsolved mysteries – like how to defeat a super computer at chess or why a famous author/werewolf can’t finish his novel  down for the count.”

Famed NBA announcer Dr. Jack Ramsey has been sidelined from the NBA playoff due to some medical treatments. He had been set to work the playoffs for ESPN Radio. “Our thoughts are with Dr. Jack, who is an important member of the ESPN family,” ESPN said in a statement Thursday night. “We wish him the very best.” The Miami Herald reports that Ramsay’s broadcasting career is likely over.

105.3 The FAN revealed a new afternoon drive team featuring Ben Rogers and Jeff “Skin” Wade. The Ben and Skin Show premieres today from 2-6p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Sponsorship & Promotion

Major League Baseball held a Twitter takeover last Friday, shutting the gates to casual followers once again, so its 2.8 million followers could take part in a Blackberry-sponsored trivia contest. The last time the league went private for the event last September, it garnered around 10,000 new followers. Prizes for the four-hour content ranged from 2013 World Series tickets, new BlackBerry Z10 phones, MLB.TV Premium annual subscriptions, and $100 MLB.com shop gift cards.

Digital & Production

FOX Sports and SPEED are bringing CAMCAT back to the track for the first time since the Daytona 500. The 85-mph, high-tech camera is suspended above the race track by a pair of gigantic cranes positioned outside of Charlotte Motor Speedway for coverage of the 29th NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race on May 18 at 7p. On Saturday afternoon, a special three-hour All-Star edition of NASCAR RaceDay Fueled by Sunoco begins at 4p leading into live coverage of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race.

The Main Event

Thunder/Grizzlies on TNT at 9:30p.

ON THIS DAY in 1983: Reggie Jackson becomes the first player to strike out 2,000 times.

In The Know: What MLB player was known as The Flying Dutchman? (Email Chris-Sports@cynopsis.com 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: With Ronde Barber’s retirement, what NFL player stands to inherit the current longest streak of consecutive starts? Answer: The Redskins’ London Fletcher. Kudos: Mike Doyle-Spot On Media Consultants/Madison; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA.

Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports
05.13.13

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