Cynopsis: Sports
01.16.13

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, January 16, 2012, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing. 

ATP Executive Chairman and President Brad Drewett will be stepping down after disclosing that he is suffering from Motor Neurone Disease aka Lou Gehrig’s Disease. He will continue to serve in his current role on an interim basis until the ATP Board of Directors begins the search process for his successor. “Tennis Channel stands with our tennis family in keeping Brad and his loved ones in our thoughts and prayers,” said Ken Solomon, chairman and CEO, Tennis Channel. “He and the ATP have our full support during this challenging time.”

On the Air

With Nielsen tallies in hand, the NFL playoffs continue to serve as a ratings juggernaut. For the third year in a row, the four Divisional Playoff games averaged more than 34 million viewers and ranked as the four most-watched shows on television. Saturday night’s Baltimore Ravens-Denver Broncos game on CBS drew 35.3 million viewers to score as the most-watched AFC Saturday Divisional Playoff since at least 1987 while Sunday’s action on the channel garnered 37.7 million. Over on FOX, Saturday night’s game drew 30.9 million viewers and scored a 16.9/27 fast national rating/share, making it FOX’s most-watched Saturday Divisional game ever in primetime. Sunday’s matchup averaged 32.1 million viewers and posted a 19.3/38 fast national rating/share.

ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball presented by Taco Bell will be back for its 24th season starting March 31 with the Rangers/Astros on deck. The slate of games will include multiple appearances by the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants and American League Champion Detroit Tigers, as well as rivalry games that include the Angels/Rangers, Dodgers/Giants, Cardinals/Cubs and Yankees/Red Sox as well as the Orioles’ first Sunday Night Baseball appearance since 2008. John Kruk will debut as Sunday Night Baseball analyst this season, alongside play-by-play commentator Dan Shulman, analyst Orel Hershiser and reporter Buster Olney.

Eric Grilly, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer for NBC Regional Networks, has been tapped as the new President of Alli Sports where he will oversee the likes of the Dew Tour, the Red Bull Signature Series and the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship. Grilly will begin his new duties in the second quarter of 2013, and will report to Rob Simmelkjaer, SVP, NBC Sports Ventures and International.

TNT is televising the announcement of the 2013 NBA All-Star starters during a special one-hour pregame show live from Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 7p. Ernie Johnson will host the pregame show with analysts Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal and Kenny Smith from Staples Center.

MLB Network will be on hand to showcase the Team USA Provisional Roster for the 2013 World Baseball Classic on Thursday at 10a on Hot Stove. Co-hosted by Matt Vasgersian and Bill Ripken, Hot Stove will begin at 9:00a and break down Team USA and feature an interview with Team USA manager Joe Torre. Later in the day, the rest of the Provisional Rosters for the 16-team field will be announced on MLB Network during a World Baseball Classic Roster Special live at 4p.

The LPGA tour locked in its 2013 schedule, with a schedule that now swells to at least 28 events, including the addition of the $1.8 million Reignwood Pine Valley LPGA Classic in Beijing, China from Oct. 3-6. Total purses will hover around $49 million this year, nearly $2 million more than in 2012 and $6.5 million more than in 2011. All but one of the tournaments will be televised worldwide, marking more than 300 hours of action for broadcasters such as Golf Channel.

Miami Heats’ Chris Bosh is set to hit Disney Channel where he will guest star on Friday’s episode of Jessie at 8:30p. The episode will feature Luke stealing Bosh’s lucky socks, which Bosh hasn’t washed since the 10th grade and causing the All-Star to believe he will never dunk again.

After a health scare that kept him off the microphone, UFC play-by-play voice Mike Goldberg will return to the broadcast booth for UFC on FOX 6 on Jan. 26, joining Joe Rogan for the event.

The STIHLTimbersports Series presented by Ram Trucks named its top 40 professional lumberjack athletes who will compete in the 2013 U.S. Series. For the second year, the Series will return to the Great Smoky Lumberjack Feud in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. for the highly-anticipated STIHL TIMBERSPORTS U.S. Pro and Collegiate Championships June 7-9, 2013. The series airs on Outdoor Channel and ESPNU.

Your work deserves recognition! Now is the time to submit for our 2013 Cynopsis Sports Media Awards. The deadline is February 1 and we want to see your best work from the past year. Don’t let someone else take your trophy! Click here for entry information.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Sponsorship & Promotion

The NBA and adidas will unveil the uniforms and apparel today at 9a for the 62nd NBA All-Star Game on February 17, 2013 at the Toyota Center in Houston. Designed by adidas, the uniforms “take inspiration from Houston’s rich aeronautical history and the speed of the jet planes that dot its skies,” and feature a camo pattern to reflect the world’s fastest fleet of aircraft with the silhouette of a basketball net. Players will take to the court in black-and-white aviator-style NBA All-Star warm-ups and each player’s jacket will be customized to represent individual career accomplishments such as NBA All-Star Game appearances and All-Star MVP awards, NBA titles, in addition to season awards including MVP, Rookie of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Scoring Championships.

Tennis Channel named longtime advertising executive Larry Novenstern as Vice President, integrated partnerships for the network. Novenstern will be charged with expanding Tennis Channel’s efforts with current high-profile sponsors and finding new ways to leverage the network toward their sales end goals, in addition to rounding out automotive, financial and other major sponsor categories with additional media partnerships. Novenstern is the creator of FOX’s Visa NFL halftime show and part of the team that developed naming rights for both the FedEx Orange Bowl and Tostitos Fiesta Bowl.

Watkins Glen International struck a deal with Kellogg Company to make Cheez-It the title sponsor of The Glen’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. The multiyear deal begins with The Cheez-It 355 at The Glen in August.

Joe Gibbs Racing revealed that Reser’s Fine Foods will sponsor five races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series with driver Matt Kenseth in 2013.

As expected, the Cleveland Browns announced the new name of the venue, which will now be known as FirstEnergy Stadium. The stadium was built in 1999 and had been called Cleveland Browns Stadium until the team sold the naming rights this week.

Infiniti is returning to partner with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), the NCAA and ESPN as the sponsor of the Infiniti Coaches’ Charity Challenge. Now in its third year, Infiniti will make a $100,000 donation to the winning coach’s designated charity. The program pits 48 NABC coaches from the nation’s top NCAA Division I men’s basketball programs in a fan-vote challenge, with the total Infiniti contribution again exceeding $300,000.

The Professional Bull Riders and Ford Trucks announced the launch of the Built Ford Tough Clash of the Cowboys sweepstakes, which will hand one winner a 2013 F-150 with EcoBoost engine. As part of the promotion, three sweepstakes finalists will be given a VIP trip for two to the 2013 PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas.

The PR world lost a pioneer with the passing of Daniel J. Edelman on Tuesday. Edelman died at 92 due to heart failure.

Digital Fields

ESPN officially unveiled its newly redesigned XGames.com destination dedicated to the franchise. The launch now replaces ESPN.com/Action as a leading cross-platform destination for action sports and lifestyle content year-round. The new site features 100% viewable impressions that utilize a horizontal user interface with swipe functionality, eliminating the need to scroll down for additional content as well automatically detect each visitor’s screen resolution to deliver the best possible imagery. Other features include: second screen experience TrickTrack, HypeMeter a worldwide applause meter that measures, scores and displays the collective excitement around the X Games at any given moment, and personalized video.

AT&T U-verse pinned down a deal with The Walt Disney Company for a long-term distribution agreement the will introduce new services, including the full suite of authenticated WATCH products, ESPN 3D, ESPN Goal Line, and ESPN Buzzer Beater.

The Main Event

Two ranked teams face off in UNLV/San Diego St. on CBS Sports Network at 10p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

ON THIS DAY in 1988: The NFL’s St Louis Cardinals announce that the franchise is moving to Phoenix.

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: Who was the first Super Bowl MVP? Answer: Bart Starr. Kudos: Andreas Droste-NBC Sports/NY; Hector Calix-MEC/NY; Bob Dudelson-Trifecta Media/NY; Noah Coslov-CineSport/NY; Rick Rosenfelt-New York Jets, LLC/Florham Park; Ken Nice-Yoh/Silver Spring; Bob Scanlon-Velocity Network/Silver Spring; Karen Yaldoo-Comcast Spotlight/Bingham Farms; Steve McNair-CBS Radio/Houston; Chuck Gordon-WABM-TV/Birmingham; Kristin Staskowski-Charter Media/Birmingham; John Kukla-KDFW/Dallas; David Hauptman/Denver; Matt Sautter-OpenTV/Golden; Patrick Reynolds-Reynolds Media Consulting/LA; Glenn Carnahan-Ridgeline Entertainment/Auburn; Alan Perris-Academy of TV Arts & Sciences/North Hollywood; Patrick Kang/20th TV/LA.

In The Know: In the movie For Love of the Game, Kevin Costner was pitched for what MLB team? (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
01.16.13

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