SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
WWE and New Era Cap Co. announced a new licensing agreement that makes the international sports and lifestyle brand an official headwear partner of WWE. As part of this new agreement, New Era Cap will produce select hats for marquee WWE events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble and Survivor Series, as well as select headwear featuring logos, names and catch phrases of WWE Superstars and Legends and will create select products across all styles for men, women and kids. Beginning in April, merchandise will be available
Pizza Hut detailed its Super Bowl plans, which include a temporary rename to Pizza Hut Hut. at a local restaurant in Atlanta and across its website and social channels. In its first year as NFL partner and will offer Hut Rewards members an exclusive deal on gameday gear. Fans outside of Atlanta will see Pizza Hut-Hut branding make its way to the restaurant's website, social channels and gameday email communications in addition to hosting "prep rallies" internal training sessions that include a personalized hype video from Pizza Hut ambassador and NFL player, JuJu Smith-Schuster. Meanwhile, a limited-edition Super Bowl LIII fleet of pizza delivery vehicles, powered by fellow NFL sponsor Hyundai and its Santa Fe SUV, will hit the streets.
In other Super Bowl action, Avocados from Mexico announced its fifth annual ad for the broadcast will feature actress and singer, Kristin Chenoweth. Set for the second quarter of the game broadcast, with a digital extension that will see the brand partner with Adopt A Pet for MatchDogCom where people interested in adopting a dog will be paired with their perfect match from their area using IBM Watson technology.
PGA TOUR and Aon plc announced the TOUR’s hole designations and scoring system for the Aon Risk Reward Challenge, a new performance-based program that serves as Aon’s opening chapter of a multi-year partnership with both the PGA TOUR and LPGA. The season-long Aon Risk Reward Challenge will highlight the world’s best professional golfers as they take on the most strategically challenging holes across both Tours. The PGA TOUR and LPGA player on top of the Aon leaderboard at the end of the regular season will each receive a $1 million prize. "We are excited to highlight the decision-making process that PGA TOUR players face during every round of the season," said Tyler Dennis, the PGA TOUR’s Chief of Operations. "Each of the par-four and par-five holes that we have designated for the Aon Risk Reward Challenge presents unique elements and challenges that will dictate a player’s strategy. We know our players are excited about the Challenge and we are confident our fans will enjoy following it throughout the season. Whichever player successfully executes his plan after calculating whether the risk is worth the reward over the course of the season will earn the first-place prize of $1 million.”
Feld Entertainment and Monster Jam unveiled a partnership with the University of Northwestern Ohio and their College of Applied Technologies. In 2019, UNOH will become an official sponsor of Monster Jam University – Monster Jam University powered by UNOH. Beginning in 2019, one UNOH student, based on an application process, will have the direct opportunity to take the skills they have learned at UNOH and apply them in the real world by getting a chance to have a driver audition training experience at Monster Jam University.
DIGITAL, DATA & TECH
The Fantasy Sports Trade Association announced that it is embracing the rapid legal and technological changes facing the sports industry by expanding its focus to include sports gaming. The organization will also be changing its name, effective in April, to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association. According to the announcement, the changes will better enable the association to expand its mission to include all the new markets emerging in sports: sports betting, games of skills and non-sports contests.
CBS Sports Digital and Skratch entered a partnership to distribute Skratch’s social golf content across CBS Sports Digital properties, including CBSSports.com, CBS Sports HQ, CBS Sports apps, and CBS Sports social platforms. As part of the partnership, all of the Skratch video programming will be available at www.skratchtv.com. The two companies will collaborate on content distribution, creation of new branded content, and advertising/sponsorship opportunities.
ESPORTS
Nintendo announced a pair of new tournaments for its games that will kick off in February. The company is hosting a slate of online qualifying events for both the Splatoon 2 North America Inkling Open 2019 as well as the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America Open 2019 that will lead up to a final event at the PAX East video game conference in Boston on March 30. The Super Smash Bros. Ultimate North America Open 2019 will see contenders will have the chance to qualify in one of four regions across North America with qualifiers beginning Feb. 2. Three individual rounds of qualifying online events will give players three separate chances to represent their region at PAX East. Splatoon 2 soldiers will start play in “Ink Pools” starting Feb. 10.
Capcom is launching a new esports series for its Street Fighter fighting game franchise, named the North American Street Fighter Pro League. The series will pit 3-on-3 team battles in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, with six teams formed from a mix of seasoned pros, newcomers and fan favorite players from North America. Season one is projected to begin plan in April, with tournaments airing every Thursday through June. A season one final will take place in late June, where the top two teams will roll into season two. The season two draft will kick off in August and run through November, culminating in the first North America Pro League Champion. Details on the online qualifiers and community vote-in process will be announced in the coming weeks.
The National Hockey League nailed in plans for House of Chel, the League's first gaming house experience. The event will run Jan. 24-26 and be played via a series of live steams on the NHL Twitch channel, through unique content releases on NHL platforms, on participants' social media channels, via hosted chat sessions and with special guest drop-ins. The event will take place at Silicon Valley icon Scott McNealy's multimillion-dollar mansion in the hills of Palo Alto. A number of NHL corporate partners will activate throughout the event, including Global partner ASTRO Gaming, North American partners Great Clips and Honda as well as Scotiabank, exclusive to Canada.
INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES
The XFL named Jeffrey Pollack has been named President & Chief Operating Officer and will oversee the league’s strategic planning and business operations, as well as the management of its eight teams. Pollack comes to the XFL from the Los Angeles Chargers, where he was Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer and Special Advisor.
ESPN announced that Brian Lockhart has joined the company as executive producer, ESPN+ Original Content where he will oversee strategy and development for all ESPN+ Original Content initiatives including new projects and existing shows such as Detail, More Than An Athlete, The Board Room, Earn Everything, Quest for the Stanley Cup, Draft Academy and more. Lockhart most recently served as vice president of NFL Media’s Original Content Group.
Eighty voting members of the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC will meet in Orlando on Thursday to consider a series of proposals as part of the Autonomy governance process that gives the five conferences the ability to enact NCAA rule changes in specific legislative areas. The meeting will include representatives from each of the 65 member schools and 15 student-athlete representatives, each of whom will have a full vote and has been included in the ongoing discussions at the conference level.
THE MAIN EVENT
Caps/Maple Leafs on NBCSN at 7:30p.
