Good morning. It’s Monday April 29, 2019 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
 

Twitter returned to the Digital Content NewFronts showcasing an expanded lineup of new partnerships, as well as live and on demand premium video programming for advertisers. Video programming in sports announced on stage include:

• NFL: As part of a multiyear partnership extension with Twitter, the NFL will continue to program a full slate of video highlights, breaking news and analysis, and will also include new live shows anchored around NFL tentpole events.
• Univision: Univision and Twitter are launching a content partnership that will include select highlights from Liga MX and UEFA Champions League.
• The Players’ Tribune: The Players’ Tribune and Twitter for a talk show called “Don’t @ Me”.
• MLS: MLS announced a multi-year extension of their content agreement with Twitter that provides fans highlights, engagement opportunities and a comprehensive slate of live matches in English via @UnivisionSports and @MLS.
• ESPN: "ESPN Onsite" will be the brand extension of ESPN live shows from location, which offers fans more of what they expect from ESPN on Twitter: Access and add Onsite branding on Twitter around other tentpole events when they are on location.
• Bleacher Report: Bleacher Report is bringing House of Highlights back to Twitter.
• Blizzard Entertainment: Blizzard Entertainment will spotlight BlizzCon 2019 by delivering a selection of content from the show to Twitter for the first time. Viewers worldwide will be able to enjoy the entirety of the BlizzCon opening ceremony, exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews and live broadcasts, clips and highlights of game-developer panels, esports tournaments, and more.
  

“When you collaborate with the top publishers in the world, you can develop incredibly innovative ways to elevate premium content and bring new dimensions to the conversations that are already happening on Twitter,” said Twitter Global VP and Head of Content Partnerships Kay Madati. “Together with our partners, we developed this new slate of programming specifically for our audiences, and designed the content to fuel even more robust conversation on Twitter.”

 

 

PROGRAMMING

NBC paves The Road to the Triple Crown this week, anchored by the network’s live five-hour Kentucky Derby Day telecast on Saturday at 2:30p. Overall, NBC Sports serves up more than 18 hours of Kentucky Derby Week action, all starting Thursday with live coverage beginning at 4p on NBCSN with four live races, six live races on Friday, and eight live races on Saturday during NBCSN (Noon) and NBC Derby Day (2:30p) coverage, including five live races in the NBC show. Production sees a return for NBC Sports’ aerial backstretch camera and more than 50 cameras overall, including a new robotic reverse-angle super slow-motion camera on the finish line; a helmet camera on the outrider for all races Thursday-Saturday; an 80-foot high main camera tower, plus a new 50-foot high camera on a tower in the middle of Turn 2, a robotic camera in the paddock saddling area, and a camera focused on race caller Larry Collmus. In addition, for the first time, Mike Tirico, Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss will be located on a new showcase set in the paddock area for the first half of the Saturday NBC show.

 

Year one of the UEFA Champions League on TNT is averaging its most viewed domestic English language coverage ever, according to Nielsen, with 246k viewers tuning in each week. UCL live match telecasts are  up 57% over last year’s comparable coverage with significant gains across all key demos, including People 25-54 (+64%), People 18-49 (+63%), People 18-34 (+48%) and Women up 102%. In addition, TNT garnered a 31% gain in viewership for this month’s live match Quarterfinals telecasts vs. last year’s comparable coverage. Meanwhile, UEFA Champions League content on Bleacher Report and B/R Football’s social media accounts have combined to deliver more than 100 million Engagements and 260 million Video Views through the Quarterfinals, greater than any other domestic rightsholder.

 

Speaking of which, ahead of the 2019 UEFA Champions League semifinal action today, B/R Football will release season two of its digitally-animated series, ‘The Champions’. The first episode of Season 2 debuted yesterday on the Bleacher Report App.

 

ABC saw its highest-rated NBA Conference Semifinals broadcast since 2011 on Sunday for the Golden State Warriors Game 1 win over the Rockets. The broadcast delivered a 5.9 metered market rating, up 34% over last year's comparable game with a 17.4 in the San Francisco-Oakland market and a 13.0 in the Houston market. Additionally, ABC's coverage of Sunday's NBA Eastern Conference Semifinals Game 1, in which the Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks, generated a 3.7 metered market rating, up 16%.

 

ONE Championship launched ONE Studios, serving as the TV and film production division of the promotion. ONE Studios will look to deliver television programs and feature films starring ONE athletes. “Today I am thrilled to announce the launch of ONE Studios, the movie and TV division of ONE Championship,” said Chatri Sityodtong, Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship. “There are so many amazing and inspiring stories to tell. We will make world-class blockbuster movies and TV shows for the world. We have been working on our first movie project over the last several months, and I will make a huge announcement soon.”

 

The Professional Fighters League raised $30 million from a group of investors that includes Beats Electronics billionaire co-founder Jimmy Iovine, according to Bloomberg. Series C funding will look to enhance its data and analytics as it expands its global audience and secures more fighters. Other investors in the latest round of fundraising include: Ted Segal, whose family founded LS Power Mark Leschly, managing partner at Iconica Ventures; SWaN Ventures; and Elysian Park Ventures. The PFL opens its season May 9.

 

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Tough Mudder and Chipotle are partnering for the 2019 event season with the brand offering food for participants and hosting an obstacle in the Mudder Village Festival. In addition, Tough Mudder and Chipotle are also re-launching a Tough Mudder nutrition guide, promoting real food for real athletes. Other activations this season will include:

• ACE and Nexcare, as the official hosts of the “Event Prep Zone”
• CELSIUS – Returning as the official energy drink,
• Soap & Glory and EVERY MAN JACK – As the official women’s and men’s care partners, respectively,
• Alanic and ViewSPORT – Tough Mudder’s official apparel partner
• MuscleTech – The official protein powder of Tough Mudder,
• Navy Federal Credit Union – Tough Mudder’s official military credit union partner

Cage Fury Fighting Championships inked two partners ahead of its next event on May 17 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City in CIROC Vodka and Bulleit Bourbon. The pair will activate for CFFC events in a variety of ways, including social and digital campaigns, in-cage signage, exclusive cocktail recipes at each event, on-site sampling and more. Additionally, this partnership includes the introduction of the exclusive CIROC Cage-Side Lounge (CCL) in the VIP section at CFFC events.

 

 

DIGITAL, DATA & TECH

The NFL Draft gave a boost to Bleacher Report, which reports that the B/R App posted its best weekend ever with more than 250 million content engagements and a 36% increase in page views. B/R also scores on social over the full three-day period of the draft, topping engagement rates across Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with 85 Million video views - a 16% increase from last year. Meanwhile, B/R recorded 7 Million engagements and 28 Million social video views recorded from B/R's NFL draft content.

 

FloSports announced a partnership with VFT Solutions, which specializes in anti-piracy and revenue protection, for live streaming social media platforms across the FloSports network. “Our partnership with VFT Solutions will help FloSports tackle the threat of live stream social media piracy,” FloSports SVP of Marketing Amy Loesch said. “Taking proactive steps to stop online pirates who attempt to illegally stream our content is crucial for our business and is possible through this partnership.”

 

Tunity Analytics for Out-of-Home Top 5 Sports Programs for the week of April 22.

Show/Network/Date/(000’s)

1. NBA – Rockets/Warriors on ABC on April 28 (3261)
2. NFL Draft on ESPN on April 26 (2067)
3. NBA – Warriors/Clippers on ESPN on April 26 (1600)
4. NBA – Celtics/Bucks on ABC on April 28 (1530)
5. NHL – Maple Leafs/Bruins on NBCSN on April 23 (1484)

Source: Tunity Analytics.  Viewing estimates are derived from Tunity mobile app usage for the week beginning April 22, 2019. OOH Viewer impressions are calculated using Tunity Analytics proprietary estimation model.

 

 

ESPORTS

ELEAGUE and sister company Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment are pumping the gas on competition for Mortal Kombat 11, announcing an extended live programming schedule for the ELEAGUE Mortal Kombat 11 Showdown. The streaming competition will see the title’s community influencers broadcast NetherRealm Studios’ newly-released game and try to win as many online matches as possible during a four-hour period, and climb the leaderboard to earn cash prizes. The 13-week competition series launched May 1 at 5p on Twitch and ELEAGUE.com with live episodes running weekly through July 24. Live coverage will continue to be anchored by David “UltraDavid” Graham and Ryan “Mr. Aquaman” Kablik.

 

Allied Esports announced that it will host the first Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Minor event of 2019 starting June 7 at its flagship property, HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas. The three-day event will feature a $75,000 prize pool and a total of 16 teams participating in the event, which will feature 12 Pro League or Challenger League teams. The remaining minor events in 2019 include: DreamHack Valencia in July, DreamHack Montreal in September, and a final event that has yet to be announced.

 

Complexity Gaming and MSI, a leader in gaming hardware, announced the exclusive partnership to outfit Complexity Gaming’s esports teams with gaming gear and serve as the Official Laptop, PC, Motherboard, Graphics Card, and Monitor partner of Complexity Gaming. The two brands will also collaborate to create unique event and trade show activations that showcase the immersive qualities and future of gaming.

 

 

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

The National Golf Foundation released its 2019 Golf Industry Report ahead of National Golf Day on May 1 in DC. The overview found that golf’s participation base remains stable, with an estimated 24.2 million people (ages 6+) who played golf on a course in 2018, up from 23.8 million a year earlier., although 9.3 million people exclusively play golf off-course, meaning that the game’s overall participant pool has increased 4% to 33.5 million. Juniors (6-17) and young adults (18-34) comprise approximately 35% of all on-course golfers, with 2.5 million junior participants and 6.1 million young adults. • There are 5.7 million women who played golf on a course in 2018, with women accounting for 23% of the on-course golfer base and 44% of off-course only play.

 

The NBA, the International Basketball Federation and the Colombian Basketball Association announced that the 10th edition of Basketball Without Borders Americas will be held June 24-27 in Medellin, Colombia, marking the first time that the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program will be held in Colombia. NIKE, a global partner of BWB since 2002, will outfit the campers and coaches with NIKE apparel and footwear.

 

Finally, a happy 80th to longtime sports pillar Harvey Schiller, the retired US Air Force Brigadier General whose storied sports career has included runs as Executive Director of the USOC, CEO of YankeeNets, SEC Commissioner, President of Turner Sports, head of the International Baseball Federation and President of the Atlanta Thrashers, among other notable positions. Congrats!

 

 

THE MAIN EVENT

Rockets/Warriors on TNT at 10:30p.

 

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ON THIS DAY in 1988: The Orioles end their record 21-game losing streak by beating the White Sox.

 

In the Know: What are the five events that make up the modern Olympic pentathon? (Email chris-sports@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city.)

 

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: With the retirement of the NFL’s Sebastian Janikowski, who is the only remaining active player from the 2000 NFL Draft?  Answer: Tom Brady. Kudos: Greg Maltzman-Up Down Digital/NY; Noah Coslov-Stadium/NY; Marc Wollis-Cadent TV/NY; Chris Long-DraftKings/NY; Brianne Maciejowski-Miles/Sarasota; Rick Rosenfelt-New York Red Bulls/Harrison; Derek Houston-Atlanta Braves/Atlanta; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Matt Fumagalli - NBC/Chicago; Travis Wacker-Good Karma Brands/Milwaukee; John Tingue-Hulu/Chicago; Rick Pike-InterMedia Advertising/Woodland Hills; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo; Brian Robin-Pechanga Resort Casino/Temecula; Nick Monroe-Monroe Photography/San Diego

Later -- Chris