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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
International Cricket Council announced that Uber, signed on to become an official sponsor of the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. The partnership will make Uber the first mobility and food delivery app to strike a sponsorship deal with the ICC for the event, which will be played in England and Wales from May 30-July 14 with an estimated global viewing audience of 1.5 billion. Uber’s campaign ‘This World Cup, Every Fan Wins” will look to “create a culture of togetherness and puts cricket lovers at the heart of the celebration, which includes the World Cup’s first and very own anthem - Way-O, Way-O.
FedEx and the PGA TOUR are bringing back the FedEx Junior Business Challenge, a program in conjunction with Junior Achievement Worldwide to empower youth entrepreneurs. The program will kick-off at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth tomorrow and will feature Dallas’ DeMarcus Ware and four-time PGA TOUR tournament winner Ryan Palmer among the judging panel. Over the past two years, the FedEx Junior Business Challenge has impacted hundreds of students across North America, donating more than $200,000 to participating JA chapters.
As part of Discover’s partnership with the NHL as the Official Credit Card of the NHL, the brand awarded the Stanley Cup to “a deserving group/individual, who serves as a champion for the hockey community and leader in their local community” with this year’s recipient being Buffalo girls’ hockey team, the Buffalo Bisons. Discover made a $10,000 donation to the Buffalo Bison Hockey Association in recognition of Shelley Looney (from Gibraltar, Michigan – Detroit suburb), director of the Buffalo Bisons and the organization’s commitment to empowering girls and women of all ages to play and excel in hockey. The Day with the Stanley Cup spot ran on NBC during Game 5 of the West Conference Final (also ran during Game 4 of the East Conference Final) and also runs across Discover, NHL and NBC Sports social channels.
DIGITAL, DATA & TECH
Fanatics is partnering with Kohl’s to broaden the fan gear assortment for Kohl’s customers shopping online beginning in fall 2019. The deal will see hundreds of thousands of items across team apparel, jerseys and additional merchandise categories that will give Kohl’s customers access to a deeper selection of products, including NFL, NCAA, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, and more. “We are continually seeking opportunities to evolve our product offerings in order to give our customers even more of what they’re looking for, and this expanded partnership with Fanatics conveniently brings more officially-licensed products across more favorite sports teams to Kohls.com,” said Doug Howe, Kohl’s chief merchandising officer. “Furthermore, we’re able to offer the same convenience and value that customers have come to know and love from Kohl’s – including the capability to buy via the Kohl’s App, as well as the value of earning and redeeming Kohl’s Cash.”
UFC and Weibo tied in a new strategic alliance that will see China’s social media platform serve as the “Official Social Media platform” of UFC throughout the country, with access to UFC live event content including athlete and executive interviews, fight highlights, fight night results, athlete metrics, fight announcements, and content highlights from the soon-to-open UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai.
Getty Images is partnering with the World Surf League to become the exclusive provider of imagery from the WSL’s global calendar of events. Additionally, as part of the deal, Getty Images will now represent roughly 70,000 historical WSL images, dating back to 2000.
Tunity Analytics’ top five out-of-home sports programs for the week of May 13. Show/Network/Data/(OOO’s)
- NBA – Trail Blazers/Warriors: May 14 on ESPN (4891.2)
- NBA - Draft Lottery: May 14 on ESPN (4240.0)
- NBA – Trail Blazers/Warriors: May 16 on ESPN (4159.0)
- NBA – Warriors/Trail Blazers: May 18 on ESPN (3674.5)
- SportsCenter with Scott Van Pelt: May 16 on ESPN (2897.4)
Source: Tunity Analytics. Viewing estimates are derived from Tunity mobile app usage for the week of May 6, 2019. OOH viewer impressions are calculated using Tunity Analytics proprietary estimation model.
ESPORTS
News yesterday that Turner Tenney, the 21-year-old professional gamer known worldwide as Tfue, sued his team FaZe Clan sent shockwaves around the industry, with claims that the team is violating California law and the Talent Agency Act by taking up to 80% percent of his earnings. His Twitch streams have been viewed more than 120 million times, and he has more than 10 million YouTube subscribers and 5.5 million Instagram followers and is now asking the court to terminate his agreement with the company in addition to “fair payment for his services plus disgorgement of Faze Clan's profits and punitive damages,” per THR. However, the team replied to the accusations, claiming that it has only secured $60,000 from its partnership with Tfue while Tfue has made millions of dollars as a member of FaZe Clan, noting that FaZe Clan has not taken any percentage of the earnings the Twitch personality has collected from tournament winnings, Twitch or YouTube revenue nor any social platform.
Complexity Gaming officially opened the doors to its new headquarters, titled the GameStop Performance Center and forwarding its vision for the “Esports 3.0” era, “where esports athletes are treated like professional sports athletes.” At The Star in Frisco, Complexity’s 11,000-square-foot headquarters sits near the Dallas Cowboys World Headquarters, allowing for seamless coordination between the two organizations and “establishing Complexity as one of the first esports organizations to fully integrate and connect with a traditional sports franchise,” according to the team. The GameStop Performance Center houses a public area and retail space for visitors as well as cutting-edge performance facilities for team members, including recovery, wellness and mental health amenities in addition to featuring advanced training rooms, a mind gym, a decompression porch, innovation lab and stream studio.
A|X Armani Exchange announced a deal to become the first fashion brand to dive into esports waters, locking in a sponsor with the Italian team Mkers for the 2019-20 season for the team to serve as the global ambassador for the brand and wear a new official uniform at tournaments. “We are proud to be the first e-sports team chosen by a prestigious brand like Armani Exchange,” said Mkers CEO Paolo Cisario in the announcement. “It is a reward for all the effort sustained up until this moment, and it gives great credibility not just to us and the investors that believed in our project, but also to the entire Italian e-sports industry. Now the real challenge will be to yield tangible results.”
704Games, the Race Team Alliance and NASCAR announced that the inaugural eNASCAR Heat Pro League season will make its debut Memorial Day Weekend live from Charlotte Motor Speedway. The historic first races precede Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 with the green flag dropping at 3:30p at the NASCAR Trackside Live stage as well as on NASCAR’s Facebook and 704Games’ Twitch via livestream. Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace will be on-hand for the pre-race festivities. “The eNASCAR Heat Pro League is a result of incredible industry collaboration and a shared commitment to growing NASCAR through innovation,” said Tim Clark, senior vice president and chief digital officer, NASCAR. “The esports community is massive, highly engaged and passionate, and our league presents an unparalleled opportunity to reach new and existing fans.”
EGENCY, founded in 2018 as a premier esports production, marketing and talent management firm, announced that the company will change its name to Abacus3 effective immediately. According to company President Mark Nausha, “The esports and video gaming space is rapidly changing. The community is always building, growing, and evolving, and we felt we needed to go to market with a name that signifies that we are much more than merely an agency specializing in esports.”
INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES
At its annual Spring meeting held today in San Francisco, the Pac-12 CEO Group approved measures to support student-athletes and enhance Pac-12 men’s basketball program performance. The CEO Group voted to extend the annual $3.6M of funding to the Student-Athlete Health & Well-Being Initiative for a period of 5 years with a review of the program after 3 years. Additionally, the CEO Group voted to significantly increase to $1.1M annually the portion of funding to on-campus mental health services to provide more support. Meanwhile, following support from the Pac-12 Council and Pac-12 Athletic Directors at their meetings earlier this month, the CEO Group voted to introduce non-Conference scheduling standards to enhance Pac-12 men’s basketball non-conference schedules. This follows approval by the Pac-12 Council of a move to a 20-game Conference men’s
40 Yards of Gold announced plans to launch the inaugural Tournament-Style, All-Star Speed Competition designed to crown the fastest pro football player. Athletes will race head-to-head in a one-night extravaganza and culminate with the Champion of the Offensive Division facing the Champion of the Defensive Division. Quince Imaging will incorporate projection mapping onto the field to give the illusion that the participants are running on futuristic platforms.
THE MAIN EVENT
Sharks/Blues on NBCSN at 8p.
ON THIS DAY in 1881: The United States National Lawn Tennis Association is formed.
In the Know: Who was the original winner of the NFL’s Fastest Man Competition in 1986? (Hint: he won it multiple times.) (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: Before being known as the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy, who was the award named after? Answer: Walter A. Brown. Kudos: Michael Ritz-Northwestern Mutual/NY; Mike Seidel-CSI Sports/Jersey City; Synda Kollman/Deerfield Beach; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Rick Pike-InterMedia Advertising/Woodland Hills; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank
Later -- Chris