SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
The Home Depot and Major League Soccer locked in an extension of their partnership through the end of the 2022 season with the multi-year agreement coinciding with the launch of a joint digital brand campaign this summer highlighting the league’s stars and the home improvement company’s home appliance product innovation from LG Electronics. As part of the renewal, The Home Depot continues to be the exclusive home improvement retailer of the MLS and the Mexico national team and it will be a 2019 partner of Campeones Cup.
BIG3 announced that State Farm signed a major sponsorship deal with the league to become the exclusive official insurer and will see State Farm branding throughout BIG3 arenas in all 18 cities the league visits this summer, including on basket stanchion pads, center court jumbotrons, and courtside LED signage. The insurer will also present BIG3 games played at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on July 7.
CBS Sports Digital announced the launch of its MVP Sports Marketing initiative designed to help brands “build strong and sustainable engagement in local sports communities around the country.” Leveraging CBS Sports Digital’s community connections through its nationwide coverage of high school and college sports, a dedicated in-house MVP Sports Marketing team will partner with brands to develop unique multi-faceted sponsorships that build brand equity, deepen consumer relationships and drive revenue. The team will be led by Andy Beal, President and Founder of MaxPreps.
The Blues’ claim on the Stanley Cup will see Bud Light celebrate their first ever Stanley Cup victory in franchise history with limited edition Blues championship bottles. The bottles feature the iconic Blues logo, “2019 Champs” and “Gloria Gloria” stamped on the side. Andy Goeler, Vice President of Marketing at Bud Light stated, “We’re so proud of our hometown Blues for bringing home their first Stanley Cup. We plan on celebrating with special championship Bud Light bottles during the parade and have a few more surprises brewing for Blues fans and the city of St. Louis that we’ll be announcing later this week. Go Blues and Play Gloria!”
DIGITAL, DATA & STREAMING
FloSports announced the launch of its new apps on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku. The user experience is designed to streamline the ability to explore live events and content across the entire FloSports network of 20+ sports, or to dive deeper into favorite sports. Improvements have been made to navigation, stream switching capabilities, instant auto-play, content automation, and more.
SuperSport has Olympic Channel content on their digital platforms, available on supersport.com offering fans Olympic-themed programming from across the globe, with an emphasis on local athletes, teams and sports under the “Olympic Channel” brand.
ESPORTS
Complexity Gaming announced a partnership with the U.S. Army Installation Management Command’s Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation program to integrate esports into its Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers program, with activation kicking off at Fort Bliss this weekend. The program will create shared experiences and onsite activations both at Complexity’s headquarters and on Army installations to immerse U.S. Army soldiers into the world of competitive gaming and vice versa. Through June 16, Complexity athletes will live and train like U.S. Army soldiers at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas. During a three-day intensive boot camp, players will participate in military-style drills alongside active-duty service members, Then on June 28-30, select U.S. Army personnel will join Complexity athletes for a gaming bootcamp at Complexity’s GameStop Performance Center (GSPC) at The Star in Frisco.
DreamHack and Doritos locked in a new partnership that will see the snack brand activate at DreamHack Summer, running June 15-17 out of Jönköping, Sweden. In addition to the sponsorship, Doritos will also have a large booth in the Expo where visitors will have the opportunity to play together with and against some of the world’s top professional players within CS:GO and Fortnite under the concept, “Are you bold enough to face a pro?” “We are very happy about this new partnership with Doritos and, at the same time, proud to be involved as they enter the Swedish esports world — we are convinced Doritos will fit perfectly into our event and look forward to future collaborations with them,” said DreamHack CEO Marcus Lindmark.
INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES
The XFL will again partner with The Spring League to scout talent, test potential rule adjustments, and experiment with potential in-game technologies it as prepares for kick-off in February 2020. The Spring League will take the field with the XFL this summer to conduct two four-day scouting events in Southern California, the first of which will take place June 17-20 at Mission Viejo High School. The second will run July 28-31 at a location to be announced soon.
THE MAIN EVENT
A potential massive Sunday could see Game 7 of the NBA Finals (as of press time) at 8p on ABC, along with Round 4 of the U.S. Open on FOX, while the US Women’s Team faces off against Chile at 9a.
ON THIS DAY in 1992: The Bulls complete a comeback to win back-to-back championships.
In the Know: In the NBA, who was known as The Microwave? (Email cpursell@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your name, company and city).
Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: What were the most recent seasons in which the franchises with the most NHL championships hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup? Answer: Detroit 2007-08, Toronto 1966-67, Montreal 1992-93. Kudos: Art Salisch-CBS-TV/NY; Jim Bono-NBCUniversal Hispanic Sports/Hispanic Group/NY; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank
Later -- Chris
