Good morning. It’s Wednesday June 20, 2018 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

With Brooks Koepka making history to become the first golfer to win back-to-back U.S. Opens since Curtis Strange nearly thirty years ago, FOX Sports reports that 32.517 million viewers tuned in for all or part of FOX Sports’ presentation of the 2018 U.S. Open Championship, with 6.339 billion minutes consumed on the FOX broadcast network and FS1. Overall, FOX Sports’ coverage this year averaged 2.890 million viewers on FOX, FS1 and FOX Sports’ digital platforms, to mark a 7% increase over last year’s average with all four rounds notching year-over-year gains. Digitally, unique streams of the 2018 U.S. Open were up 85% year-over-year (674,000 vs. 364,000), while average minute audience was up 44% over 2017 (36,279 vs. 25,210).

ON THE AIR

Turner and the NBA unveiled its lineup of presenters for the second annual NBA Awards on TNT presented by Kia on Monday, with coverage beginning at 9p. This year will see Charles Barkley, DJ Khaled, Shaquille O’Neal, Jesse Williams, Snoop Dogg, Niecy Nash, Ken Jeong and Adrienne Houghton hand out awards honoring the stars and moments from the 2017-18 NBA season. Damaris Lewis will return as the trophy presenter and DJ Kiss will be the official DJ for the evening. Anthony Anderson hosts with a performance by rapper Travis Scott.

Meanwhile, NBC Sports detailed plans for the 2018 NHL Awards and NHL Draft. NBCSN presents live, exclusive coverage of first round on Friday, beginning with NHL Live at 7p. The awards show will take place tonight at 8p on the network, recognizing the best regular-season players in a variety of categories.

Rounding out awards coverage, the fourth annual Sports Humanitarian Awards, presented by ESPN and sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, has its contenders, with winners announced on July 17, and highlights running on ESPN on July 24 at 7p. This year’s categories include: the Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award; Sports Humanitarian Team of the Year; Corporate Community Impact Award; League Humanitarian Leadership Award; and the Stuart Scott ENSPIRE Award.

FOX Sports revealed its broadcast voices for the BIG3 3-on-3 basketball league’s second season, tipping off Friday on FS1 at 7:30p. Charissa Thompson, Mike Hill, and Kristina Pink will rotate as studio hosts for the BIG3 during the 10-week season, with Brian Custer serving as BIG3’s new lead play-by-play announcer, joining game analyst Jim Jackson. Michael Rapaport will again act as BIG3’s sideline reporter.

For the third consecutive day, Telemundo set a daytime viewership record as viewership for Monday’s three-match World Cup coverage averaged 1.1 million viewers, to rank as the network’s most-watched Monday daytime on record. The channel’s top Monday delivery was the Belgium/Panama contest which registered a Total Audience Delivery of 1.81 million viewers, based on Nielsen live plus same day fast nationals, and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

ESPN’s coverage of the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games in Seattle launches July 1 with a live two-and-a-half hour special on ABC. Kevin Negandhi hosts ESPN’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony, and will anchor its nightly coverage throughout the Games. Additionally, throughout the week, ESPN3 will carry six and a half hours of LIVE streaming coverage from swimming competition taking place at the Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center. Special Olympics athlete and ambassador Daina Shilts will make her debut with ESPN, serving as Special Olympics Analyst throughout the Games and during the Opening Ceremony.

Pac-12 Networks lined up 32 live men’s soccer games in 2018, with kick off on Aug. 24 with Syracuse/Oregon State. All five Pac-12 universities will appear on Pac-12 Networks at least seven times in 2018, with Stanford leading the way with 12 appearances. Washington will appear on the Network 11 times, followed by UCLA who will appear 10 times, California with nine appearances, and Oregon State with seven televised matches. Pac-12 affiliate San Diego State also appears on the Networks five times.

ESPORTS BUSINESS SUMMIT

brands.media.tech.teams.together.

October 1-3 / Caesars Palace, LV

Meet the top partners from key Esports segments including distribution, leagues, venues, streaming, licensing, consulting, agencies and more. Booths and sponsorships are limited, so don’t get shut out - lock in now for prime locations & activations!

Contact us today - we look forward to working with you!

Chris Florio | 908-376-8701 // Andrew Katz | 203-899-8447

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Mountain Dew Kickstart locked in a partnership with NBA Draft prospect Marvin Bagley III to serve as the newest Mountain Dew Kickstart Rising Stars athlete. The partnership tips off with an event in New York as a lead up to the NBA Draft 2018 where the brand is also sponsoring the NBA Draft Green Carpet.

Maxim and global marketing agency Lagardere Sports and Entertainment announced a new joint venture to redesign, produce and market the Magazine brand’s three annual tentpole events – the Maxim Hot 100, Halloween and Big Game events – as the new “Maxim Experiences” platform. As part of the joint venture, Lagardère Sports and Entertainment will market and sell the events, from both a partnership and ticket perspective.

Kick It 3v3 National Soccer Tour announced that The Laughing Cow was named as the official snack cheese sponsor of the 2018 Kick It National Tour. Kick IT, which hosts over 70 events per year.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

The Olympic Channel reached agreements with eight sport governing bodies and multi-sport organizations to collaborate on content for the Olympic Channel. The eight new cooperation agreements bring the number of the global platform’s federation partners to 75 and now includes the Federation of International Lacrosse (FILx), International Federation of Basque Pelota (FIPV), International Korfball Federation (IKF), International Sumo Federation (IFS) and International Wushu Federation (IWUF), in addition to the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (ICMG),International University Sports Federation (FISU) and Special Olympics. In addition to collaborating on live events, the Olympic Channel actively works with its federation partners to present event coverage, highlights, magazine shows, news coverage and original programming.

ESPN The Magazine announced this year’s roster of athletes who will be featured in BODY10, which hits newsstands June 29. The 2018 athlete roster includes: Saquon Barkley, New York Giants Running Back; Sue Bird, Seattle Storm Point Guard, and Megan Rapinoe, USWNT and Seattle Reign FC Forward; Tori Bowie, U.S. Olympic Track and Field Athlete and Gold Medalist; Lauren Chamberlain, USSSA Pride Infielder; Jessie Diggins, U.S. Olympic Cross-Country Skier and Gold Medalist; Crystal Dunn, USWNT and North Carolina Courage Forward; Charlotte Flair, WWE Superstar; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, LA Galaxy Forward; Dallas Keuchel, World Series Champion and Houston Astros Cy Young Award-Winning Pitcher; Greg Norman, Hall of Fame Golfer; Yasiel Puig, LA Dodgers Right Fielder; Adam Rippon, Olympic Bronze Medalist Figure Skater; Jerry Rice, Pro Football Hall of Fame Wide Receiver; Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm Forward; and Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves Center.

Under the banner of Players Only Films, NBA Digital is debuting NEXT UP with Kevin Garnett, a new series produced exclusively for Facebook Watch that features the 15-time NBA All-Star and 2004 NBA MVP Garnett as he mentors Mohamed Bamba and Jaren Jackson, Jr. Players Only Films and NEXT UP are produced by NBA Digital, which is co-managed by Turner Sports and the NBA.

The Caddie Network is officially open for business as the “first-ever digital content platform dedicated to professional caddies and their ‘on tour’ experiences and insights.” The platform features more than 140 professional caddies participating – including: Damon Green, Michael Greller, Jimmy Johnson, Tim Mickelson, and Paul Tesori.

ESPORTS

Formula 1 announced the 40 online racers who have qualified for the next stage of the F1 Esports Series 2018, the Pro Draft. July 9 will see representatives from the nine F1 teams participating in the F1 Esports Series use the Pro Draft to select which drivers in London, with contenders coming out of four online qualifying rounds and 66,000 players who competed. Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, Red Bull Racing, Hype Energy eForce India F1 Esports Team, Williams, Renault Sport Team Vitality, Haas F1 Esports Team, McLaren, Toro Rosso Esports Team and Sauber F1 Team will all be offering positions in their driver line-ups as part of the series. Every team must select at least one of its drivers from the Pro Draft.

The H1Z1 Pro League announced its prize pool for the season and payout breakdowns with $300,000 on the line overall. Tonight sees the 75 battle royale players compete for the top spot as the first split of the H1Z1 Pro League's inaugural season comes to a close with $75K awarded to the top five teams at the end of each split, and a $150K grand prize will be up for grabs at the end of the season.

Public relations, events, sports marketing and content marketing agency KemperLesnik is now adding esports to its suite of business services. The agency previously worked with Riot Games on its 2018 League of Legends College Championship. The agency provided media relations, on-site media operations support and player media training. KemperLesnik’s esports division will produce esports events, connect would-be sponsors with esports assets, consult with esports game developers and lead brand activation for esports sponsors.

THE MAIN EVENT

Portugal/Morocco in World Cup action on FOX and Telemundo at 7:30a.

CONNECTING WITH THE NEW YOUNG MALE DEMO

Thursday, July 12^th at 1:30PM

Millennial and Gen Z men are an elusive group for networks and marketers, but a valuable one. A report from Engagement Labs, “The Remarkable Influence of Millennial Men,” shows they’re 50% more likely than millennial women to be word-of-mouth influencers. During our upcoming webinar on July 12, “ Connecting with the New Young Male Demo ,” our experts will share how to align your marketing efforts with millennial male interests, at a time when the definition of masculinity is undergoing a major shift.

[ REGISTER YOUR TEAM ]

ON THIS DAY in 1932: Jesse Owens sets the 100 meter record at 10.2 seconds.

In the Know: Name a country that is competing in the World Cup this year for the first time. (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: In 1994, the only time the US has hosted the World Cup, the Finals were held in which venue? Answer: The Rose Bowl. Kudos: John Ferlazzo/London; Scott Jenkins-Gracenote/NY; Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; Rick Ramage-United Talent Agency/NY; Rich Dubroff-Pressboxonline.com/Baltimore; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Dana Worby-Robinson-DraftKings/Boston; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; John Tingue-CBS/Cleveland; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Greg Dudsic/Venice; Anne Wettig-Fox Cable Networks S&P/LA; Tim Davidson-Dish/Manhattan Beach; Andy Babb-Super League Gaming/Santa Monica

Later - Chris

JOB OF THE DAY

VP HUMAN RESOURCES
Discovery
El Segundo

Motor Trend Group is seeking HR Leader to drive HR strategic leadership as part of SMT. Provide HR “Bus Partner” support to exec leadership/wider org. Dvlp & implement all HR areas to reflect/foster enthusiastic culture of the biz. 10+ yrs full-cycle HR exp w/in a media co.

Apply

JOB OPENING: VP HUMAN RESOURCES/Discovery/El Segundo: Motor Trend Group is seeking HR Leader to drive HR strategic leadership as part of SMT. Provide HR “Bus Partner” support to exec leadership/wider org. Dvlp & implement all HR areas to reflect/foster enthusiastic culture of the biz. 10+ yrs full-cycle HR exp w/in a media co. Apply (6/26)

JOB OPENING: SALES ENABLEMENT DIRECTOR SALES OPERATIONS/NBC/NYC: Min 5 yrs in a similar lead customer support/training function, or a related vendor role. A strategic position that will empower sales, traffic, research, finance and marketing users across our divisions! Full info/apply HERE (6/26)

JOB OPENING: AD SALES ASSISTANT/Baby First TV/NY: Reports to EVP & AE Ad Sales. Detailed & organized. Ability to multi-task in fast past env. Prof in EXL & PPT. College grad welcome! Reply to jobs@bf-tv.com (6/23)

JOB OPENING: PRODUCT SUPPORT SPECIALIST/WOT/SAN FRAN OR BIRMINGHAM AL: Partner with our customers and support with how-to questions regarding the use of WO Traffic. 2+ yrs of exp in a Digital ad serving envir & 2+ yrs exp at a TV, radio or cable station in the traffic or operations dept. Full info/apply HERE (6/23)

JOB OPENING: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE/WO Digital and WO Network/NYC: Lead demonstrations and sales presentations, focusing on WO’s digital order mngmnt system, to new prospects. 4+ yrs exp selling advertising or working in the digital media ind. Exp cable ntwk, radio, publishing or TV industry is req’d. Full info/apply HERE (6/23)

JOB OPENING: SR BUSINESS ANALYST/WON/NYC: Work w/Prod & Dvlpmnt Teams to solve customer business problems by defining req’s, shepherding software changes & skillfully documenting customers’ business problems. Knwlg of cable/brdcst ntwrk industry from both the Sales and Comm Ops perspectives. Full info/apply HERE (6/23)

JOB OPENING: ASSOCIATE PRODUCER/Motorsport /Miami: Produce and edit motorsports-related content for Motorsport Network digital and broadcast platforms. 3+ yrs work exp TV prod & 1 yr exp in digital media prod. Basic understanding of lighting & camera operations a must. Full info/apply HERE (6/23)

JOB OPENING: COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR/PAC-12/SF: In this critical role, you will drive corporate communications, executive communications and internal/stakeholder communications efforts for the Pac-12 Networks. Min 10 yrs exp in strategic communications, including corporate communications. For full posting/apply HERE (6/23)

JOB OPENING: MANAGER, RECRUITING/A+E/NY: Mng domestic recruiting function to identify, assess & hire the best & brightest. Oversee JD process, est candidate pipeline, mng ntwrkg & social media opps to enhance recruitment efforts. 5+ yrs recruitment exp within media. Strong HR ntwrk of recruiters. Apply HERE (6/23)

JOB OPENING: AD SALES PLANNER/Baby First TV/NY: Reports to SVP Ad Sales. Home office flexibility. 2-3 Years Direct Response experience a plus. Detailed & organized. PowerPoint and Excel a must. Entrepreneurial environment. Reply to jobs@bf-tv.com (6/22)

JOB OPENING: EDITOR/PR News/NYC: For The Social Shake Up Show. Resp for event content creation, prgrmng, writing agendas & on-site mngmnt for conferences, awards prgrms & webinars. Write/edit articles for website related to industry. 3+ yrs writing, editing & social media exp in deadline-oriented envir. Full info/apply HERE (6/22)

JOB OPENING: TRAFFIC COORDINATOR/Crown Media Family Networks/NY: Edit daily broadcast logs, execute agency traffic instructions and maintain commercial inventory for Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama. Detail oriented w/strong orgnzt’l skills. 2 yrs tv/radio traffic exp. req. Full info/apply HERE (6/21)

JOB OPENING: JR PREDITOR/NBCU/LA: Junior Preditor will create innovative concepts, copy and cuts, across all media, to help promote our brand and programs. Some experience within a TV broadcast or creative agency environment – a portfolio showcasing creative work. Full info/apply HERE (6/21)

JOB OPENING: VP BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT/MANIFEST/Chicago: Seeking candidates who are entrepreneurial, enthusiastic & organized w/min 10 yrs exp/background of digital or integrated mktg agency. Demonstrated success w/quantifiable track record in helping agencies win creative pitches. To apply & more info HERE (6/21)

JOB OPENING: ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE, SYNDICATION/Sony Pictures TV/LA: Sell programming to brdcast TV stations, build/maintain strong customer relationships & create dvlpmnt strategy. 2+yrs exp sales role or similar in ent; 2+ yrs ent exp/knwlg in the space, TV industry pref’d. Strong comm skills. Full info/apply HERE (6/21)