Good morning. It’s Wednesday August 2, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Turner Sports and the PGA of America are giving an overhaul for the slate of digital products for the 2017 PGA Championship with a focus on broadened video integration and responsive optimization for mobile viewing. With the tournament spanning August 10-13, golf fans will now have access to four times the amount of produced video content pieces than in previous incarnations, including live and real-time on-demand clips via PGAChampionship.com and the PGA Championship App. PGA Championship LIVE’s video coverage with be sponsored by Omega, Mercedes-Benz, Arby’s, National Car Rental, Workday and Ping with Brian Anderson and Brian Katrek serving as coverage anchors with analysts Billy Kratzert and Michael Breed.

ON THE AIR

CBS Sports Network locked in its talent roster for the upcoming college football season, which will showcase games featuring teams from the American Athletic Conference, Conference USA, Mid-American Conference, Mountain West, along with Army and Navy football. The season culminates with two bowl games, including the AutoNation Cure Bowl on Dec. 16 and the Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl on Dec. 29 on the channel. This season will see Aaron Murray and David Diehl join CBS Sports Network as analysts while Erik Coleman will serve as a sideline reporter. Carter Blackburn, analyst Aaron Taylor and reporter Jenny Dell return as the network’s lead college football announce team with other pairings that include: Rich Waltz/Aaron Murray/Cassie McKinney; Dave Ryan/Corey Chavous/Melanie Collins; John Sadak/Randy Cross/Tina Cervasio or Sheehan Stanwick-Burch; Ben Holden/Jay Feely/John Schriffen; and Jason Horowitz/David Diehl/Erik Coleman.

In other talent news, Jac Collinsworth is joining ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown this fall as a features reporter, offering player profiles and other unique stories for the pregame show starting in September. During the NFL offseason, he will also contribute to NFL Live.

ESPN’s coverage of El Clasico Miami on Saturday night was seen by an average audience of 1.7 million viewers across its platforms, according to Nielsen, making it the most-watched soccer match telecast on ESPN networks since last summer’s UEFA EURO 2016 in France Live match coverage of El Clásico Miami had a remarkable average minute streaming audience of 73,000, and 364,000 unique viewers – record-setting audiences on the platform for an international club friendly match and is the most-streamed soccer match on the ESPN digital properties since the final match of UEFA EURO 2016.

ESPN also announced changes to two of its early-season basketball tournaments this season, revealing that DePaul will replace Georgetown in the PK80 presented by State Farm, where they will face Michigan State on Nov. 23. Meanwhile, Sacramento State will subsequently take the spot opened up by the Blue Demons in the 2017 Wooden Legacy.

Now is the time to catch up and learn from the experts from ESL, Twitch and Nielsen! We are proud to be partnering with ESL for the Cynopsis Esports Master Class, a unique opportunity to pull back the curtain and experience for yourself what the competitive gaming industry is made of. Featuring not only lectures from some of the most successful executives in the space today, who will break down the ABCs of the business and its players, attendees will also go behind-the-scenes of ESL One New York at Barclays, and receive tickets to the weekend’s festivities for the largest esports tournament on the east coast (if you register early)! Get ahead of the learning curve and register today.

In local news, Monday night’s Detroit Tigers/New York Yankees game bolstered YES Network to its the highest-rated and most-viewed program in almost three years. The telecast pulled a 5.01 average TV Household rating in the New York DMA, according to Nielsen, and averaged 446,000 Total Viewers. These numbers were the best since YES’ September 25, 2014 Orioles-Yankees telecast, which marked Derek Jeter’s last game at Yankee Stadium.

In international waters, Feld Entertainment announced that international expansion of Monster Jam into both China and Singapore, markingthe first time a motor sport of any kind has played both Singapore’s National Stadium and Beijing’s Bird’s Nest National Stadium. By the end of 2017, the Monster Jam franchise will have expanded its live events into six first-time markets which include: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Buenos Aries, Argentina; Lyon, France; Beijing, China; Singapore; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In another first, the NBA announced that teams from Australia’s National Basketball League will take part in the 2017 NBA preseason in October. Included will be the (Sydney Kings, Melbourne United and the Brisbane Bullets, marking the first time that NBL teams will travel to the US to play against NBA teams. The Sydney Kings visit the Utah Jazz on Oct. 2, followed by Melbourne United meeting the Oklahoma City Thunder on Oct. 8 and the Brisbane Bullets visiting the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 13.

Join us as we celebrate Media’s Rising Stars!

September 2017 | Midtown Lofts| NYC |3:00 – 5:00 PM

Tickets for the 3^rd Annual CYNOPSIS Rising Stars Awards are now available! For the third consecutive year, we’re honoring stand-out performers, innovators and emerging leaders in the media industry. Companies represented on Friday include E! Entertinament, Epix, Mediacom, ABC, NBCUniversal, Zenith, Discovery Communcations, Viacom Velocity, Nielsen, Nickelodeon and many more ( click here to view all honorees)!

Secure a seat for your team

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

The Yankees, Jerry Jones and the NFL are reportedly close to launching a new travel and hospitality business, according to the WSJ, with Legends Hospitality Management in preliminary talks to run NFL on Location, a new sports travel agency to sell tickets and travel packages for fans looking to visit venues and events around the world.

Rugby International Marketing and Rugby World Cup Sevens 2018 Limited tapped AEG as the official worldwide merchandise licensee for the upcoming Rugby World Cup Sevens championship event taking place at San Francisco’s AT&T Park on July 20-22 in 2018. AEG has the worldwide license to use the name, logo, insignia, trademarks, and any service marks for RWC Sevens in manufacturing, selling, promoting, and distributing licensed products. An online store will be available for access beginning Sept. 1.

The inaugural WNBA FIT Month is off-and-running with a special focus on highlighting the importance of being active, eating healthy and playing together. Throughout the month, the league and its teams will join community members and partners in hosting health and wellness programs and events, while teaching fans of all ages the values of the game such as hard work, discipline, leadership and teamwork. As part of WNBA FIT Month, the WNBA and its teams will partner with Bright Pink for WNBA Breast Health Awareness which will focus on helping women understand and reduce their risk for breast and ovarian cancers.

Fox Sports College Properties, on behalf of the City of San Diego, is seeking bids for the naming rights to the stadium formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium. According to local reports, the city said that the venue will continue to be used for San Diego State University and Bowl Association through the 2018 season.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

CrossFit announced an extension to their partnership with Facebook through 2018 and marking the first time fans will get to see start-to-finish coverage of the elite men and women, as well as the Team, Masters and Teenage Divisions. Live coverage will be fully produced and include studio segments throughout the day.

Amazon won the bidding war for rights to stream the ATP World Tour in the UK, according to The Guardian. Amazon bested Sky and ITV to secure the rights to the tour for the next five years.

ESPORTS

ELEAGUE is launching a new series, locking in a multi-faceted partnership with GEICO to launch competitions for amateur gamers called the GEICO ELEAGUE Amateur Series. The slate begins with Street Fighter V, which will be held at PAX West from September 1-4 in Seattle with live streaming coverage presented on both the ELEAGUE and GEICO Gaming Twitch channels. “This partnership with GEICO provides an exciting opportunity for ELEAGUE to develop a deeper connection with the amateur esports community,” said Craig Barry, EVP and Chief Content Officer, Turner Sports. “We’re looking forward to broadening the reach of ELEAGUE, while providing an additional opportunity for amateur gamers to compete in an environment that closely mirrors the professional esports experience.” 

Meanwhile, WESA continues to expand its wings, reeling in both North and Splyce as the newest teams to serve as full members of the organization. “We’re delighted that both North and Splyce have elected to join WESA,” said Ken Hershman, Executive Chairman and Commissioner, WESA. “Bringing in two more teams that affiliate with a leading traditional sports franchise increases our ability to both develop and build out our esports offerings, as well as move the industry forward in new and exciting ways. These organizations know the importance of structure and order in an industry, and will aid WESA’s mission to solidify these facets within our own.”

Daybreak Games detailed plans for this October’s third annual H1Z1 Invitational set to take place at TwitchCon 2017 in October. This year’s event will feature three unique tournaments of H1Z1: King of the Kill with a combined prize pool of $500,000 at the H1Z1 Arena. Tournaments will include All-Stars, Legends, and Challengers, each featuring a different group of players and prizing.

ROSTER MOVES

Independent Sports & Entertainment announced that Hall of Fame basketball player and former NBA Executive of the Year Joe Dumars has joined the company as President of ISE Basketball where he will now oversee all aspects of the basketball representation business with a focus on growth and providing clients best in class service both on and off the court.

The WorkShop announced plans to launch a dedicated Sports Content Division and appointed Neil Hartman to serve in the newly created position of Vice President Sports where he will oversee all content development activities of the new unit.

THE MAIN EVENT

MLS All-Star Game on FS1 and UDC at 9p.

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ON THIS DAY in 1973: George Brett gets his first hit.

In the Know: Which NBA player was known as the “Reign Man?”(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: The first Olympics to take place on US soil occurred in which city? Answer: St. Louis in 1904. Kudos: Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Media/NY; Denis Barry-CBS/NY; Brad Stern-POM Technologies/NY; Marissa Sunio-Columbia University/NY; Larry Kahn-Golf Channel/Orlando; Mike May-PHIT America/Wellington; John Miller-NBC Sports Group/Stamford; James Stuart-NBC Sports Group/Stamford; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Tim Rank-blueprint314/St. Louis; Chris Hartweg-Partner, Huddle Pro/Chicago; Lance Phegley-Texas Runner and Triathlete magazine/Houston; Jack Neumann-University of Calgary Dinos 5th Quarter Alumni Development/Calgary; Judie Henninger-Valentine Productions/Santa Monica; John Baghdassarian-Olympusat/LA; Greg Dudsic/Venice; Don Surath-KPIX-TV/KBCW-TV/San Francisco

Later -- Chris

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