CynopsisSports

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

Major League Soccer’s championship match is heading to ABC for the first time since 2008 when ESPN presents the 2019 MLS Cup on November 10 at 3p. The match will also be streamed live on both the ESPN and ABC apps. The 2019 MLS Cup will culminate Major League Soccer’s three-week Audi 2019 MLS Cup Playoffs, which will feature 14 teams – seven per conference. ESPN’s top MLS commentator team of Jon Champion (play-by-play), Taylor Twellman (analyst) and Sebastian Salazar (reporter) will call MLS Cup on ABC.

“ABC has a rich history of soccer coverage, including MLS Cup for more than a decade in the early years of Major League Soccer. We are excited to once again showcase the league’s marquee event on the network,” said Burke Magnus, Executive Vice President, Programming and Scheduling, ESPN.

PROGRAMMING

ESPN College Football 150 programming was consumed by 19 million unique fans on Saturday, according to the network, which featured 12 hours of content during a signature start to the sport’s 150th anniversary season. Football is US: The College Game reached nearly six million fans on its own with an additional 13 million unique fans tuning into College GameDay Built by the Home Depot. Football is US: The College Game averaged 1,647,000 viewers

Meanwhile, CBS Sports tackles college football’s 150th anniversary with a season-long, multi-platform celebration across CBS, CBS Sports Network, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports HQ and its social media accounts. Among the coverage planned for CBS Sports’ season-long salute to college football are five original specials airing on CBS, including four new episodes as part of the network’s “Four Sides of the Story” franchise. The series begins with Hail Flutie! on Oct. 19 at 2:30p. CBS will also broadcast a one-hour special, “Through the Lens of CBS Sports: College Football at 150,” on Nov. 2. In addition, animated vignettes that will air across all platforms – including the SEC on CBS, CBS Sports Network, CBSSports.com, CBS Sports HQ and social media accounts – throughout the season.

The NHL, NHL Network and the Philadelphia Flyers announced their partnership for the second season of the all-access series Behind The Glass: Philadelphia Flyers Training Camp. Produced by NHL Network in association with NHL Original Productions, the four-part series serves up a look into the nature of an NHL training camp. Within less than four weeks, Flyers players will report to camp, undergo endurance and skill tests, play in preseason and exhibition games in the U.S. and Europe, compete for roster spots, and ultimately prepare for the team’s season opener on October 4. The show debuts on Sept. 25 at 8p on NHL Network.

FOX Sports lines up the 65th running of the Chevrolet Performance NHRA U.S. Nationals from Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis over Labor Day weekend, culminating Monday with five hours of live coverage on FOX, FS1 and the FOX Sports app starting at 11a. Play-by-play voice Brian Lohnes teams with Tony Pedregon in the booth, with reporting from two-time NHRA Competition Eliminator champion Bruno Massel, Jamie Howe and Amanda Busick. Lewis Bloom and John Kernan provide additional analysis for FS1’s weekend coverage. Production this season will include the Lucas Oil helicopter for overhead perspective; and enhanced SMT system; and updated “interval graphics,” which break down elapsed time at standard distance benchmarks along the track.

World Long Drive begins its season-culminating event this weekend, as competitors convene on the Texas/Oklahoma border for the 44th edition of the World Long Drive Championship, which will culminate live in primetime on GOLF Channel, Sept. 3-4 at 8:30p. The world championship will be televised in more than 60 countries around the world, including live on GOLF Channel.

Bleacher Report's Stick to Football podcast will hit the road in 2019 for its second annual “Tailgate Tour,” which will have hosts Matt Miller, Connor Rogers and Mello recording live episodes from tailgate parties around the country. Stops begin Sept. 7 at Texas. The tour coincides with the launch of B/R Gridiron, Bleacher Report's football-focused brand for millennial and Gen Z audiences.

SiriusXM will launch a new weekly show dedicated to the Cleveland Browns that will cover the current team as well as the storied history of the franchise. Dawg Pound Radio will debut Sept. 4 and air every Wednesday at 7p through the end of the 2019 season on the SiriusXM NFL Radio channel. The show will be hosted each week by Bernie Kosar and Jim Donovan.

Meanwhile, ESPN Radio reached a long-term Local Marketing Agreement and lease with Good Karma Brands, in a move that will see Good Karma assume operations and control of ESPN Radio Chicago (WMVP-AM). Good Karma will expand its affiliate relationship with ESPN Radio and the station will retain the ESPN 1000 name while featuring a lineup of local and national sports talk programming and ESPN Radio’s national play-by-play lineup that includes NBA, MLB, NFL and college football, including the College Football Playoff.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

Cynopsis’ That Big TV Conference

Sept. 9-10 > NYC

Featuring a lineup of executives from notable companies, such as:
360i, A+E, Amazon Fire TV, AMC, AwesomenessTV, CBS Interactive, Conde Nast, Discovery, Facebook, GroupM, Group Nine/Brandshot, Hulu, Hyundai, IBM Watson, Kinetic, NBCU, Publicis, Refinery29, Snap, Spark foundry, Starcom, Starz, Twitter, VAB, Viacom, VMLYR, WarnerMedia.

> REGISTER <

Sponsors: Gamut - Sinclair - NY Interconnect - FriendMTS - iSpot.tv - ListenFirst Media - NCC Media - TV Time - Tubi - a4 - Simpli.fi - TVsquared

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Coors Light locked in a deal to serve as the first-ever beer sponsor for ESPN’s College Gameday college football pregame show, according to Ad Age. The deal includes in-show branding and comes after ESPN saw a sponsorship opportunity come open previously held by General Motors.

BON & VIV Spiked Seltzer is partnering up with the NFL to serve as the first Official Hard Seltzer of the NFL. The deal will see a dedicated TV spend in games as well as NFL.com and Twitter. BON & VIV partnered with Adam Schefter to make the announcement. The brand also offered seltzer fans $1,000 to people who honestly prefer the taste of White Claw.

Motor Racing Network will partner with Spire Motorsports as the sponsor of the No. 77 Motor Racing Network Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, driven by Reed Sorenson, for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Labor Day weekend. The livery will pay tribute to MRN’s 50 years as “The Voice of NASCAR” and celebrate 11 radio stations who have carried and supported NASCAR racing since the network’s inception.

Jersey Mike’s Subs is rolling out its first college tailgate that will span 14-weeks and 16-stops beginning with the Michigan State University football game against Tulsa on Aug. 30 in East Lansing. Tailgaters are invited to stop by the pop-up shop and enjoy a free sub sample along with special giveaways and games. “The goal of the tailgate tour is to deliver a high-level experience for fans and introduce them to our updated mobile app,” said Rich Hope, Chief Marketing Officer, Jersey Mike’s Franchise Systems, Inc. “We are looking forward to traveling across the country and bringing a taste of the Jersey Shore to hungry football tailgaters.”

DIGITAL, DATA & STREAMING

The Pac-12 Conference announced that the league is aligning with Game Plan to develop customized educational and tutorial programs to inform student-athletes, administrators and staffs on how to ensure compliance with both NCAA rules and state and federal law. The partnership with Game Plan is the first among major collegiate conferences involving sports wagering education. “Supporting our student-athletes by making sure that they are well informed and resourced, and ensuring the integrity of all our sports, is at the heart of our Conference’s mission,” said Pac-12 General Counsel, Senior Vice President of Business Affairs Woodie Dixon. “Game Plan’s resources will provide a tremendous tool for delivering proper education and information to our student-athletes, university administrators and staffs related to the ever-evolving topic of sports wagering.”

ESPORTS

In this week’s edition of Cynopsis Esports…

Demetrious Johnson joins Esports Business Summit.
Mobile esports poised for resurgence.
Sin City for SOULCALIBUR World Invitational
Breaking down The International
Ninja’s new deal
Bud Light takes on Tekken
StarLadder opens Command Center

INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES

NASCAR and Far Out Toys announced the launch of the NASCAR Adventure Force Crash Racers – the first in a new line of NASCAR-branded racing sets from Far Out Toys. The toy line will debut this weekend at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway as part of its rollout online and in Walmart stores nationwide. The celebration kicks-off Friday with a NASCAR-themed party at the local Darlington Walmart where fans can experience the toy firsthand, as well as meet Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Busch, NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Noah Gragson and the stars of HobbyKidsTV.

THE MAIN EVENT

UCLA/Cincinnati on ESPN at 7p.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

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ON THIS DAY in 1950: The International Olympic Committee votes to admit West Germany & Japan in 1952.

In the Know: Who is UCLA’s all-time leader in passing yards? (Email cpursell@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your company and city).

Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question: How many times did Tiger Woods win the US Amateur Championship? Answer: Three. Kudos: Michael Brown-United Entertainment Group/NY; Randy Ingram-WISH/WNDY-TV/Indianapolis; Mike May-PHIT America/Wellington; Brittany Wynne-World Golf Hall of Fame & First Tee/St. Augustine; Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Joe Lyons-ESPN/Dallas; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Rich Wolfe-Lone Wolfe Press/Scottsdale; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Brian Robin-Bear Titan Publications/San Bernardino

Later -- Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
Kerry Smith Division President Access Intelligence Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina 203-218-6480 Albert Nassour 917-545-3129	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

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