Good morning. It’s Thursday September 28, 2017 and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.

Amazon Prime Video launches the first of 11 streamed NFL games 8:25p with tonight’s edition of TNF pitting the Bears/Packers (also on CBS and NFL Network). Games will be made available to the tens of millions of Amazon Prime members worldwide as well as to Prime Video members internationally in over 200 countries and territories. Features for the game are set to include: Alternate Language Audio of TNF games on Amazon Prime Video; the Amazon Thursday Night Football Kickoff Show featuring celebrity chef Curtis Stone and former Giants running back Tiki Barber; NFL Trivia with Alexa; and Custom Amazon Boxes.

ON THE AIR

FOX Sports detailed coverage plans for the largest production in the network’s 24-year history ahead of the 2018 World Cup. Daytime and late-night studio coverage will originate from a state-of-the-art facility in Moscow’s Red Square with the two-story complex offering two sets, a main anchor desk, and an interview area for World Cup Live, World Cup Today and World Cup Tonight as well as pregame, halftime and postgame programs. Kate Abdo has been tapped to host World Cup Live, while Rob Stone anchors World Cup Today and Fernando Fiore wraps up the day’s action on World Cup Tonight. FOX Sports’ coverage also features daily digital content featuring 15 original series on FOX Sports GO and a collaboration with National Geographic.

NBC Sports Group is lining up more than 60 live hours of coverage to the 2017 Presidents Cup, running Sept. 25-Oct. 1 at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey Cit. Golf Channel and NBC will combine to showcase the event, bring back the “Playing Through” commercial format, in which NBC Sports Group partnered with several national advertisers to present select commercial breaks utilizing “Playing Through,” which employs a split-screen model for a select number of national commercial breaks. Play-by-play will be handled by Dan Hicks and Mike Tirico with Johnny Miller, Frank Nobilo and Justin Leonard as analysts.

Speaking of golf, the PGA TOUR today announced the 2018 Web.com Tour schedule, which features 27 tournaments played in 18 states and four countries outside the United States, and culminates with the four-event Web.com Tour Finals in August and September. The 27 events mark the most on the Web.com Tour calendar since 2012, with the $18.3 million in total prize money representing the most since the Tour's 2010 season. Twelve events will air on Golf Channel, including all four Web.com Tour Finals tournaments.

ESPN saw ratings for Sunday Night Baseball presented by Taco Bell this season rise by 10% in 2017, according to Nielsen, averaging a 1.1 household score across 26 telecasts. Additionally, Sunday Night Baseball’s total live audience was up 8%, over 2016, averaging 1,762,000 viewers.

In other baseball news, MLB on TBS takes on the final day of the regular season as the NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers visit the Wild Card contending Colorado Rockies on Sunday at 3p. Ernie Johnson handles play-by-play and will be joined by analyst Ron Darling to call the telecast.

CSN Mid-Atlantic announced that Kara Lawson has been named the primary analyst for Washington Wizards’ games. She will serve alongside play-by-play announcer Steve Buckhantz to lead CSN’s 2017-18 live Wizards coverage.

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The Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival & Conference | March 7, 2018

Honoring outstanding work in this emerging space, the Cynopsis Short Form Video Festival will showcase fresh and surprising storytelling across platforms. We define short form video as content that runs from 5 seconds to 10 minutes. Content on any platform is eligible. Watch our sizzle reel + start your submissions (deadline is 10/20)!

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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Doosan locked in a multi-year partnership with Major League Baseball in a deal that makes the brand the first-ever to be presenting sponsor of the American League Divisional Series. Starting with the Wild Card games, fans will see Doosan commercials and branding across broadcast and digital platforms including FOX, FS1, MLB Network and MLB.com. Additionally, MLB and Doosan will create custom features for MLB Network and league digital channels showcasing how teamwork leads to winning results. Doosan will also give fans exclusive access to select ALDS batting practices and press conferences in real-time via Facebook Live.

The Big Ten Network and the Big Ten Conference, in conjunction with Learfield, are launching a new partnership through which BTN will offer sponsors and advertisers multimedia, marketing and corporate partnership opportunities associated with Big Ten events. Assets will include in-venue signage, official designations, corporate hospitality, digital and social media integration and on-site promotional activation along with print and radio inventory. Additionally, BTN’s own assets, including television spots, and those of the FOX-owned Home Team Sports, will be leveraged to provide a robust corporate partnership platform. Among the first brands to take advantage of the resources the new partnership provides as official partners are Gatorade, Shell, SoFi, State Farm and T-Mobile.

Phoenix Raceway and ISM Connect announced a multi-year partnership that includes naming rights for the Raceway’s modernized venue as well as the installation of a groundbreaking digital fan engagement experience. Beginning in 2018, the venue will be known as ISM Raceway. “We’re focused on building a world-class facility and the partnership with ISM will further enhance our technology capabilities and create opportunities to better engage with fans,” said Phoenix Raceway President Bryan R. Sperber. “ISM Raceway will serve as a premier motorsports and entertainment destination for generations to come.”

DIGITAL & STREAMING

As part of its year-long Centennial celebration, the NHL and SAP announced the completion of the digitization of its entire statistical history, providing fans with “unprecedented access to player and team statistics as well as every regular-season and playoff game box score dating back to the League’s inception in 1917.” Stats and insights for every player from every game in League history now are available at NHL.com/Stats. “For fans and media alike, this expansive statistical treasure trove of previously untapped information and data is a tremendous resource with which to explore the League’s 100 years of history, and tell compelling and engaging stories about our game,” said Steve McArdle, NHL Chief Administrative Officer and Executive Vice President. “Today’s launch is the culmination of a six-year project, and brings our statistical history to life in an interactive and innovative way.”

espnW and U.S. Department of State will once again host the Global Sports Mentoring Program through Oct. 31. Seventeen emerging female leaders from around the world will begin a four-week mentorship in the US alongside top American female executives from some of the most influential organizations in sports and business. The executive mentors in the 2017 program represent the following organizations: the Big East Conference; Burton Snowboards; Eli Lilly & Company; ESPN; Fox Sports; Gatorade; Google; the NCAA; the NHL; PGA of America; Saatchi & Saatchi LA; Spurs Sports & Entertainment; Under Armour; the University of Connecticut; and the Women’s Sports Foundation with this year’s emerging leaders hailing from 15 countries and territories across the globe.

ESPN announced that fans will be able to stream a selection of their favorite shows on demand on the ESPN App, including College GameDay Built by The Home Depot, Pardon the Interruption, and Around the Horn. “Our mission at ESPN is to serve sports fans, and now more than ever, they expect to stream their favorite shows on the device and time of day they prefer,” said John Lasker, ESPN vice president of digital media programming. “With today’s launch, fans can now access an array of ESPN’s most popular, award-winning shows – with more to come in the near future – anytime, anywhere.”

ESPORTS

In this week’s edition of Cynopsis Esports & Gaming…

Q&A with NBA 2K League’s Brendan Donohue
Paladins Premier League gets ready to joust
Nintendo World Championships 2017 fills in the gaps
Vainglory’s 2017 World Championships head to Singapore
Blizzard app boasts friendly fire
Cloud9 gets in injection
Astralis cracks the Coco
SAG-AFTRA’s cease fire

THE MAIN EVENT

Bears/Packers on CBS, NFL Network and Amazon at 8:25p.

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ON THIS DAY in 1920: Shoeless Joe Jackson and 1919 Chicago White Sox teammates are indicted by a grand jury for allegedly throwing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds.

In the Know: Which sports movie featured that tagline, “His whole life was a million-to-one shot”? (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: Who ranks as the Buccaneers all-time career passing leader (in yards)? Answer: Vinny Testaverde. Kudos: John Ferlazzo/London; Michael Ritz-BucStar Consulting/NY; Denis Barry-CBS/NY; Nate Hammond-JCC/NY; Rich Dubroff-PressBoxonline.com/Baltimore; Rick Rosenfelt-New York Red Bulls/Harrison; John Langermann-WINK-TV/WXCW-TV/Fort Myers; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Matt Fumagalli - Levy/Chicago; Matthew Shapiro/Denver; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank

Later -- Chris

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