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| Friday October 11, 2019 |
| ESPN is lining up its first live native 4K sports telecasts, beginning this weekend when it offers select regular season college football games live in native 4K resolution as part of the “Samsung QLED 4K Game of the Week.” The deal with Samsung, who serves as production collaborator and presenting sponsor. The action kicks off with Saturday’s matchup between Florida/LSU at 8p on ESPN and DIRECTV on channel 107.9at*. The package will include six college football games this season, as well as a 4K feed that will be part of ESPN’s “Megacast” presentation of the College Football Playoff National Championship Game on Jan. 13, 2020. “After months of planning and technical testing, we are excited sports fans can watch 4K UHD College Football games as part of the Samsung QLED 4K Game of the Week,” said Jodi Markley, EVP, ESPN Content Operations and Creative Services. “As 4K technical resources and workflows become more readily available, we will continue to grow this standard across our operations. 4K images are stunning and we look forward to sharing them with fans.” PROGRAMMING ESPN networks hit the courts this season with over 3,100 men’s college basketball games on deck, including 840 games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ABC, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, ACC Network (ACCN), Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and Longhorn Network. The network mapped out its plans, opening play with the State Farm Champions Classic pitting Kansas/Duke and Michigan State/Kentucky on Nov. 5 at 7p. Five games are set to air on ABC this season, beginning with Texas A&M/Texas on Dec. 8. Overall, ESPN networks will carry 26 early season events, including ten that are owned and operated by ESPN Events such as the inaugural Phil Knight Invitational. On the women’s side, ESPN’s college basketball slate will see more than 250 games made available across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, SEC Network, ACC Network (ACCN), Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and Longhorn Network. An additional 2,200-plus games on ESPN3, SEC Network +, ACCNX and ESPN+. Programming highlights are set to include a Thursday Showcase of key matchups, including a Tennessee facing UConn for the first time in 13 years. The Jimmy V Women’s Classic will run Dec. 8, while Big Mondays return for a seven-week run starting Jan. 6, with Ohio State and Maryland. Of course, ESPN serves as the home of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship. Beginning March 20, every round of the championship will be carried on ESPN Networks. The Women’s Final Four will be live from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, on Friday, April 3 and Sunday, April 5. WWE unveiled a lineup of FOX and NBCUniversal personalities who will be taking part in the WWE Draft starting tonight on Friday Night SmackDown on FOX and continuing with Raw on Monday on USA Network. Among the names who will be involved will be Alex Rodriguez, Michael Che, Colin Jost, Christian Slater, Troy Aikman, Joe Buck and Jim Cramer. For the first time, executives from FOX and USA Network have direct influence over the WWE Draft as it will determine the Superstars competing for either Raw or SmackDown, according to the announcement, with more than 70 Superstars, including Tag Teams, placed into this year’s WWE Draft pool. 30 Superstars will be eligible to be drafted tonight while 41 Superstars will be eligible on Monday Night. Since Friday Night SmackDown is a two-hour show and Monday Night Raw is a three-hour show, for every two SmackDown picks, Raw will get three. TBS carries the 2019 National League Championship Series presented by GEICO pitting the St. Louis Cardinals and Washington Nationals starting tonight at 8p. Brian Anderson (play-by-play) will be joined by MLB on TBS analysts Ron Darling and Jeff Francoeur, along with reporter Lauren Shehadi to call the NLCS. New for this year's NLCS, 16-year MLB veteran and two-time National League Champion Curtis Granderson will join the MLB on TBS studio team for analysis throughout the series. And will offer commentary alongside Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez, nine-time All-Star Gary Sheffield, former NL MVP Jimmy Rollins and host Casey Stern in the Atlanta studio, with the MLB Postseason Pre-Game Show on TBS presented by ExxonMobil leading off the network's NLCS coverage at 7p. Universal Tennis and Tennis Australia announced the AO2020 UTR Wildcard Playoff, a multi-week, multi-city event that gives any tennis player the opportunity to play their way into the main draw of the Australian Open 2020 via the AO Wildcard Playoff in Melbourne. The new AO2020 UTR Wildcard Playoff will kick off in Queensland on Nov. 7 with New South Wales to follow starting Nov. 14. The top two finishers (male and female) in each event will advance to the AO2020 UTR Wildcard Playoff Finals in Melbourne, from which two winners will gain entry into the AO Wildcard Playoff, running Dec. 9-15. The Professional Fighters League inked a strategic partnership with Mike Tyson. The first initiative under the deal will be the MMA series, Mike Tyson’s New Fight Game: The PFL, which is produced at Tyson Ranch, where Mike also films his popular video podcast talk show Hotboxin with Mike Tyson. The new PFL series will offer fighter perspective, inside analysis, and irreverent discussion and will run on PFL and Tyson digital and social platforms, including YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. Joining Mike on the show is Sean O’Connell, PFL ESPN play-by-play announcer and PFL 2018 Light Heavyweight Champion HBO Sports 24/7 documentary-reality franchise will focus on Kelly Slater on Dec. 3. The all-access, behind-the-scenes special will chronicle the most famous and prolific surfer of all time, 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, in the weeks leading up to the Billabong Pipe Masters in December in Oahu, Hawaii, the last leg in the World Surf League’s (WSL) Championship Tour. ESPN senior writer and TV/radio commentator Mina Kimes will host the new ESPN Daily co-presented by Dell and Indeed, a weekday podcast from ESPN’s team of journalists and storytellers set to debut October 21. The move comes as part of Kimes’ expanded role in a new multiyear agreement. Every weekday morning, ESPN Daily will take a “deep dive into a specific story in sports, using ESPN’s unmatched journalistic resources and deep roster of reporters, producers and commentators.” Speaking of podcasts, NBC Sports’ new weekly NHL podcast, Our Line Starts, is now available, highlighting the top stories of each week, including behind-the-scenes content and interviews conducted by NBC Sports’ NHL commentators. This week’s episode is hosted by Jeremy Roenick and Keith Jones and features Pierre McGuire’s interview with Vegas Golden Knights President of Hockey Operations George McPhee. NBC Sports Regional Networks announced a partnership with Religion of Sports – the media company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, and Gotham Chopra – to develop and produce Head Strong: Mental Health and Sports, a comprehensive multi-platform content initiative on mental health as well as men’s health issues. The joint project will launch in November to coincide with Men’s Health Awareness Month, anchored by a one-hour documentary that will be presented nationwide across NBC Sports Regional Networks and other NBC local and national platforms. |
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| SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION PepsiCo and Hollywood Park unlocked an expansive agreement that makes Pepsi and Frito-Lay the exclusive soft drink and salty snacks partners across SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park. The partnership extends across the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, with the venue opening in July 2020. As a founding partner of Hollywood Park, PepsiCo will gain category-exclusive marketing, sponsorship and promotional rights across the development, as well as certain soft drink and snacking rights for SoFi Stadium, the performance venue and American Airlines Plaza. PepsiCo’s Frito-Lay division will lead the snacking experience with brands that could include Tostitos, the Official Chip & Dip of the NFL. In addition, PepsiCo will host a 46,000-square-foot space in the stadium’s south zone, where fans can experience a series of culinary and entertainment activations. To celebrate the kickoff of its exclusive partnership with SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, PepsiCo will host SoFi Stadium’s first tailgate party for the people responsible for building the stadium. Budweiser announced a new partnership and campaign with Sergio Ramos, captain of Real Madrid and the Spanish national team. Ramos will be featured in a new extension of the Budweiser’s ‘Be a King’ campaign in celebration his career in advance of his upcoming milestone this weekend, the soon-to-be most capped player ever for Spain. Throughout the campaign, Budweiser will highlight Ramos’ hero journey to becoming “one of the greatest defenders of his generation by using the meaning and of his tattoos to showcase his achievements.” To kick off the partnership, Budweiser today released a hero film highlighting Ramos’ journey from Sevilla to the top of global football and will launch limited-edition tattoo bottles with exact replicas of Ramos’ real-life tattoos. The NHL cemented Navy Federal Credit Union as the title sponsor of the 2020 NHL Stadium Series at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Falcon Stadium on Feb. 15. The 2020 Navy Federal Credit Union NHL Stadium Series will pit the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings, with tickets on sale today. Conference USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod announced that Ryan has entered into an agreement to be the title sponsor for the 2019 C-USA Football Championship. Ryan, a global tax services and software provider, becomes the Official Corporate Tax Services Firm of Conference USA and will continue its title sponsorship of the annual football championship through 2021. DIGITAL, DATA & TECH September saw FOX Sports Digital notch its best month in video views since July-2018, ranking as the third best month in FOX Sports history, boasting 604M total video views (including worldwide views on YouTube), up 82% YoY. Meanwhile, fans consumed 2 billion minutes of FOX Sports digital content ( up 58% ), with social and streaming platforms both contributing 1 billion consumption minutes each with its best month ever on Facebook, topping 200+ million video views. “FOX Sports’ digital momentum continues to grow, as September delivered our biggest non-World Cup month in history,” said David Katz, Head of Digital for FOX Sports. “Our recipe of world-class talent, marquee event coverage, and content authentically crafted for the unique attributes of each platform is driving billions of minutes of viewership each month for our loyal fans. And the best is yet to come.” The new NHL season is offering new digital experience, including a new redesigned homepage on the League’s official website and a reconfigured Gamecenter experience in the flagship NHL App with both the website and the app operated by Disney Streaming Services in partnership with the NHL. Coming soon will also be interactive data visualizations that will create all new experiences for fans following live games. Additionally, NHL.TV is back for the 2019-20 season, offering hockey fans a variety of subscription packages to choose from to watch out-of-market games live or on-demand. FanDuel and the Indianapolis Colts announced an exclusive partnership, designating FanDuel as the “Official Fantasy Sports Partner of the Colts.” Through the partnership, the Colts and FanDuel will work to engage new and existing fans using a range of marketing assets, from in-stadium digital signage and in-game promotions to digital, radio, and TV advertising, among other branding initiatives. Runner’s World and Women’s Health launched the Runners Alliance, a national advocacy initiative to combat harassment against female runners. The Runners Alliance, launching digitally and also in the November issues of both magazines, will break down what it means to run while female, and provide all runners and communities across the nation the tools and solutions needed to make running safer for women. The NFL confirmed the second annual Big Data Bowl, calling on college students and experts to devise innovative approaches to analyzing rushing plays. Analysts are challenged to devise an algorithm to predict how many yards a ball carrier will gain on rushing plays, using game and play characteristics, as well as Next Gen Stats player tracking data from the moment a handoff is made. New this year, during Weeks 13 through 17, participants will be a part of a live leaderboard posted on Kaggle that scores competitors each week based on how accurately their algorithm predicted the ball carrier performance. The top three submissions on Kaggle will share $75,000 in prize money. ESPORTS N3rd Street Gamers entered into a partnership with Philly-based retailer Five Below to expand Localhost nationwide with Five Below leading its $12 million Series A financing round. They were joined by existing investors Comcast, SeventySix Capital, Elevate Capital, and angel investor George Miller. As part of the deal, Five Below and Nerd Street Gamers will build 3,000 square foot Localhost spaces connected to select Five Below stores beginning with a multi-store pilot in 2020. Rollout plans could include 70 or more locations over the next several years. In addition to the Localhosts connected to Five Below stores, Nerd Street Gamers plans to build 50 larger regional and university-based facilities. The Red Bull Mobile Esports Open is back for a second season, with an eye “go bigger and better.” The event is already underway with Brawl Stars and Clash Royale from publisher Supercell returning for the tournament. In addition, Blizzard’s fast-paced Hearthstone makes its Red Bull M.E.O. debut. Red Bull has also teamed up with two new partners for M.E.O. Season 2- FACEIT and Paysafecard. Millennial Esports Corp. detailed plans to expand its global esports and motorsport content creation and distribution platform with the acquisition of a controlling stake in leading automotive YouTube channel, LetsGoRacing. The channel has achieved more than 40 million views from fans across the globe who have watched a 270 million minutes of content since 2013. "Adding LetsGoRacing to our pending purchase of DriverDatabase.com has the same intention – expand an engaged and passionate fan base by providing new products and content that blur the lines between esports and motorsports," Millennial Esports President and CEO, Darren Cox said. INDUSTRY & ROSTER MOVES World Professional Surfers firmed up a 10-year agreement with the World Surf League, marking the longest partnership agreement in history between the two groups. “The working relationship between the WPS and the WSL has strengthened significantly in recent years and we’re very pleased to announce the 10-year agreement between the surfers and the League today,” Christian Beserra, WPS COO, said. “It’s a great symbol of the long-term commitment, trust and confidence the surfers have in the WSL and the direction that ownership and management are taking the sport of surfing. It will be great for the athletes to continue to have a world-class platform to perform on for many years to come Former MGM Television President John Bryan and KDOC-TV owner Bert Ellis, Jr. purchased 50% of Mighty Oak Entertainment from Mark O’Brien. Bryan and Ellis will now join the company as President and Chairman, respectively. The shows produced and distributed by Mighty Oak include: Whacked Out Sports, TV Auto Show, Goofball Sports, Whacked Out Sports Machine, Whacked Out Videos, Whacked Out Sports 3D, Monster Knockout, Knockout Sports World, Sports Crash, Sports Pizza, Sports-A-Palooza, World Palooza. “This partnership with John and Bert is an opportunity to take our areas of expertise and bring them together to build a multi-platform network of content for the global marketplace. We have over 10,000 clips with music licensed in perpetuity that is available for all areas of distribution. We each bring unique skill sets to maximize the library, expand titles and create new IP. I am honored to be in business with both John and Bert,” stated O’Brien. THE MAIN EVENT Nationals/Cardinals on TBS at 8p. |
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| ON THIS DAY in 1925 The NY Giants play their first NFL game. In the Know The NFL’s NY Giants originally called which venue home? (Email cpursell@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your company and city). Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question In which sport might you hear that “a bowler has taken five wickets”? Answer: Cricket. Kudos: Graeme Stanley-Insight TV/Amsterdam; Christopher Long-DraftKings/NY; Karen Van Vleet-Scout 360/NY; Greg Maltzman-Up Down Digital NY; Russell Sargeant-NBC Sports/NY; Mike May-PHIT America/Wellington; Matt Laramee-Southern New Hampshire University/Manchester Christopher Kull-The Nielsen Company/Oldsmar; Matt Sautter-WideOrbit/Harrisburg; Joe Lyons-ESPN/Dallas; John Kukla-KDFW/KDFI/Dallas; Dory Petsrillo-Cox Reps/Dallas; Mark Phillip-Are You Watching This?!/Austin; Rich Wolfe-Lone Wolfe Press/Scottsdale; Wendy Holmes-KCNC-TV/Denver; Anne Wettig-Fox/Fox Sports S&P/LA; Rich Greene-Casa Del Verde Entertainment/LA; Reed Zabel-WME/LA Later~~Chris |
Cynopsis Team
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