CynopsisSports

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

Sports business heavyweights Ticketmaster and Fanatics are teaming up for a long-term, industry-first partnership that will integrate official verified tickets and official licensed merchandise into the fan shopping experience of both sites. The partnership will offer leagues, teams and universities “with an integrated e-commerce solution while leveraging each company’s customer database to drive a unique fan rewards program.” Under the new deal, Ticketmaster will be the exclusive ticketing provider to Fanatics, providing fans the opportunity to immediately purchase tickets through embedded links on Fanatics.com, FansEdge.com and hundreds of team/league e-stores. In addition, every purchase made by fans will also include Fanatics FanCash, a proprietary rewards program which provides fans with real currency and leverage its reach of sports fans to provide Fanatics the ability to deliver special offers to past purchasers or target new customers.

ON THE AIR

Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao is poised to end his two-year hiatus from a US boxing ring when he returns to Las Vegas to defend his World Boxing Association welterweight world title against former four-division world champion Adrien "The Problem" Broner. The Pacquiao/Broner world championship event will take place on Jan. 19 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and be produced and distributed live by SHOWTIME PPV and presented by Premier Boxing Champions beginning at 9p.

SNF’s coverage of the Vikings/Bears on NBC notched a 12.3/21 in Nielsen overnight numbers (not including digital). That marks NBC’s third consecutive November SNF game this season to top the 12.0 mark, a first for the franchise since record-setting 2015 season.

Week 11 of the NFL regular season handed CBS Sports with another week of growth as its singleheader coverage of The NFL on CBS drew a 9.3/19 average household rating/share from Nielsen to mark a rise of 15% in the metered markets over last year’s equivalent. Through 11 weeks, the franchise’s season-to-date numbers are up 4% from a year ago.

NBCSN will showcase the Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year Awards on Dec. 13 at 9p. Produced by Sports Illustrated and JASH, the annual awards show will be nationally televised as a one-hour special for the second consecutive year, honoring six categories: Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year, Muhammad Ali Legacy Award, SportsKid of the Year, and three separate awards given to athletes who “inspired, amazed and surprised the entire sports universe in 2018.”

Finalists have been revealed for the nine National College Football Awards Association honors that will be presented at The Home Depot College Football Awards. The show will be live on ESPN from the Chick-Fil-A College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta on Dec. 6, at 7p. The annual ceremony is hosted by Chris Fowler with Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Tom Rinaldi, and Maria Taylor slated to l join Fowler throughout the show. Meanwhile, Marty Smith and Ryan McGee will join Taylor to host the The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Special presented by Daltile at 6p on ESPNU. A special edition of Championship Drive: Path to the Playoff presented by AT&T will air immediately after the show at 9p on ESPN hosted by Chris Cotter, David Pollack and Jonathan Vilma.

Tonight at 9p, Golf Channel sees host David Feherty take on golf’s most memorable moments of the year o Feherty: Brilliantly Stupid Not So Special Year-End Special. The show will follow a conversation format, with Feherty being joined by Lanny Wadkins, along with Golf Channel Insider Jaime Diaz.

Meanwhile, Golf Channel’s Golf Films unit gave the greenlight to a second season of Driven, a four-part documentary series executive produced by PGA TOUR superstar Rickie Fowler that follows the journeys and rivalries of college golf’s top programs. The new season will premiere in the spring of 2019 on Golf Channel and NBC, profiling University of Alabama men’s golf team and their “Iron Bowl” rivalry with Auburn University. Leading up to Golf Channel’s coverage of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Golf Championships, Driven is slated to air on three consecutive Mondays starting May 6 on Golf Channel, with the final installment premiering on NBC following the championships.

NBC Sports also detailed plans to present more than 40 hours of coverage of the 2018-19 FIL Luge World Cup season across NBCSN, Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA, and digital platforms. The season kicks off with the first World Cup in Innsbruck, Austria, followed by a stop in Whistler, British Columbia with NBCSN and Olympic Channel: Home of Team USA presenting nearly 10 hours of World Championships programming overall.

The NFL and Mexico's President-Elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador confirmed that the third game of the existing agreement signed in 2016 will be played in 2019 at Estadio Azteca. The announcement comes after this year’s game was moved back to the US due to poor turf conditions, and the date and time of the game will be determined in conjunction with the release of the NFL schedule next spring

WWEnamed Chicago as host of Survivor SeriesWeekend in 2019 where Survivor Series, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live and NXT TakeOver all taking place at Allstate Arena across four consecutive nights, starting Nov. 22 with Survivor Series on Nov. 24.

CBS Sports Network, in conjunction with DragonFli Media Technologies and Left Coast Wrestling, will televise the collegiate wrestling showcase, “Battle on the Midway,” to a national-television audience on Sunday at 11p. The event features a collegiate wrestling dual between Stanford University and Fresno State University on the deck of the famed aircraft carrier USS Midway. Steve Quis will handle the play-by-play, Adam Tirapelle will provide analysis, while Brooke Landau will serve as the mat-side reporter.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

The Latest Strategies for Maximizing & Monetizing Mobile Engagement

December 6 | 1:30 PM – 3PM ET

Join us for this FREE Cynopsis webinar and learn:

How to make it personal: Millennials don’t just want personalized experiences, they expect them. According to Boston Consulting Group, brands that offer personalized experiences by integrating advanced digital technologies and proprietary data are seeing revenue increase by two to three times faster than those that don’t. Hear from Group Nine Media, Vox Media & Oath.

[ REGISTER YOUR TEAM HERE ]

SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION

Major League Baseball named Mitel the title partner of the first two London Series, the pair of two-game slated to be played at London Stadium over the next two summers to mark baseball’s first games ever played in Europe. The event takes place June 29-30 between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. This expanded international partnership between Mitel and MLB now embeds the league’s Official Business Technology & Communications Partner into all activation, branding and marketing surrounding the landmark games in the United Kingdom’s capital city next summer.

Pure Silk inked a deal to become the title sponsor for Kingsmill Resort’s LPGA tournament for the next three years. The deal for the Pure Silk Championship runs through 2021 with next year’s tournament set to take place from May 20-26 at the Williamsburg-based resort’s River Course.

DIGITAL & STREAMING

Turner Sports announced the launch of B/R Live’s “Pick ’Em Challenge” – a predictive trivia game for Capital One’s The Match: Tiger vs. Phil. The Match, set to take place on Nov. 23 at 3p on PPV. The initiative provides users a chance to make picks in real time or prior to the start of the pay-per-view event to predict the outcome of each hole for a chance to win. Players can also earn bonus points by having “streaks” of correct answers. The overall points winner will get an all-expense paid trip to Las Vegas and potentially win the top prize of $1 million dollars.

FloSports announced an extended partnership with East Preps LLC to offer live and on-demand coverage of three of its college football bowl games - the SPIRAL Tropical Bowl, the FCS National Bowl and the National Bowl, as well as the All America Classic through 2021. As part of the agreement, FloFootball will also broadcast a new high school all-star football game, the All America Classic, on Jan. 12, 2019.

The PGA TOUR announced that IMG Arena will distribute official PGA TOUR scoring data for media usage and sports betting purposes. Under the multi-year agreement, IMG Arena will distribute official PGA TOUR data to sports media companies, news services and other media organizations worldwide. Further, IMG Arena will have the exclusive right to distribute official data and selected live video of PGA TOUR competitions to international regulated sports betting and gaming markets.

WSC Sports and Stadium locked in an expanded partnership that brings WSC Sports’ generated video highlights to Stadium’s multiple digital distribution platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and MSN, enabling Stadium to distribute highlight videos to existing and new audiences with enhanced and tailored engagement.

ESPN+ and UNINTERRUPTED, the digital media company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, will debut a new original series, More Than An Athlete on Nov. 20 on the platform. The eight-episode series examines the “various stages and moments of LeBron James’ journey from basketball prodigy to global sports icon, businessman and philanthropist through the lens of the unique bonds of friendship and partnership which forged between four men over more than two decades – James, Carter, Randy Mims and Rich Paul.”

ESPORTS

Major League Soccer and EA SPORTS are shoring up plans for eMLS, unveiling an expanded schedule that will feature 22 MLS clubs in the 2019 season that will be integrated into the competitive ecosystem, with Atlanta United, D.C. United and FC Cincinnati joining the competition for the first time as players compete to represent their club at the 2019 eMLS Cup presented by PlayStation. The competitive infrastructure will expand to include the inaugural eMLS League Series presented by PlayStation, comprised of two events: eMLS League Series One hosted in conjunction with the LA Galaxy in January and eMLS League Series Two with FC Dallas in February. Each of these eMLS League Series events will include participation from all eMLS professional FIFA players and will result in their own distinct prizing opportunities. eMLS player performance across the two eMLS League Series events will determine seeding for the 2019 eMLS Cup presented by PlayStation.

Esports Stadium Arlington announced that NVIDIA will become the official graphics platform of the venue, which opens as the largest dedicated esports facility in North America. As a founding member, NVIDIA brings high-end graphics cards and NVIDIA G-SYNC technology to enhance the gaming experience for gamers in this state-of-the-art facility. NVIDIA.

Global esports organization Gen.G announced a new sponsorship agreement with SIDIZ, Korea’s top chair manufacturer. Through the partnership, SIDIZ is providing gaming chairs to Gen.G teams who train at Seoul HQ — Seoul Dynasty, LoL, PUBG, HoTs and Overwatch Contenders.

ROSTER MOVES

Learfield announced the additions of Mike Hamilton and Joe Potter as part of the company’s University Partnership Group, Hamilton has been named executive vice president and will lead the University Partnership Group, and Potter joins the company as senior vice president with the same group.

THE MAIN EVENT

Maui Invitational throughout the day on ESPN and ESPN2.

A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE

The 2019 Cynopsis TV Awards

“Networks are diving deep into so many genres - real estate, cooking, true crime and so much more. And Cynopsis aims to give each one its due.”
- Roberta Caploe, Cynopsis Publisher

Winning a Cynopsis TV Award is acknowledgement from your peers – and from the leading B2B digital publication in our industry – that your work has risen to the top in entertaining and enriching a broad audience.

ENTER BY 11/21

ON THIS DAY in 1977: Steve Largent begins his NFL streak of 177 consecutive game receptions.

In the Know: What was the name of the play used by Boise State in 2007 to win the Fiesta Bowl over Oklahoma and score a two-point conversion? (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 If Florida State and Virginia Tech don’t make the college football postseason, which school would have the nation’s longest active bowl streak? Answer: Georgia. Kudos: Synda Kollman-Charter Marketing Group/Boca Raton; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Federal Credit Union/Burbank

Later - Chris

Chris Pursell @VegasandVine
Roberta Caploe Publisher @robertacaploe	Diane K Schwartz Senior Vice President Media Communications Group	Cynopsis Ad Sales Mike Farina \| 203-218-6480 VP, Sales	Cynopsis Job Listings Sales Trish Pihonak \| 203-899-8459 Director of Operations

CYNOPSISJOBS - For More jobs, please visit Cynopsis.com

JOB OF THE DAY

UX/UI DEVELOPER
WIDEORBIT
VANCOUVER WA

Lending your UI/UX skills to help create new user exp. Partner w/dvlpmnt, product support, QA & other Streaming/On Demand teams to make the best product we can. 5+ yrs relevant working exp. Experience writing modern web apps in ES6 React/Redux.

Full info/apply HERE

JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, BUSINESS AFFAIRS/Eko/NYC: Media/tech co. pioneering a new medium seeks Dir, Bus. Affairs to play a key role in shaping our relationships w/our key content partners. Oversee deal structure/negotiation w/prod partners. Min 5-7yrs exp prod partnerships at a film/TVmedia co. Full info/apply HERE (11/26)

JOB OPENING: Sr. ACCT. DIRECTOR/Quartz/NYC: Drive & grow revenue for various brands across diff. verticals; Finance exp. w/agency & client relationships; Passion for global business & digital media. Apply HERE (11/26)

JOB OPENING: DIGITAL MEDIA ENGINEER/Crown Media Family Networks/LA: Oversee the processing of digital audio/visual and photographic assets. Designs and implements workflows. Provides tier two technical support for Media Ops systems. Min 2 years post production digital asset mgmt. req. Apply HERE (11/23)

JOB OPENING: TEMP PROJECT MGR, ON-AIR PROMO/Crown Media Family Networks/LA: Track creative asset delivery between Crown Media and W Network in Canada. Serve as logistical liaison. Mng master tracking doc, create/deliver presentations, req & deliver assets. Min 4 yrs cable or network TV on-air promo or mktg. Apply HERE (11/23)

JOB OPENING: UX/UI DEVELOPER/WIDEORBIT/VANCOUVER WA: Lending your UI/UX skills to help create new user exp. Partner w/dvlpmnt, product support, QA & other Streaming/On Demand teams to make the best product we can. 5+ yrs relevant working exp. Experience writing modern web apps in ES6 React/Redux. Full info/apply HERE (11/23)

JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR, PROGRAM RSRCH/BRAVO & OXYGEN/NYC: Leverage multiplatform data to dvlp data-driven strategies for optimizing viewership & monetization. Min 7 yrs exp in media rsrch w/prev exp in ntwrk or cable or w/an agency or vendor. Mng exp w/direct reports pref’d. Full info/apply HERE (11/22)

JOB OPENING: DIGITAL SALES DIRECTOR/NBC & Telemundo/Chicago: Driven/results-oriented sales professional to lead/ mng local digital sales efforts to achieve & exceed dig. revenue targets. Mng/dvlp/oversee, WMAQ (NBC) & WSNS (Telemundo) website & mobile platform revenue. Min 5 yrs relevant sales exp. Full info/apply HERE (11/22)

JOB OPENING: SALES PLANNER/Crown Media Family Networks/ATL: Provide sales and support to the Ad Sales team for Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama. Maintain media schedules, build sales plans, manage added value. BS and minimum 1 year exp. req. Apply HERE(11/22)

JOB OPENING: Sr. MEDIA SOFTWARE ENGINEER/A+E/Stamford, CT&NYC: Lead software dev for media tech & infrastructure; Python, Ruby, PHP, Perl or JavaScript; Exp Microsoft SQL server. Full info/apply HERE (11/22)

JOB OPENING: MANAGER, DIGITAL MARKETING ANALYTICS/Showtime/NYC: Exp’d working w/large & disparate data sets, dvlpng into actionable insights toward goals of optimizing mktg effectiveness & ROI. 3+ yrs business intel. or mktg analytics, dvlpng quantitative analyses of sales & mktg data. Full info/apply HERE (11/21)

JOB OPENING: DIRECTOR- BUSINESS & LEGAL AFFAIRS/Discovery Networks/LA or NYC: Attorney Resp. for negotiating and drafting production and talent deals/contracts. Min 4 years post-law school experience at a network (cable or broadcast) or prod co req’d. APPLY. (11/21)

JOB OPENING: MGR/SR. MANAGER ADVANCED ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS/A+E Networks/NY: Create ground breaking ad products, certifying new partners, devices & pts. of distribution, & owning the prod. education, maintenance, & specification process. FreeWheel ad server expert w/exp mngng cross-functional projects. Full Info/Apply HERE (11/21)