SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
The International Olympic Committee renewed vows with Samsung Electronics, extending their partnership through to 2028. Samsung will continue as the Worldwide Olympic Partner in the wireless communications equipment and computing equipment category, including the ability to promote the Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and 5G features of that equipment. As part of the agreement, the IOC and Samsung will further develop their strategic digital collaboration to engage young generations around the world in order to promote the power of sport and the values of Olympism.
The NFL and Arrow Electronics announced the launch of 1st and Future, the NFL's annual Super Bowl competition designed to drive innovation in athlete safety and performance. The event will be presented by Arrow Electronics and hosted at Georgia Institute of Technology at the Ferst Center for the Arts in Atlanta on Feb. 2, the day before Super Bowl LIII. This year's event will feature two categories of competition. The first category, the NFL Punt Analytics Competition, is new this year and will give applicants access to exclusive NFL data sets to inform creative submissions about rule changes designed to reduce player injury during punt plays. The second category, Innovations to Advance Athlete Health and Safety Competition, invites submissions for innovative product concepts that could improve player health and safety and will be managed by Georgia Tech's Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC).
The Las Vegas Aces announced that Franklin Group will serve as the “Official Printing and Promotional Partner” for the WNBA team. The partnership is a multi-year deal, and financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
DIGITAL, DATA & TECH
Twitter laid out the sports world that was in 2018, breaking down highlights from the past year. LeBron James ranked was the most Tweeted about athlete in the world in 2018. Meanwhile, the most Tweeted day of 2018 was Sunday, February 25, the day of the PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games Closing Ceremony with 103 million Tweets sent about the Olympics. From the US POV, top athletes were LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick, Kobe Bryant, Kyrie Irving and Tom Brady. Top Tweeted about teams were led by the Cleveland Cavaliers, followed by the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia Eagles, Golden State Warriors and New York Yankees. Top sports commentators: Adam Schefter, Shannon Sharpe, Jemele Hill, Skip Bayless and Darren Rovell. The top sports event was the FIFA World Cup Russia.
Combate Americas, the Hispanic Mixed Martial Arts sports franchise, launched the Combate World channel on Pluto TV, the leading free streaming television service in America in time for the Fall 2018 season. The platform will stream content in English and Spanish and will include past matches, Combate Americas fighter profiles and a reality show.
ESPORTS
Fnatic and global music streaming service, Deezer, unveiled the new ‘Sound of Fnatic’ experience designed to “bring fans even closer to the tunes that motivate and inspire their favorite players.” The deal will allow fans to discover a variety of tunes from one of the three Fnatic playlist categories - Fnatic Moods, Music Mondays and Player Playlists, which sees 18 Fnatic players from a variety of games personally hand-pick and creat dedicated playlists to share with fans.
Beasley Media Group’s 101 WRIF-FM will team up with The Detroit Renegades to host the first ever Detroit Renegades ESPORTS Live! on Dec. 9 starting at 1p. The Detroit Renegades Fortnite Team will conduct live game play for fans while also hosting a slate of activities, such as workshops on gaming “like a pro”, question and answer sessions, meet & greets, fan signings and more. Checkpoint XP hosts.
INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES
FOX Sports named Emmy and Peabody Award winner Michael Tolajian as Senior Vice President and Executive Producer, FOX Sports Films. Tolajian is charged with the acquisition and development of long-form projects for the Sports Emmy-nominated Magnify documentary series, beginning with Q BALL, which he directed. Tolajian also oversees all original programming connected to FOX Sports’ live rights league partners.
The Crown League, the first professional fantasy football league owned by the fans, announced the appointment of Josh Babich as its first Director of Product, reporting to Chief Technology Officer Mike Jimenez. Sean Felter has been named The Crown League’s Vice President, Investor Relations & League Development.
Go To Team unveiled its twentieth market launch in Las Vegas. “Twenty Staff Camera crews is tremendous and we’re excited to be launching our 20th in Las Vegas, Nevada”, says Go To Team Managing Partner, Shawn Moffatt. “Las Vegas’ great characters, nightlife, and gaming have brought us here to shoot for many years, but its recent explosive growth in Sports Entertainment makes having an elite Go To Team trained camera crew in this city, permanently, a must ”
THE MAIN EVENT
Manchester United/Arsenal on NBCSN at 3p.
