The New York Mets announced that minority owner Steve Cohen is negotiating with Fred Wilpon's holding company, Sterling Partners, to acquire up to 80% of the club, according to Bloomberg. As part of the deal, both Fred Wilpon and his son, Jeff Wilpon, will remain in their respective roles with the organization for the next five years. If the transaction were to go through, it would value the Mets at $2.6 billion, Bloomberg reports. In 2012, Cohen spent $20 million to buy a 4% stake in the Mets. Sterling Partners currently owns about 68% of the team. PROGRAMMING
Opening with ratings. Monday Night Football saw the Seahawks’ win over the Vikings average 14,160,000 viewers on ESPN and ESPN Deportes, according to Nielsen to mark a spike of 23% over Week 13 a year ago and push ESPN to a win for the night among all networks. Meanwhile, the Iron Bowl held strong for The SEC on CBS as Auburn’s win over Alabama averaged 11.430 million viewers, up 25% over last year’s game, and peaking with 18.154 million viewers from 7:15 to 7:30p. Birmingham was the top-rated market for the Iron Bowl with a 50.2/71 household rating/share. ESPN also reports that College GameDay delivered its largest audience of the 2019 college football season on Saturday, generating a three-hour audience of 2,280,000 viewers for its first ever show from the University of Minnesota. Around the dial, FOX Sports’ Big Noon Kickoff pregame show notched a viewership record with 2,788,000 viewers. Heading into Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game between No. 1 Ohio State and No. 8 Wisconsin, FOX Sports is enjoying its most-watched college football season to-date, averaging 2,054,000 viewers on FOX and FS1, up 10% from the previous high. FOX Sports’ coverage of the 2019 Big Ten Championship Game begins Saturday at 7p with a one-hour edition of Big Ten Championship Pregame featuring host Rob Stone and analysts Brady Quinn, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Urban Meyer. Meanwhile, CBS Sports serves up LSU and Georgia in the 2019 SEC Championship on Saturday at 4p on CBS. Brad Nessler, Gary Danielson and reporter Jamie Erdahl call the action from Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. Studio coverage is live from Mercedes-Benz Stadium with host Adam Zucker, along with analysts Rick Neuheisel, Brian Jones and Kevin Carter. Auburn head coach Gus Malzahn, who coached against both LSU and Georgia this season, joins as a guest analyst. UEFA unveiled a new Women’s Champions League format that will be introduced from 2021/22, including a 16-team group stage as well as centralized marketing and TV coverage. The change was agreed today by the UEFA Executive Committee and will bring a 20% increase in the number of matches. The current knockout round of 16 will be replaced by a group stage, with four groups of four teams playing each other home and away. The top two in each group progress to the quarter-finals. In the new format and agreement, the media rights will be centralized from the group stage onwards, with UEFA producing every game for TV or online streaming purposes. Sponsorship rights will be partially centralized for UEFA women’s football partners from the group stage. Combate Americas announced that BMF champion Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal will serve as a color commentator for the ‘Tito vs. Alberto – What Side Are You On’ pay-per-view television on Saturday. Masvidal will join Julianna “The Venezuelan Vixen” Peña and play-by-play veteran Max Bretos in the television booth at Payne Arena to call the action. Pac-12 Network takes on Friday’s Pac-12 Football Championship Game between Utah and Oregon with on-site special editions of Inside Pac-12 Football at Levi’s Stadium and pregame coverage starting at 4p PT. |
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SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
AT&T announced that Lady Gaga will headline this year’s newly named AT&T TV Super Saturday Night on February 1 in Miami, the evening before the Super Bowl, which marks the event’s tenth anniversary, having previously been known as DIRECTV Super Saturday Night. The event will be livestreamed at twitter.com/ItsOnATT and held at Meridian at Island Gardens. Year after year, in cities all across the country, we’ve built specially-curated venues from the ground up to provide both our mega-star performers and their adoring fans a one-night-only concert experience they will not forget. And this year will be no different,” said Valerie Vargas, senior vice president – advertising and creative services, AT&T. “In Miami, we’re going to go big and bold - two words synonymous with Lady Gaga. Over the course of her career, she has undoubtedly delivered the most epic performances that have defined a generation.” Busch Beer, the “Official Beer of NASCAR,” was awarded the 2019 Marketing Achievement Award at the NASCAR Industry Awards Reception during NASCAR Champion’s Week in Nashville. “We take great pride in creating new and surprising ways to engage NASCAR fans throughout the year, so being honored with this award is a special achievement for our team,” said Nick Kelly, vice president partnerships, beer category and community, Anheuser-Busch. “Our partnership with NASCAR and the industry at-large has allowed us to do what we do best, deliver creative marketing that resonates with fans and drives consumption of crisp, refreshing Busch Beer.” Pat McAfee has been named the official Cheez-It Bowl Master of Cheez. College football fans will now have a chance to attend the Cheez-It Bowl with McAfee joining him in a two-story Cheez-It “box” for a new kind of game experience. ASICS announced multi-year sponsorship deals with five athletes; distance runners Lindsay Flanagan and Clayton Young, sprinter Kiara Parker, long jumper Kate Hall and hurdler Payton Chadwick. All five athletes will exclusively wear ASICS apparel and footwear. "Lindsay, Clayton, Kiara, Kate and Payton have all shown the characteristics of an ideal ambassadors for our brand," said Koichiro Kodama, CEO of ASICS North America. "We are proud to have them wear our products and represent ASICS on the world's stage. 2020 is an important year for the ASICS brand, both regionally in North America and globally in Japan." DIGITAL, DATA & TECH
The New York Yankees are reportedly poised to partner with Amazon to become the first MLB team to offer games to in-market viewers without a cable TV subscription. The New York Post writes that YES Network will allow online streaming for a limited number of games, likely on Amazon’s Prime Video service, starting as soon as the 2020 season, via an annual streaming package at a fixed cost. The International Olympic Committee’s global Olympic Channel launched an official account on TikTok, where it will look to engage with young fans and new audiences through TikTok’s platform by creating short videos featuring behind-the-scenes content, interaction with athletes and bespoke original pieces. ESPORTS - Soulcalibur to go on Tour
- Rainbow sets 2020 start
- Forza continues Show-mance
- Breaking down Hearthstone Battlegrounds
- Astro Gaming oils its Gears
- Gaming’s social impact
- ESL makes cuts
- Riot makes amends
INDUSTRY & ROSTER MOVES
Global sports marketing agency Lagardère Sports named Joel Segal as Chief Executive Officer of the agency’s North American business operations effective immediately. “Joel’s drive to succeed is easily apparent and is illustrated by his long career as one of the most prominent talent agents in all of sports,” said Ugo Valensi, Chief Executive Officer of Lagardère Sports and Entertainment. “His passion and long track record of leading a thriving sports business makes him the ideal person to lead the entirety of our North American operations.” VSiN named its first CMO, tapping Derek Van Nostran for the position where he will head VSiN’s strategic marketing efforts to grow audiences across platforms, increase advertising revenue, drive VSiN distribution to OTT platforms, and continue to develop the VSiN brand identity. As Head of OTT Marketing for Sinclair Digital, Van Nostran led strategic marketing efforts to drive growth for the cross-platform streaming news service NewsON as well as the live local multi-linear streaming service STIRR. He was responsible for OTT audience growth which resulted in millions of downloads, hundreds of thousands of monthly viewers, and six-figure monthly OTT advertising revenue. THE MAIN EVENT
Cowboys/Bears on FOX, NFL Network and Amazon Prime Video at 8:20p. |
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ON THIS DAY in 1974 The Seattle Seahawks are established. In the Know Which two teams have the Mets beaten in the World Series? (Email cpursell@cynopsis.com with your answer and be sure to include your company and city). Answer to Our Last Sports Trivia Question Which is the only NFC East team that Herschel Walker did not play for? Answer: Washington Redskins. Kudos: Keith Marder-Halstead Real Estate/NY; Greg Maltzman-Up Down Digital/NY; Chris Long-DraftKings/NY; Denis Barry-CBS/NY; Willy Gibson-WTG Sports/Columbus; Rick Rosenfelt-New York Red Bulls/Harrison; Paul Brewer-TV Talent Agents, Inc/North Augusta; Mike May-PHIT America/Wellington; Mike Seidel- CSI Sports/Jersey City; Matt Fumagalli-NBC & Telemundo Chicago/Chicago; John Tingue-hulu/Chicago; Travis Wacker-Good Karma Brands Milwaukee/Milwaukee; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station; Greg Moloznik-GLM Media/Scottsdale; Rich Greene-Casa Del Verde Productions/LA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/LA; Anne Wettig-FOX/FOX Sports S&P/LA; David Westberg-SAG-AFTRA Credit Union/Burbank; Allison Stevens-Effectv/San Francisco Later ~ Chris |
RESEARCH MANAGER, RATINGS & MEASUREMENT ABC News NYC Deliver ratings and insights for ABC News programs and competitors. 5+ years related exp. NPower/NNTV experience a must as well as strong interpersonal skills. Full info HERE VP, HR OPS & COMPLIANCE >> A+E/NY: Dvlp/execute HR initiatives in the areas of: Reporting & Systems, with a heavy emphasis on optimizing the use of Workday; Employee Relations & Investigations; Compliance; Policies & Training. YOU NEED: Min 7 yrs relevant HR exp, proficiency in Workday with proven success, strong plng & orgnztnl skills, strong comm & relationship building skills w/ability to pursue accurate data. Apply HERE (12/19) SR DIRECTOR, CONSUMER MARKETING >> INSP/Charlotte NC: Support VP & EVP w/dvlpmnt of strategic positioning for new & returning series and films: determine the target audience, and establish marketing objectives and strategies. 7-10 yrs exp entertainment, brand mktg, advertising cable/streaming. Full info HERE (12/18) PRODUCTION MGR, LIVE SPORTS >> WarnerMedia-Turner Studios/ATL: Connect dots & tend closely to details in order to ensure that our live sports content (NBA, NCAA, UEFA, ELEAGUE and more), both in studio & location, are executed successfully. Tech savvy, high EQ & great org skills. 6+yrs live studio TV prod management exp. Full info HERE (12/18) PRODUCTION MGR, ENTERTAINMENT BRANDS >> WarnerMedia-Turner Studios/ATL: Jack of all trades to mng all details in order to ensure that our entertainment, corp & non-brdcst productions, both in studio and on location, are executed successfully. Must have great attention to detail & org skills. 6+yrs live studio TV prod mngmnt exp. Full info HERE (12/18) PRODUCTION CREW MGR (2 NEEDED) >> WarnerMedia-Turner Studios/ATL: Lead charge in cultivating a strong culture that inspires and motivates our team of 50+ staff and 200+ temporary below-the-line crew members. Dvlp & administer talent assessments. 6-8+yrs mngmnt/leadership dvlpmnt exp, pref in media or a comparable creative industry. Full info HERE (12/18) AD SALES PLANNER >> Katz Networks (Bounce, Laff, Grit, Court TV Mystery)/NYC: Strategic & analytical thinker needed to dvlp sales plans & packages for clients, working w/TV Ad Sales team, agency contacts, as well as mult internal depts. 2+yrs industry related adv exp; Detail-oriented, disciplined team player. Knwldg of Wide Orbit +. Full info HERE (12/18)
RESEARCH MANAGER, RATINGS & MEASUREMENT >> ABC NEWS/NYC: Deliver ratings and insights for ABC News programs and competitors. 5+ years related exp. NPower/NNTV experience a must as well as strong interpersonal skills. Full info HERE (12/18)
MGR, DIGITAL INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS >> beIN MEDIA GROUP/Miami: Responsible for maintaining measurement across beIN Digital Platforms and creating materials that position beIN SPORTS positively for Ad Sales across the competitive sports landscape. Full info HERE (12/11)
ANALYST, GLOBAL CONSUMER INSIGHTS >> Viacom International Media Networks/NYC: Resp for dvlpng a deep understanding of Viacom audiences around the world, then disseminating those findings within the co. & beyond. 2-3 yrs exp in primary rsrch. Working knowledge of graphics design & video editing software. Full info HERE (12/11)
PRESCHOOL TV SERIES PRODUCER >> 9 Story Media Group/NYC: Exp’d producer for an iconic, high profile preschool series (live action 2D, 3D). Min 5 yrs exp animation production. Strong story telling skills & understanding of preschool audience. Full info HERE (12/10)
VICE PRESIDENT, MULTIPLATFORM SALES RESEARCH >> The CW Network/NYC: The CW Network seeks a Vice President, Multiplatform Sales Research for their Media Sales & Planning department. Thought leader with in depth knowledge in Digital/Linear Research. Developing product & brand research for multiplatform. Full info HERE (12/10)
COUNSEL, BUSINESS & LEGAL AFFAIRS, CONTENT DISTRIBUTION >> NBC/NYC: Support VP, Content Dist. Draft/review/negotiate complex dist agreements with dist partners for the TV Networks and Peacock app. Provide business-facing, relevant & practical legal advice to content distribution business teams & more. Full info HERE (12/10)
SALES PLANNER >> Sony/NYC: Assist in the maintenance of accounts/campaigns across all SPTAS properties. 3 - 5 years related exp. Media Math/media background a must as well as skilled in wide orbit & Dealmaker. Full info HERE (12/7)
MARKETING MGR, CONSUMER ENGAGEMENT >> SportsEngine Inc/Minneapolis MN: Resp for implementing behaviorally-triggered customer onboarding communications, designing and implementing a customer upsell and retention strategy to support sales. 5+ yrs mktg exp ideally w/Saas Company. Full info HERE (12/7)
SALES MANAGER, INTEGRATED PARTNERSHIPS, U.S. >> Combate Americas/NYC: Present Combate Americas to potential local/national/global sponsorship partners & dvlp an integrated, solution driven approach to creating sponsorship packages. Min 7-10 yrs of success w/cross-platform sponsorships, incl sales, servicing & activation. Full info HERE (12/7)
SR COORDINATOR, CONSUMER INSIGHTS & RESEARCH (TEMP) >> NFL/NYC: Support design and execution of primary research relating to the NFL fan, brand, and marketing initiatives. 2+ yrs mkt research and consumer insights exp. Exp working with various syndicated data sources (MRI, EPoll, YouGov, Ace Metrix, etc.) Full info HERE (12/7)
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE, MEDIA PARTNERSHIPS >> MALKA MEDIA/Jersey City NJ: Focus working w/brand & agency partners to demonstrate the value our shows have in reaching their audiences. 3-7 yrs successful sales/account mngmnt exp within the media industry w/strong focus on digital video. Full info HERE (12/7)
MGR, SVOD MARKETING >> A + E Networks/NYC: Ambitious, goal-oriented digital marketer to mng acquisition & retention mktg for our Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) products. 6-8 yrs exp in a CRM dvlpmnt/execution role or a direct mktg/customer acquisition or retention role w/proven track record of success. Full info HERE (12/6)
MGR, PAID SOCIAL MEDIA >> Lifetime & A&E/NYC: Responsible for developing and managing the paid social media strategy for Lifetime & A&E. Reporting into the Senior Manager, Paid Media, 3-5 years of paid social marketing experience, with a strong preference for specialization in entertainment marketing. Full info HERE (12/6)
TEACHING PROFESSOR, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT MNGMNT >> Drexel University’s Westphal College/PHL: 2 FT faculty positions avail to teach core EAM courses as well as courses related to their area of expertise. Min 5 yrs management/leadership experience in media, arts or entertainment. Full info HERE (12/6)
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE >> Tennis Channel/Santa Monica: Maintains existing and forges new relationships with agencies and clients to maximize revenue for the network. Minimum 5-7 yrs advertising sales experience, preferably in the cable or sports television arena. Full info HERE (12/20) |
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