SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
The US Women’s National Team Players Association and opendorse, the athlete marketing platform, announced the launch of a partnership that will provide U.S. Women’s soccer players with “a solution to build their brands and collaborate with partners on social media.” The agreement makes opendorse the official social media activation partner of the USWNTPA and gives players – both active and retired –access to approve and share content to their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram channels while allowing brand partners, including sponsors and licensees, to tap into players and their agents, and push approved posts through their personal social channels. While the partnership is new, more than twenty players and team alumni are currently active on the platform and have seen previous success alongside their partners.
The Players’ Tribune partnered with Kay Jewelers for a two-part video series, Long Live Love, featuring Pro Football Hall of Famers Kurt Warner and Brian Dawkins. Each episode sees the athletes and their respective wives discuss how love has shaped their professional careers and continued to grow stronger as years go by. Each episode will live on TPT and athlete social channels.
The NBA became the first channel to top the 20 billion view mark on GIPHY. The top GIF... James Harden’s dramatic exit, posted May 27, 2016.
DIGITAL, DATA & TECH
The Players’ Tribune announced its acquisition of Unscriptd, the media and technology company for global athletes. The acquisition accelerates the global expansion of TPT, and will lead to the launch of a new mobile app for its growing athlete community. With the addition of the more than 2,500 athletes in Europe, Australia and Asia who work with Unscriptd, TPT’s community of athletes will grow to more than 5,000 from all around the world.
APM Sports, a division of APM Music, joined forces with PBR to expand the sport’s content and story-telling efforts with APM Music’s catalog. APM Music will be PBR’s exclusive music partner for all OTT, marketing and digital content, including the league’s new western sports digital network, RidePass.
ESPORTS
- MTN DEW AMP adds gaming Duties
- Big East has big plans for League of Legends
- ELEAGUE’s Rocket ride gets a boost
- Guns of Boom plots another go-around
- Epic Games Store offers a deal
- Matchero gets an injection
- We Are Nations inks deals w/ OpTic Gaming, Method, and Blast Pro Series
- Game Awards prepares for liftoff
INDUSTRY/ROSTER MOVES
USA Gymnastics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in the aftermath of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal. The AP reports that the NGB for gymnastics hopes this latest move will allow for an expedited process in handling dozens of civil lawsuits related to the sexual abuse perpetrated by Nassar. Kathryn Carson, chair of the USA Gymnastics board of directors, said the move is a reorganization and not a liquidation.
The PGA of America made its move official, and will be leaving Florida for a $520 million development in Frisco. The move is not expected until the summer of 2022. As part of the agreement, the PGA Championship will be held at one of the two courses in the venue in 2027 and 2034.
THE MAIN EVENT
Jaguars/Titans on FOX and NFL Network at 8p.
