CYNOPSISSPORTS
06.07.16
Good morning. It’s Tuesday June 7, 2016, and this is your first early morning Sports briefing.
The upcoming Olympic Channel locked in its slew of agreements for its launch later this year, inking deals with 27 International Sports Federations to provide content for the platform. The channel will offer fans live sports events, news and athlete stories, as well as historical Olympic footage and official films from the IOC’s archives with a focus on educational and youth-oriented programming, sustainability, sports science and nutrition, and promoting a healthy and active lifestyle. Included in the slate of deals are FIBA, the International Gymnastic Federation, the International Ice Hockey Federation, the International Ski Federation, the International Tennis Federation, United World Wrestling and the World Archery Federation. Overall, the Olympic Channel Services team now consists of more than 60 full time employees, representing 20 different nationalities.
“The Olympic Channel will mark a major shift in how the Olympic Movement connects with young people all year round,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “The International Federations have embraced the Olympic Channel and we look forward to working with them on the exciting programming and promotional opportunities. The newly formed Olympic Channel team is making steady progress, with the emphasis on ensuring the product is right and the quality of the programming matches our ambition. We look forward to announcing the 2016 launch date in the coming weeks.”
ON THE AIR
Speaking of the Olympics, NBCSN has its programming plans for Rio’s Summer Games, and will carry 330 hours, more than any other linear network. The network will showcase over 20 sports, including coverage of men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, track and field, archery, boxing, cycling, fencing, field hockey, judo, open water swimming, rugby, shooting, synchronized swimming, table tennis, weightlifting, wrestling and more with medals won every day on the channel from Aug. 6-21.
Despite a Warriors’ blowout, Sunday’s NBA Finals Game 2 averaged 17,361,000 viewers, to rank as the second-most watched Game 2 ever on ABC. Through two game, the 2016 NBA Finals is now the second-most watched ever on the network, per Nielsen Fast Nationals with an average of 18,270,000 viewers. The action continues with Game 3 on Wednesday at 9p on ABC.
Meanwhile, ESPN is also touting that, through the first five months of 2016, ESPN ranks as the top channel on cable in numerous key demo groups in both total day and prime-time ratings, and tops the entire television industry for total day ratings among men 18-34. In primetime, ESPN is at the top spot on cable among P18-34, M18-34, P18-49, M18-49 and M25-54 so far this year.
Univision Deportes saw the opening weekend of Copa America Centenario reach 21.2 million viewers. It coverage is averaging 2.9 million Total Viewers and 1.5 million Adults 18-49. Compared to the 2014 World Cup tournament group stage, Copa America Centenario is up 14% so far among viewers and 16% among Adults 18-49.
Are you a holdout? New speakers such as Twitter’s Laura Froelich are being added daily! The Cynopsis Sports Business Summit is just two weeks away on June 22 and you are at risk of missing out on our lineup of presenters who will help bring you and your company to the next level with key insights and data presented exclusively to our conference. Companies are set to include ESPN, NBC Sports, FOX Sports, BTN, Tennis Channel, NextVR, Intel, Oculus, NeuLion, MLB, the PGA TOUR, International Speedway Corporation, FIBA, the Atlanta Braves, Instagram, Vice Sports, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, Octagon, Bruin Sports Capital, New Era, AEG, CSE, Campus Insiders, World Surf League, Perform, LiveLike, Sportradar, Phoenix Marketing, Whistle Sports, Eversport, comScore and more! Don’t miss out on learning from the best in the business, honor our 2016 Hall of Fame Class and network with your peers. Get your tickets NOW. (Special perks for group sales!)
Golf Channel unveiled its programming plans for the 116th US Open, taking place June 13-19 at Oakmont Country Club. Programming will be led by Golf Central Live From the U.S. Open contributing to nearly 60 total hours of live news coverage throughout the week. The network’s on-site news presence will include 10 strategic camera locations, which will include robotic cameras staged adjacent to the driving range, short game area and putting green to give viewers an inside the ropes perspective as players in the field prepare for competition.
FOX Sports locked in its talent team for the 84th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 18, with coverage set to begin at 8:30p on FS1 and FOX Sports GO. Bob Varsha and Brian Till lead an eight-member FOX Sports broadcast team that also includes Calvin Fish and Tommy Kendall, while Till leads the team of Jamie Howe and Scott Pruett. Justin Bell and Andrew Marriott report from the pits while Sam Posey is writing and voicing the open, as well as providing pieces throughout the weekend.
Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik joins MLB Network as an in-studio guest analyst through Friday of this week. Zduriencik will contribute to MLB Network’s coverage of Thursday’s 2016 MLB Draft. Zduriencik will also appear on studio shows MLB Tonight on Tuesday at 6p, MLB Now on Wednesday at 4p and MLB Central on Friday at 10a.
El Rey Network will pay tribute to Muhammad Ali on Wednesday beginning at 10p with a marathon of all 13 episodes of the 1977 animated series I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali, the former animated series on NBC that saw Ali travel around the country fighting crime and solving mysteries.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
2016 Hall of Fame Inductee: Lesa France Kennedy!
Lesa is the CEO & Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors for International Speedway Corporation & Vice Chairperson of NASCAR. Her award will be presented by Chairman of NBC Sports, Mark Lazarus.
Join Lesa and the other honorees such as Bill Rasmussen (Founder of ESPN), Billy Bean (MLB) & Peter King (Sports Illustrated), at the Sports Business Summit on June 22 in Manhattan.
For more information or to register to attend, please click here.
SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
Twitter is partnering with both FOX Sports and Univision to promote the Copa America, leveraging Twitter Amplify for the two broadcasters to both showcase short clips to the social network from the Copa America soccer tournament. Coverage began on Friday and sees video highlights posted in real time and carry six-second pre-roll ads from seven different global advertisers, per the WSJ.
DIGITAL & STREAMING
VICE Sports is partnering with Sportradar to use its Live Sports Centre for the Copa America and Euro 2016. The service offers fixtures, live scores, player profiles, match commentary and predictive content such as win and draw percentage for each team as well as social media input from the players, teams and organizations. "We are always looking for new ways to engage the VICE Sports audience with unique content. The innovative Sportradar Live Sports Centre, along with our new partnership with Men in Blazers, will give us tremendous in depth soccer coverage as we head into a summer with two major international tournaments. We will be well covered,” said VICE Sports Editor-in-Chief Jorge Arangure.
Meanwhile, Sportradar has also been tapped by the Associated Press for a long-term collaboration that will allow Sportradar to deliver core sports data content to AP’s traditional and digital platforms, including scores, stats, box scores, leaderboards, schedules and standings from the likes of MLB, NFL, NBA, NASCAR, NHL, college football and college basketball.
Amazon’s upcoming All or Nothing series, produced by NFL Films, will premiere on Prime Video on July 1 in the US with Jon Hamm narrating. Season one of the docu-series follows the Arizona Cardinals’ 2015 season, from the draft through the NFC Championship game with all eight one-hour episodes available for Amazon Prime members as part of their membership, and to all Amazon customers from July 1 to August 31.
Time Inc.’s trio of People, Sports Illustrated and Time are presenting Muhammad Ali: A Tribute To the Greatest, a one-hour live special acrossEW.com, People.com, SI.com, Time.com and on Facebook at Facebook.com/SportsIllustrated and Facebook.com/Time. The special is hosted by Maggie Gray and feature “the memorable stories and photography from these three brands in their decades of covering Ali from all angles.”
The American Hockey League and NeuLion are offering video streaming of all seven games of the 2016 Calder Cup Finals for viewing at no charge from AHL Live via desktop, laptop, mobile device or tablet. Fans can watch via ahllive.com via promo code CALDERCUP2016.
ESPORTS
Blizzard Entertainment announced plans to work with Facebook to offer gamers around the world with “new ways to connect and share their gaming experiences, while bringing more high-demand entertainment content to Facebook’s global platform.” Their collaboration begins later this month with the integration of Facebook Login in Blizzard’s PC games, allowing players to sign up for and log in to games such as World of Warcraft, Heroes of the Storm, Hearthstone, Overwatch and more. According to Blizzard, adding Facebook Login opens the door for new social functionality in Blizzard games while highlighting Facebook’s capabilities as a platform for sharing, viewing, and discussing AAA game content.
The NA LCS Summer Finals are now slated to take place in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre on August 27-28. The winner will take home the championship title and earn a spot to represent North America at the 2016 World Championship.
StarLadder is hosting a CS:GO Female Stars Championship exclusively for female players. The championship rounds will span July 16-17 held in St.Petersburg during the festival of VK FEST and feature two divisions featuring Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Team YP is taking on League of Legends, announcing an all-female LoL team whose members were previously sponsored or part of various notable organizations including: gBots Club, LDLC, Team Acer and Xenodragons. The group stated that “Team YP believes in equal opportunity for all, which is why our organization is ecstatic to support the female LoL scene by forming its own roster, consisting of some top female talents active on the EU West & EU Nordic and East servers.”
ROSTER MOVES
WWE named Julia Jensen as Vice President, Brand. Jensen will work across WWE’s business units to help drive revenue and further enhance the company’s brand reputation among key constituencies including advertisers, business partners, media and investors. Previously, she spent more than 15 years at Mattel, most recently as Vice President of Global Brands Communications.
THE MAIN EVENT
US/Costa Rica on FS1 at 8p.
A CYNOPSIS MESSAGE
"As a marketer we would be foolish to turn a deaf ear to the size of the [esports] audience."
–Bob Ruhland, Head of Marketing – Buffalo Wild Wings (source: WSJ)
Bob’s right. That’s why you should register your team for the Cynopsis eSports Conference on Thursday, June 23 in NYC. Group tickets and tables are available for purchase; grab them today!
Sponsored by: Magid Sports, Chief Marketer + rEvXP
ON THIS DAY in 1989: Wayne Gretzky wins his 9th NHL Hart Trophy in a ten year span.
In The Know:
Wayne Gretzky’s NHL playing career included the Oilers, Kings, Rangers and what other franchise? (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: Muhammad Ali won his Olympic gold medal in what city? Answer: Rome. Kudos: Rob Thompson-North American Sports Group/NY; Ben Sturner-Leverage Agency/NY; Rick Rosenfelt-WFAN Radio/NY; Phyllis McQuillan-MSG Networks/NY; Jon Miller-NBC Sports/Stamford; Brianne Maciejowski-Miles/Sarasota; Joe Guarnieri-ESPN/Bristol; Wayne "World B." Otto-Pro-Am Sports/Boone; Steve McNair-KUBE TV/Houston; John Kukla-KDFW-KDFI/Dallas; Kristin Staskowski-Spectrum Reach/Birmingham; Gretchen Brady-KTVT/Dallas; Matt Sautter-Imagine Communications/Denver; Jim Seifert/Denver; Jack Neumann-University of Calgary 5th Quarter football alumni/Calgary; Dave Sikula-Toovia.com/Sunnyvale; Jack Simmons-Fox Sports/LA; Larry Hutchings/Nipomo; John Baghdassarian-Olympusat/LA; Paul Gygli-NBCUniversal Television Distribution/Universal City.
Later — Chris
Chris Pursell for Cynopsis | Sports @VegasandVine
06.07.16
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