SPONSORSHIP & PROMOTION
ESPN unveiled the roster of sponsors for The 25th ESPYS on ABC on Wednesday at 8p. Capital One will return as the presenting sponsor of the show with the Capital One Cup, awarded annually at The ESPYS to the best men’s and women’s Division I college athletic programs in the country. Additionally, Capital One is bringing back its 360-degree photo angle to the red carpet with the Capital One Quicksilver Cam. In addition, first-time associate sponsors include adidas with an athlete takeover of SportsCenter’s Instagram Story, along with Bristol-Myers Squibb for the Jimmy V Award, Dove Men+Care highlighting athletes in the community, HBO’s Ballers as sponsor of the backstage photo booth, Maui Jim sponsoring red carpet arrivals, and Nationwide for the ICON Award. Returning associate sponsors include Cadillac for the Arthur Ashe Courage Award, Coors Light as the presenter of the official ESPYS Post Party, Gatorade highlighting the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year program and announcing the Athletes of the Year, and Warner Bros. featuring a custom content piece promoting the upcoming action thriller Dunkirk.
IMG College Licensing announced a five-year extension of its partnership agreement with Florida State University to continue managing the school’s successful trademark licensing program. “The IMG College Licensing team understands the unique needs and goals we have for growing the Florida State brand, and we trust their team of experts to guide our licensing program to new heights,” said Andy Miller, President of Seminole Boosters, which oversees the University’s licensing program. “We look forward to continuing to leverage IMG College Licensing’s resources, tools, and staff to provide high-quality merchandise and brand opportunities for our FSU fans.”
DIGITAL & STREAMING
NBC Sports Group and Club Deportivo Guadalajara – aka Chivas – announced a strategic partnership in which NBC Sports’ Playmaker Media will power the relaunch of Chivas TV, a direct-to-consumer platform that live streams matches of Mexico’s most popular team. Contests begin on July 19 in Guadalajara. “We are really excited to announce this partnership; Playmaker is exactly the partner ChivasTV was looking for to create an innovative, state of the art platform for all our users,” said Amaury Vergara, Director for ChivasTV. “Both teams have been working on developing the kind of product we envisioned from the beginning and I’m really sure all the Chivas Fans will really enjoy the New ChivasTV 2.0 Platform.”
ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jay Williams are set to host the ESPYs Social Red Carpet Show live on Twitter tomorrow from 6-7p. Schefter and Williams will help keep guests entertained and “cool” on the red carpet by playing games and offering them refreshments via @ESPYS.
Following last night’s T-Mobile Home Run Derby, MLB streaming audio partner TuneIn launched a giveaway for fans, dangling free days depending on the total number of homeruns hit. “The audio of a home run call is one of the most captivating moments in sports, and TuneIn is celebrating the long ball with MLB,” said TuneIn Vice President of Marketing, Scott Parker. “We’re excited to give a gift to fans around the world of the ultimate listening experience during one of the most exciting events in sports, the T-Mobile Home Run Derby. This is a great opportunity to showcase TuneIn’s offerings and celebrate baseball by giving all fans access to free MLB play-by play for the start of the second half of the season through TuneIn’s MLB Going Gone Giveaway."
ESPORTS
Bluehole is teaming up with Facebook to livestream exclusive content for PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on Facebook Live. Content will run four times a month with each live video showcasing different elements, starting with games hosted by one of Bluehole’s community managers. The weekly livestreams will then alternate hosts between content creators from the PUBG community and Bluehole’s community managers.
PanzerGlass locked in a one-year partnership deal with Astralis. The deal was brokered by Lagardere Sports, will include team-branded screen protectors as well as a PanzerGlass CS:GO trading card.
Gears of War Esports locked in two brand-new summer tournaments, with the North American tournament - the CMG Offseason Open – running Aug. 5-6 in Corona, CA and 16 teams competing. Meanwhile, the EU equivalent will take place in Nottingham from Aug. 19-20 with 24 teams in play.
ROSTER MOVES
Jonathan Nabavi, who most recently served as Majority Counsel for the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, has been named VP of Public Policy and Government Affairs at the NFL. There, he will will promote the NFL’s public policy and legislative agenda and represent the league on a wide range of issues before Congress, the Administration, and other federal and local government agencies.
Sportradar named Jason Sukhraj as Senior Vice President of Business Development for the US Market. He will lead all sales-related functions and will play a key role in driving strategies for generating demand and achieving revenue objectives across Sportradar’s evolving product lines.
Tennis Channel appointed Steve Disson to the newly created position of head of new business development, sponsorships. Disson will use his experience in television sales, event marketing and sports sponsorship to generate innovative partnerships for Tennis Channel and its advertisers.
Social media app 5 Seconds of Fame announced that Kobe Bryant will acquire a financial interest in and advise the company. In addition, Bryant’s team at Kobe Inc. will bring its operational and business expertise throughout sports, media and live events to the strategic development and expansion of 15SOF’s technology.
THE MAIN EVENT
2017 MLB All-Star Game on FOX at 7:30p.
