Sport & Story Daily August 31, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

August 31, 2023

Good morning! The NHL’s broadcast partners cemented broadcast plans for the upcoming season, looking to drive recent momentum for the sport…

📺 ESPN to serve up 100 NHL games this season
ESPN and The Walt Disney Company revealed their 2023-24 NHL broad slate, offering 100 exclusive games across ESPN, ESPN+, ABC and Hulu. Additionally, ESPN and TWDC will exclusively present the NHL Opening Night tripleheader, NHL All-Star Weekend, NHL Stadium Series weekend and the return of the Stanley Cup Final to conclude the season. The NHL 2023-24 season begins in North America on Tuesday, October 10, with an opening night tripleheader Face-Off on ESPN and ESPN+. Read more here.

🏒 TNT rolls out hockey slate, including Winter Classic
Around the dial, Warner Bros. Discovery Sports hits its third season of live NHL on TNT coverage with a 62-game regular season schedule, starting Oct. 11. Additional highlights include the 2024 Discover NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day, regular live game coverage on Wednesday nights and live Sunday afternoon games starting in Feb. 2024. NHL on TNT’s coverage of the 2023-24 season will culminate with coverage of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs through the Conference Final. Read more here.

⛳ TGL’s newest all-star investor
More big names are jumping into TGL, this time with two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, along with his three brothers, investing in TGL’s Los Angeles Golf Club. He will join Serena Williams, her husband Alexis Ohanian and Venus Williams as owners of the franchise. TGL, developed by TMRW Sports in partnership with the PGA TOUR, will open its first season in January. Read more here.

📢 Nielsen counters accusations of Amazon favoritism
Rumblings over Nielsen’s audience measurement for Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” and other live streaming programming received pushback from the measurement company, which “sharply rebuked criticism that it is improperly favoring the online giant,” according to FOS. Responding to the Video Advertising Bureau, which accused the measurement agency of bowing down to Amazon by moving to incorporate first-party streaming data in its viewership reports, Nielsen denied all accusations. Read more here.

🤝🏼 Saudi-backed SRJ Sports enters MMA with PFL deal
Professional Fighters League and the Saudi-led SRJ Sports Investments locked down an investment agreement to “accelerate PFL’s momentum in expanding globally, recruiting top fighters, and building its fanbase as it aims to become the co-leader in MMA worldwide.” As part of the agreement, SRJ has acquired a minority equity ownership stake in PFL and will become an investor in a new regional league, PFL MENA - due to launch in 2024. Read more here.

Your Vision Insights:
As we’ve seen with many new and exciting leagues on-the-rise, Premier Lacrosse League performs exceptionally well when comparing their fan base’s sponsorship receptivity to fans of all sports. High barrier to purchase attributes like “Trust” see an increase of 73% when going from general fans to PLL fans and PLL fans are much more likely to purchase sponsors’ products/services (22% vs. 13%).

Prudential signs new multi-year agreement as Presenting Sponsor of Rose Bowl game
Prudential Financial locked down a new multi-year agreement with Disney Advertising and the Tournament of Roses to serve as the presenting sponsor of the Rose Bowl Game through the 2025-26 college football season. This season, the annual tradition kicks off from the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 1st, 2024, on ESPN and the ESPN App at 5 p.m. ET.
espnpressroom.com

Johnson’s LIV team lands clothing partner
LIV Golf team 4 Aces GC named clothing brand Extracurricular as its official on-course apparel sponsor. The move will see 4Aces GC team members Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, Pat Perez and Peter Uihlein and their caddies wearing the brand’s apparel on the course and at all LIV Golf tournaments.
golfmonthly.com

Premier League seeks to break $6.5 billion mark in next media round
The Premier League season is off and running, but soccer leaders in the U.K. are setting their sights on increasing a key revenue driver for future campaigns. Under its current four-year cycle ending in 2025, the EPL is bringing in more than $6 billion from its domestic media rights deals. Negotiations for the next cycle — 2025-29 — could begin before the start of 2024, according to the Financial Times.
frontofficesports.com

PBX Pickleball names Parity as an official partner
Parity, the platform dedicated to closing the gender income and opportunity gap in professional sports, and PBX Pickleball announced that Parity has been named as an official partner to drive women athlete participation in PBX events. As a strategic partner, Parity will work alongside PBX Pickleball to identify, recruit, and onboard retired professional women athletes across a variety of different sports.
prnewswire.com

National Football League and Enthusiast Gaming launch season 2 of NFL Tuesday Night Gaming premiering September 12
The National Football League and Enthusiast Gaming Holdings announced the second season of the popular video gaming series, NFL Tuesday Night Gaming on NFL TNG's Twitch, YouTube and X channels. The weekly live show will launch with a special Play Day episode hosted by rapper Quavo on Sept. 5, live from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
nflcommunications.com

ESPN’S Daily Wager returning to ESPN headquarters in Bristol
ESPN’s sports betting news and information program is coming home. Daily Wager will return to ESPN headquarters on Thursday, Sept. 7 after a little over three years at The LINQ Hotel + Experience studio in Las Vegas.
espnpressroom.com

PBR sets ride for Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour
The PBR announced its 2024 competition schedule for the Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour, set to bring some of bull riding’s preeminent talents to 30 cities across 20 states, headlined by a historic 11 double-up event weekends. netnewsledger.com

Arena Football League unveils 16 teams for 2024 return
The Arena Football League is rolling out 16 new teams as it prepares for a historic return to arenas in 2024. On July 18, the league announced through social media the cities and states of the teams. Boise, California, Oregon, Washington, Austin, Colorado, St. Louis, West Texas, Chicago, Ohio, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Louisiana, Orlando, Tallahassee and Tennessee.
arenainsider.com

The NFL’s most valuable teams: Cowboys top crop at $9 billion
The record $6.05 billion purchase of the Washington Commanders in July by a group led by Josh Harris—8% more than Forbes’ valuation a year ago and 30% more than the sale price of the Denver Broncos last August—helped boost the average NFL team value 14% over the past year, to $5.1 billion.
forbes.com

Orioles’ stadium lease talks take turn, property rights off table
The Baltimore Orioles’ long-running lease negotiations are now focusing on a narrower deal structure — in contrast to the expansive development vision advocated by team managing partner John Angelos.
frontofficesports.com

The CW Network’s “Inside the NFL” names Ryan Clark as host
The CW Network and NFL Films locked in its cast for the upcoming season Inside the NFL, where Ryan Clark will serve as the program's host and be joined by Channing Crowder, Jay Cutler, Chad Johnson, and Chris Long as analysts as they break down previously unseen highlights and exclusive NFL Films mic'd up sounds from the week's most exciting matchups while serving up unfiltered commentary.
nflcommunications.com

Wouter Sleijffers leaves EXCEL Esports
Wouter Sleijffers, the former CEO of British esports organization EXCEL Esports, has announced his departure from the company. Sleijffers leaves Excel after almost four years, first as CEO and later as an advisor, during which he expanded Excel’s operations and helped achieve a global footprint for the organization. esportsinsider.com

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Sport & Story Daily and Sports & Story College are the sport industry’s daily resource for business news. In addition to serving up exclusive trends, Q&As, and columns, the newsletter connects reads to top platforms and stories from across the sports landscape.

Chris Pursell is the founder of staple industry events such as the Cynopsis Sports Business Awards, the Esports Business Summit, the CMO Exchange, the Tempest Awards, and the Esports Newfronts. He was previously a reporter and editor for publications such as Variety and The Los Angeles Times and launched leading business publications for Cynopsis and PromaxBDA.

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