Sport & Story Daily September 21, 2023

Stay Ahead of the Game

September 21, 2023

Good morning! Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions continues to shore up its media offerings, this time being tapped by the PGA of America to oversee its new marketing creative…

⛳ PGA of America taps Omaha Productions for new marketing vision
The PGA of America has partnered with Omaha Productions to launch the “We Love this Game” marketing campaign, which will debut Sept. 25 during weeklong coverage of the 2023 Ryder Cup. In conjunction with the marketing campaign, the PGA of America has introduced an “updated, modernized logo (below) to help better distinguish the Association’s brand in the vast golf industry.” Read more here.

📺 Monumental Sports rebrands NBC RSN In Washington, D.C.
Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which added NBC Sports Washington last year, finally rebranded the regional sports Network as Monumental Sports Network, serving as both a linear television channel and a digital streaming platform. Read more here.

🖱 TSM departs LCS after selling team slot to Shopify Rebellion
Shopify Rebellion is joining the LCS in 2024 as one of the 10 franchised partners of the League of Legends pro competition. The team announced that it had acquired TSM’s current slot in the league, reportedly for $10 million. “Entering League of Legends – one of the largest esports titles, with a rich competitive history – felt like an obvious next step for us as we continue to grow our presence in esports,” said Dario ’TLO’ Wünsch, esports program development lead at Shopify. “We’re excited to work with the former TSM roster and for them to compete in the LCS under the Shopify Rebellion banner.” Read more here.

📢 Durant launches Boardroom advisory firm
Kevin Durant is launching a sports and entertainment advisory firm with his business manager Rich Kleiman that will be a part of the Boardroom umbrella. The new firm, called Boardroom Advisory, will look to “work with athletes, executives, and brands to create opportunity through venture and private equity investing, sports ownership opportunities, business strategy, and content creation,” according to a press release. Read more here.

🤼 Fanatics claims WWE rights, ousting Panini
Fanatics landed the WWE whale as the company continues to spread its wings in the trading card business. According to FOS, WWE reportedly ended its Panini deal, which was set to expire in 2026, due to breach of contract. Read more here.

Your Vision Insights: NWSL Club Fans and the Opportunity that Lies Ahead

Taking a look at how the NWSL has grown over the past year, the data highlights massive opportunities for club fan growth moving forward. Even in scenarios like the Kansas City Current where they’ve done a great job nurturing and acquiring NWSL Fans in market, there are still 25% of NWSL fans in the Kansas City DMA without a favorite team (and that’s the lowest of all clubs).

Brewing Success: Heineken renews long-standing relationship with UEFA Champions League
Heineken inked an extension of its sponsorship with the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s premier men’s club football competition, from 2024 through 2027. The extension will take the longstanding partnership to 33 years by the time the deal reaches its conclusion.
globenewswire.com

Xbox ventures into F1 with multi-year sponsorship deal with BWT Alpine F1 Team
The Formula 1 team, BWT Alpine F1 Team has developed a multi-year sponsorship arrangement with a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft, Xbox. Following this deal, the brand has become the team’s official console partner. Along with this, PC Game Pass, which is a subscription service offered by Microsoft as part of the Xbox network, has been named the official partner of the team.
sportsmintmedia.com

Marriott ups its football experience
The hotel chain is offering “Ultimate NFL Fan Rooms” at certain Courtyard by Marriott hotels during the NFL season, available to book from Sept. 19 through Nov. 10. Any customer who stays at one of the rooms, or visits a Courtyard hotel during the full NFL season, are automatically entered in a drawing.
adage.com

ESPN’s Lopez-Gonzalez main event averaged 500,000 viewers
More than half a million viewers tuned in for ESPN’s most recent boxing main event. Nielsen Media Research released figures this week that indicated an average audience of 500,000 watched Luis Alberto Lopez defeat Joet Gonzalez by unanimous decision in their featherweight title fight Friday night at American Bank Center in Corpus Christi, Texas.
boxingscene.com

'Lactose-infused rhetoric!' Sinclair dismisses bankrupt Diamond's repeated 'milking' allegations
Sinclair files motion, denies that it was, er, suckling on the teat of its Bally Sports subsidiary. Sinclair Broadcast Group and JP Morgan have filed motions in a Texas federal bankruptcy court seeking dismissal of lawsuits rendered against them by the broadcaster's spun-off Diamond Sports Group subsidiary. Bankrupt Diamond, claims that Sinclair "milked" it out of around $1.5 billion, through means such as charging the subsidiary shady management services fees.
nexttv.com

Fight Club: Endeavor is ready to rumble in media with $21 billion UFC-WWE merger
For decades, sports on television was a bulletproof business. Live games, airing on local stations or national networks, reliably brought in big audiences and even bigger advertising hauls. Inside of just a few years, though, nearly everything about the way TV makes money from sports has begun to change as the industry’s transition to streaming upends the marketplace.
variety.com

Inside ESPN and Premier Lacrosse League’s teamwork to expand viewership, leverage technology
With record viewership, impressive technology, and a focus on younger fans, it’s a season – and a partnership – worthy of a detailed review.
espnfrontrow.com

Avocados From Mexico partners with LA Galaxy and Dignity Health Sports Park
As part of the agreement, brokered by AEG Global Partnerships, Avocados From Mexico will become an official partner of both the LA Galaxy and the club’s home stadium, Dignity Health Sports Park. Additionally, the partnership includes the launch of new AvoEats by AFM branded concessions, which will bring innovative new avocado-infused menu items exclusively to DHSP.
lagalaxy.com

AARP signs on as sponsor for DC Pickleball team
Major League Pickleball’s D.C. Pickleball Team reached an agreement with AARP to showcase the nonprofit on the front of their team jerseys. The deal runs through the end of 2024 and is worth mid-six figures in total, according to someone familiar with the sponsorship.
sportico.com

Dallas, Florida and New York to host matches in men’s T20 World Cup next year
Dallas, Florida and New York will host matches at next year’s men’s T20 World Cup, the governing body of cricket announced Wednesday. The United States will be staging a global cricket event for the first time as the sport looks to expand into new territory and get Olympic status for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The country will co-host the June 4-30 tournament with the West Indies.
rte.ie

ESPN CFO Bryan Castellani to exit for Warner Music role
Walt Disney Co. is losing another executive. Bryan Castellani, chief financial officer of Disney Entertainment and ESPN, will step down to take a job as the CFO of Warner Music Group Corp, effective Oct. 16.
bloomberg.com

FA Director of women's football Campbell to step down
Sue Campbell, the Football Association's director of women's football, is set to leave her role in 2024, the soccer governing body said on Wednesday. Campbell, who was previously chair of UK Sport, joined the FA in 2016 and has played a pivotal role in the growth of women's football in the country.
reuters.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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