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rickhorrow · 4 years

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10 To Watch : Mayors Edition 21020

RICK HORROW’S TOP 10 SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 10 : MAYOR’S EDITION with Jacob Aere

After years of buildup, opening weekend for the XFL did not disappoint. Four games in D.C., Houston, Dallas and New York aired across ABC, FOX, and ESPN. USA Today noted that it was "up to the product on the field now to convince football fans across the country that another football league is worth investing time into," and after the league’s inaugural game at Audi Field in Washington, DC, it appeared XFL Founder Vince McMahon and Commissioner Oliver Luck "achieved that goal." When the league launched, McMahon was "adamant that the XFL would provide a better entertainment experience by having shorter games." However, the first one "managed to eclipse the three-hour mark.” The XFL also hired Ross Greenburg, the creative mind behind “Hard Knocks,” to produce a 10-minute behind-the-scenes documentary on the run-up to the league’s Saturday launch. In Dallas, close to 20,000 fans braved the rain to see the new Dallas Renegades – with a fair number of fans traveling from Oklahoma to cheer on former OU quarterback Landry Jones and Coach Bob Stoops.

Major League Soccer will enjoy labor peace at least for the next five years, as MLS and the MLS Players Association struck an agreement in principle for a new Collective Bargaining Agreement that will begin with the upcoming season. "As we prepare to celebrate our 25th season, we are very pleased to finalize a new five-year Collective Bargaining Agreement with our players," said MLS Commissioner Don Garber. "This agreement addresses key strategic priorities for the league and our players while also retaining the basic player compensation structure that has been the foundation for the growth and stability of Major League Soccer." The deal is subject to approval by the MLS Board of Governors and the MLSPA. Deal points include increased investment in player spending, greater salary budget flexibility across rosters, players sharing in media revenue, and increase in charter flights as well as expanded free agency. The new CBA is particularly important as MLS adds two new franchises this season – Nashville SC, and Inter Miami CF, bringing the total to 26 clubs.

The NBA All-Star Game gets ready to hit Chicago, with major economic upside for the league and the Windy City. The NBA’s annual all-star break is always a beehive of business activity, from the annual NBA tech summit to NBA Cares activations throughout the host city. The NBA, NBPA, and Nike also have announced that the 2020 NBA All-Star uniforms will pay tribute to the late Kobe Bryant, as well as his daughter Gianna and the seven other people who tragically passed away in last Sunday’s helicopter accident. The 2020 NBA All-Star Game will feature Team LeBron wearing the No. 2 and Team Giannis (Antetokounmpo) wearing the No. 24 – Gianna and Kobe’s basketball jersey numbers, respectively. In addition, both teams will wear jersey patches displaying nine stars, representing those who lost their lives in the crash, including John, Keri, and Alyssa Altobelli, Sarah and Payton Chester, Christina Mauser, and Ara Zobayan. The All-Star Game takes place on February 16 at Chicago’s United Center.

Kobe Bryant was also front and center at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremonies. Not only was Bryant, who won an Oscar for his animated short “Dear Basketball” in 2018, memorialized in the Academy’s annual tribute to artists and artisans who have passed, nominees and presenters used the occasion to remember him. The first Kobe Bryant tribute of the night came from the acceptance speech for best animated short film, “Hair Love.” “This award is dedicated to Kobe Bryant. May we all have a second act as great as his was," director Matthew A. Cherry said. Meanwhile, filmmaker Spike Lee donned a purple suit embroidered with Bryant's Lakers uniform number, 24. The annual In Memoriam tribute opened with a picture of Bryant beside his quote, "Life is too short to get bogged down and be discouraged. You have to keep moving. You have to keep going. Put one foot in front of the other, smile and just keep on rolling." A public memorial for Bryant and the others who lost their lives is set for February 24 at Staples Center, the site of many of his triumphs.

With February underway, the NBA has tipped off leaguewide celebrations of Black History Month. Celebrations will see all NBA teams don custom Nike Black History Month warmup shirts throughout the month. The Nike Dri-FIT T-shirt features words selected by players that “reflect black history and culture, and our collective commitment to equality and diversity: Activate, Believe, Dream, Empower, Engage, Equality, History, Inspire, Justice, Lead, Listen, Love, Perseverance and Unify.” Another cause strongly backed by the NBA, ESPN’s 13th annual V Week for Cancer Research set a new record, raising more than $8.8 million for the V Foundation for Cancer Research to mark a boost of 6% year-over-year. “We broke the V Week record thanks to the passion of those who work on the various initiatives here at ESPN, as well as support from the Disney TV networks, and the generous response from fans,” said Kevin Martinez, vice president of ESPN Corporate Citizenship. “In particular the new aspects of V Week, including a campaign with Andy Grammer and Stuart Scott Day, connected with viewers and drove awareness and donations.”

Amstel Light and Phil Mickelson are teaming up in a multiyear partnership that will see the launch of a campaign focused on “addressing the challenges in adult male friendships.” Last weekend, Mickelson teamed up with NFL Hall of Fame quarterback and new friend Steve Young at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Though the pair came up a little short in the Pro-Am (and in Mickelson’s quest to win Pebble Beach a record six times), their pairing was a fun preview of the wisdom Mickelson will impart in the Amstel Light ads. Throughout the campaign, Mickelson will provide support and advice to men on and off the golf course seeking to make new friends in his own personal comedic style. Consumers will have opportunities to engage directly with Mickelson, both on social and through on-and off-premise activations. A series of contests will be announced using the hashtag, “#FriendswithPhil” through which consumers will have the opportunity to earn the friendship of the golfer. After little more than a year on Instagram, Mickelson has amassed a respectable 742,000 friends and followers, which bodes well for an Amstel Insta boost.

Twitter has posted better than expected quarterly revenue. It was Twitter's first billion-dollar quarter. The company, which announced earnings last Thursday, also continues to attract new users. According to CNet, in the fourth quarter, the number of monetizable daily active Twitter users -- people who log into the site daily and see ads -- hit 152 million, up nearly 21% from the 126 million in the same period last year. The company's stock rose more than 15% in early trading Thursday to around $38.50 per share. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pointed to work that the company has done to make the service more appealing to new users, including its efforts to help people find and follow topics they're interested in. Twitter executives also looked ahead to big events this year such as the Summer Olympics and elections around the world, including U.S. presidential elections. For the Olympics, Twitter execs pointed to improvements in how the platform uses live and stored video, saying Twitter will have "near real-time highlights of the most important events."

French soccer champions Paris Saint-Germain has opened an academy in Miami worth a reported $70 million. The new campus, which is the largest overseen by a European club in the United States and will cost students between $35,000 and $81,400 per year to attend, will serve as the headquarters for all of PSG’s academies across North America. The facility, built in partnership with franchise holder Paris Saint Germain Academy USA, will also be the new home of the PSG Academy’s residency program, which can serve more than 100 players per season. A 20,000-capacity stadium and five training pitches also sit within the property. The academy, which aims to welcome more than 10,000 developing players in the next three years, also has links to United Soccer League (USL) League Two club FC Miami City. While no link has been announced to the David Beckham-led Inter Miami franchise, which makes its MLS debut next month, the new PSG academy will add even more international soccer cachet to South Florida and help solidify the soccer fan base.

The losing team’s merchandise from the Super Bowl is repurposed for charity. According to Yahoo! Sports, the NFL pre-prints championship merchandise with both teams for fan demand being at its highest while the confetti is still falling. That approach leaves the league with half its inventory rendered instantly unsellable. Prior to 1997, the NFL simply destroyed the “losing” merchandise. Since then, the NFL enlists the services of Good360, a charity experienced in redistributing excess corporate inventory to charitable organizations across the globe. Each year, Good360 and the league begin coordinating their distribution plans several weeks ahead of the playoffs. Right now, the NFL is in the process of inventorying all the excess 49er “championship” merchandise at a central, undisclosed location. Meanwhile, Good360 is working its own worldwide network of charities, trying to line up the right locale with the appropriate merchandise. Several years back, the league provided Good360 with a list of approved countries in Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and from those countries, Good360 targets the appropriate charities with the clothing for people in need.

Dick’s Foundation invests $5 million in women’s soccer. According to Philanthropy Women, the Dick’s Foundation announced a three-year, $5 million Sports Matter grant to the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s United for Girls initiative aimed at increasing opportunities for girls and young women to benefit from soccer. As the presenting partner of United for Girls, the Dick’s Foundation’s grant will be used to create safe places to play, fund coaching and training opportunities, and support soccer programs in underserved communities across the country with the goal of engaging 100,000 girls by 2023. In addition to the multi-year partnership, Dick’s is the official merchandise vendor for the Stand Beside Her tour, which serves as the exhibition and training tour for the 2020 U.S. Women’s National Team ahead of competition this summer in Tokyo. Since 2014, Dick’s and The Dick’s Foundation have pledged more than $100 million to support youth sports teams and leagues in need and their most recent effort is a needed measure to put a spotlight on women’s soccer.

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rickhorrow · 4 years

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15+5+5 To Watch

15 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS 5: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 10

with Jacob Aere

Just in time for the Daytona 500, NASCAR announced Penn National Gaming as its first authorized sports betting provider. The three-year, non-exclusive deal gives Penn National the rights to use NASCAR marks at its retail sportsbooks and on the sports betting app it intends to launch in August. The sportsbook app will use NASCAR's official data feed to offer in-race betting. Penn National also will announce an extension of its title sponsorship of the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, where it operates a full-service casino. The most visible aspect of the deal initially will be a free-to-play NASCAR Finish Line prediction contest offered through an app developed by Penn National and Boom Sports, creator of the popular NBC Sports Predictor app. Launching for the season-opening Daytona 500 and available nationwide, the contest will offer a weekly $50,000 prize. The strategic play for both sides is long term, as NASCAR works to increase its share of the U.S. sports betting market dominated by team sports.

Busch Beer gives away Ford Mustangs as part of its Daytona 500 promotions. According to SportsBusiness Daily, Busch Beer will run a unique Daytona 500 sweepstakes called #Pit4Busch, where the only way to enter will be to send a note to Busch's official Twitter account while Kevin Harvick is making a pit stop in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Busch is one of NASCAR’s four new premier partners, as well as the No. 4 car’s anchor sponsor. As part of the promotion, Busch’s Twitter account will send out tweets every time Harvick stops on pit road, and fans who reply in the roughly 10 seconds before he exits his pit will be entered to win a Ford Mustang. Busch is working with Ford to give out a Mustang for every stop, which means it could approach half a dozen cars. Meanwhile, A-B will promote its rosé-wine-in-a-can brand, Babe, at the Daytona 500, a taste of how it will use its NASCAR premier partnership to appeal to a wider lane of consumers.

On the heels of the Australian Open, The Match in Africa sets a tennis attendance record and raises $3.5 million for charity. A sellout crowd of 51,954 attended a Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal- led exhibition match at Cape Town Stadium on Friday, the "biggest crowd ever on record for a tennis match" according to the Associated Press. Federer won an exhibition match against Nadal in his "first match in his mother's country of birth." Almost everything was for Federer that night, with "caps and T-shirts with RF logos all across the crowd," plus "Welcome home, Roger" signs being held up. The Match in Africa event, featuring Federer, Nadal, Bill Gates, and South African comedian and “Daily Show” host Trevor Noah raised $3.5 million for the Roger Federer Foundation, which "supports early childhood education" in Africa. Federer has long stated that he considers South Africa his “second home.”

2021 could bring major changes to the entire span of the NFL season. The NFL Players Association, according to multiple media reports, is set to meet to conditionally vote on a potential 17-game regular-season schedule that could begin in 2021 as part of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. ESPN reports that all 32 team player representatives, along with the NFLPA executive board, will meet to review a 10-year labor contract for the second time within a week. The NFL is pushing hard for the switch to a 17-game regular season schedule under the next CBA. The adjustment would presumably see the preseason shortened by at least one game, and involve expanding the roster beyond the current 53 players. The change could assist the Jacksonville Jaguars and other franchises to play at a range of different venues without decreasing the number of games in their home market – a major sticking point with owners and front office staff.

Last Wednesday was National Signing Day, and its implications will stretch well beyond the 2020 college football season to come. What was once a day filled with frenetic activity is now much quieter due to the "early signing period" scooping up most FBS signees, but it still signifies the end of the college football recruiting cycle. The state of Florida produced 59 blue-chip recruits (i.e. four- or five-stars) in the class of 2020, followed by Texas (54), Georgia (36), and California (30). Combined, the four states were responsible for 49.4% of all 2020 blue-chips. Louisiana (16), Alabama (15), Maryland (15), North Carolina (13), and Tennessee (11) were the only other states to produce more than 10. Elite football prospects spring up all over the country, but they're heavily concentrated in the South and California, plus notable hot spots in Texas near Houston and Dallas. Notably, for the second time in three years, Kirby Smart and the University of Georgia are the recruiting national champions, adding 25 signees from the Class of 2020 and landing 10 of the nation's top 60 players.

Spotify is set to acquire Bill Simmons’ pop-culture and sports site and podcast company The Ringer. The music streaming service confirmed that it has entered a “definitive agreement” to buy the company, although terms of the transactions were not disclosed. Cynopsis Media noted that Spotify is acquiring the company to bolster its audio output. The Ringer operates a slew of successful podcasts including Simmons’ own eponymous shows, which gets A-list guests from the world of sports, TV and movies, The Watch and Binge Mode. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter 2020. Looking ahead, Spotify predicted that it will net 142 million to 153 million paid subscribers by the end of this year and that its monthly active users will increase to between 328 million and 348 million. Simmons has traveled a long and winding road with The Ringer, and its latest rest stop with Spotify should not only add stability, it should introduce the already wildly popular site to millions of rabid new fans, basketball and otherwise.

The Jacksonville Jaguars will play two “home” games in London during the 2020 season as they hunt for additional revenue. The Jaguars have played in London every year since 2013 as part of a seven-year contract with the NFL, which expires at the end of next season and is expected to be renewed. The team has made significant efforts to position themselves as the lead NFL franchise in the UK market, with owner Shahid Khan even making a £600 million offer to buy London’s Wembley Stadium in 2018. As a small-market team in the U.S., the Jaguars benefit from playing in London by virtue of doubling their single-game revenue in comparison to games at TIAA Bank Field stadium in Jacksonville. The team has struggled to sell out home games for the past 20 years and, with plans for the $700 million “Lot J” entertainment district set to break ground in the off-season, additional revenue streams are a priority. While the addition of another home game for the Jaguars in London would appear to lean towards the franchise permanently relocating to the UK, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell remains noncommittal on the concept.

Top Five Tech

Bleacher Report’s Super Bowl stay paid off with a new football property called Gridiron. According to Digiday, Bleacher Report became the number one digital sports publisher on NFL Sunday for the Super Bowl, drawing 198 million cross-platform engagements, according to the company. The platform registered 1.3 million cross-platform engagements recorded from the B/R Gridiron social accounts which stands as the most ever in a single day, while the B/R App on Super Bowl Sunday saw app engagements up 186%. In 2019’s third quarter, Bleacher Report launched B/R Gridiron as a vertical for all its professional football coverage. Since then, the B/R Gridiron Instagram account has attracted more than 500,000 followers. Also, since the vertical’s launch, the number of social media interactions on NFL-related posts and coverage on Bleacher Report’s platforms increased by 41%, totaling 198 million during the NFL season, according to Bleacher Report. B/R Gridiron is not the first Bleacher Report vertical to extend its reach into live events, as that happened two years ago with the NBA All-Star game. By tying together live events with unique activities, Bleacher Report has found growth success like no other online sports media platform.

Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer have selected Stats Perform as a global data partner. According to European Gaming, Stats Perform will leverage its combination of trusted and granular sports data with advanced AI capabilities to create superior fan, spectator, and bettor experiences for men’s and women’s soccer competitions in the U.S. through Stats Perform’s RunningBall, Opta, and Integrity services. The agreement grants Stats Perform the right to exclusively collect, analyze, and distribute official ultrafast data and player data to global broadcast, media, betting, and professional teams for all MLS, U.S. Open Cup, and Men’s and Women’s National Team matches. For the first time, MLS and U.S. Soccer will also offer an official ultrafast data feed optimized for sports betting operators from all MLS and select U.S. National Team and U.S. Open Cup matches. The deal will run through the end of the 2022 season and the partnership will expand to allow the soccer body to also comprehensively evaluate and identify talent and increase the capabilities for U.S. Soccer’s approach to improving their player development operations.

The XFL will also be broadcast in Canada, and DraftKings is now an official partner of the league. TSN will cover all regular-season XFL games north of the American border and during the 2020 play-offs. In the United States, the XFL has agreed to multi-year rights deals with ESPN and FOX Sports. From the inaugural 2020 season, XFL games will air weekly on broadcast television through ABC and FOX Sports complemented by games on cable on ESPN, ESPN2, FS1 and FS2. The inaugural game for the XFL revamp was played on February 8 between the DC Defenders and Seattle Dragons. ABC and ESPN’s broadcast of XFL games will include gambling graphics and commentary and daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings has been named the official daily fantasy sports partner and an authorized gaming operator of the XFL. DraftKings customers will be able to place bets in states where sports betting is legal using DraftKings platforms. With the recent success of Super Bowl betting, the time couldn’t be better for the XFL to kick things off.

MLB will launch a virtual mobile betting game. According to SportsPro, MLB has expanded its partnership with global data provider Sportradar to launch a virtual baseball in-play game for licensed betting operators in the U.S. and overseas. The new simulation title is the first that Sportradar has developed in association with a major North American sports rights holder. The game will feature official MLB team names and logos, as well as live data streams to simulate gameplay. For the visuals, more than 1,300 individual motions were captured using a combination of cutting-edge motion capture technology and software developed specifically to add to the real-life look and feel of the game. The game offers a fast-paced betting variation for mobile and online users, with longer betting cycles for retail. The addition of adding a virtual betting game to MLB will hopefully attract a larger fanbase to keep people interested during ever-longer baseball game durations.

Faze Clan is launching a Quibi reality show to sign its next gaming star. According to The Verge, the Los Angeles-based esports organization has partnered with soon-to-come streaming service Quibi to produce Faze Up, a contest that will see six users of the Quibi app compete to be the next signed Faze member. To participate, contestants will need to subscribe to Quibi when it launches in April. Most professional video game players today are scouted either through the top leaderboards and tournaments of popular gaming titles or are well-known social media personalities with big followings on Twitch and YouTube, but this a concept yet to be seen in esports. Faze Clan is very focused on its image beyond gaming - even rapper Lil Yachty is part of their team - so the move to reality television on a buzzed-about new streaming service like Quibi makes perfect sense for Faze.

Power of Sports Five

A popular MLB agent will climb Mount Kilimanjaro for charity. According to mlb.com, B.B. Abbott has accomplished much representing Hall of Famer Chipper Jones. This week, he will climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest free-standing mountain in the world. Abbott did some altitude training in Colorado, hiked up Peru’s Machu Picchu, and wore boots and an altitude mask while taking some long walks near his Tampa, Florida home. To date, he has raised $100,000 for pediatric cancer research but has raised his goal to $125,000 due to an overwhelming amount of early support. Jet Sports Management (Abbott’s agency) and The Chipper Jones Family Foundation have pledged $25,000 toward the contributions which can be made through The Rally Foundation or the NPCF. Abbott flew to Africa on Sunday and begins his eight-day climb two days later to help raise money for cancer research while bringing in other MLB affiliated groups to contribute to the cause.

Jaguars defensive end Calais Campbell won Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. According to NBC Sports, the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field. The NFL recognized all 32 Man of the Year nominees before kickoff at Super Bowl LIV, and 2018 award winner Chris Long handed off the award to Campbell. Campbell had also received the Cardinals’ nomination for the award in both 2011 and 2014. He has earned four Pro Bowl spots and this year took home the defensive MVP award in the league’s all-star game. In 2009, Campbell formed the CRC Foundation alongside his mother, Natea, and has engaged in numerous charitable initiatives throughout his 12-year NFL career. The CRC Foundation, which is named for his late father, is committed to the enhancement of the community through the teaching of critical life skills to young people and through his relentless community service. Now, Campbell has received an additional $250,000 for the charity of his choice thanks to his recent Walter Payton award.

Four celebrities will trek 100 miles across a frozen lake in Mongolia for mental health charity. According to Charity Today, BBC Radio 1’s Nick Grimshaw, The Saturdays’ Frankie Bridge, TV presenter Judge Rob Rinder, and broadcaster Louise Minchin are now in training for Sport Relief: On Thin Ice. The four-day challenge, taking place later this month, will see participants attempt to cross Lake Khovsgol in North-Western Mongolia, which is one of 17 designated “ancient lakes” in the world and more than one million years old. They will be trekking, skating, and cycling almost a marathon a day across the ice of Lake Khovsgol in freezing temperatures dropping as low as -35 degrees Celsius. All of the action will be filmed for a BBC One documentary that will air the week of Sport Relief, which is back on Friday, March 13. Sport Relief: On Thin Ice will raise money to help improve life-changing mental health services and support many other projects tackling poverty and injustice, both in the UK and around the world. By combining entertainment, physical challenge, and charity, On Thin Ice will be a hit for ratings and for donations.

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