Fan Fact
According to The Business Case for Women's Football report from UEFA, 1 in 3 fans of the women's game are new fans and the fan base of women's soccer has the potential to double to 328 million by 2033.
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The National Football League is collaborating with Enthusiast Gaming to bring some extra excitement Tuesday nights. The new initiative, called NFL Tuesday Night Gaming (NFL TNG), brings together NFL players with gaming content creators.
What's the deal?
“The NFL is excited to collaborate with Enthusiast Gaming on this first-of-its-kind content series for the League,” said Joe Ruggiero, SVP of Consumer Products at the NFL, in a press release. “NFL Tuesday Night Gaming will be a unique addition to our weekly schedule that embraces the broader gaming community through an entertaining mix of NFL stars and video gaming culture.”
The games will feature a rotating roster of 12 NFL players and legends against 6 gaming content creators. Each week, the teams will compete across three different games. The games culminate in a single elimination playoff between the 4 top teams.
The bottom line:
“No one has brought together the gaming community with any sports league for a program of this scale before,” said Bill Kara, President of Enthusiast Gaming. “NFL Tuesday Night Gaming is a new and exciting content platform for brands and agencies to connect with younger audiences through bespoke custom content and talent integrations."
Read: VentureBeat
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Notorious sports commentator Stephen A. Smith isn’t shy about sharing his thoughts. And he promises to unleash a new stream of unfiltered opinions — on a wide array of current events beyond sports—in his first podcast, set to launch next month.
“Know Mercy With Stephen A. Smith,” produced by Audacy’s Cadence13 podcast division, will be a three-times-per-week talk show. It’s slated to premiere Sept. 26, on the Audacy app and all major podcast platforms, with new episodes set to drop on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The talk-show podcast will feature Smith, joined by notable guests, riffing on the day’s headlines across politics, entertainment, social issues, criminal justice, business, and (undoubtedly) spots.
Read: Variety
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Fourteen million—that’s how many Americans tuned in to see the U.S. Women’s National Team take on the Netherlands in the 2019 FIFA World Cup finals. Granted, it’s no Super Bowl audience, but what is extraordinary about this number is the 22% edge it had over the 2018 men’s final.
For too long, executives have invested smaller dollar amounts in prime-time coverage of women’s professional sports—defending them with past viewership metrics. All the while, the underlying problem has been that these numbers don’t take into account the outsized returns women's sports can have for brands. In order to make real change, brands will have to break a vicious cycle of inequity.
Read: AdAge, Hashtag Sports
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In a moment of tumult and uncertainty around getting and keeping our best, diverse talent, it’s time to shift our paradigm of how we think of talent in the first place. Talent can no longer just be your employees. Talent must be your new fans.
We encourage senior business and people leaders to request an invitation to join Hashtag Sports and The Venn Collective as we rethink the employee-employer relationship and help Chief People Officers + Chief Business Officers work more collaboratively to attract, hire, and retain diverse talent.
This three-hour workshop on September 15 in Atlanta, GA will feature a panel of thought leaders, access to exclusive data & insights from Creators of Color, and an interactive exercise designed to help you engage employees as your new fans.
Email emily@hashtagsports.com and eric@thevenncollective.com to request an invitation for yourself and your People or Business partner. Seats are limited and inquiries do not guarantee entry. You will be notified if selected.
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This fall will see Bleacher Report again emphasizing NFL content, and a big focus for them this time will be live and interactive shows in their B/R app. The company announced its fall football plans for its B/R Gridiron and B/R Betting brands Tuesday, including a weekly live fantasy football stream on Thursdays, a weekly Monday reaction stream, and a live all-day betting stream on September 11.
Meanwhile, at Fox Sports, details have emerged on Craig Carton's long and winding road back. Fox Sports announced Wednesday that “The Carton Show” will air with a rotating cast of co-hosts on weekday mornings at 7:00 a.m. ET, starting Tuesday, Sept. 6. Elsewhere on FS1, “Undisputed” with Skip Bayless and Shannon Sharpe will continue to air from 9:30 till noon. Colin Cowherd’s new co-host on “The Herd” is Jason McIntyre.
Read: Awful Announcing, New York Post
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A club statement on Monday outlined that Wrexham had requested the board of the National League for consent to stream their upcoming league match, which takes place on Tuesday. The statement, however, continued that the request “hasn’t even been considered by the board” and Reynolds also voiced his criticism on social media at the league body’s “inaction”.
Streaming live matches in divisions below the Premier League has been on the rise since an introduction in 2017 and in the EFL, this season will see the numbers climb to a new high. "Depriving every team in our league the chance to expand the fanbase while adding to league revenue benefits everyone," said Reynolds. "This is a spotlight and a chance and we ask the National League to take it. And we urge Vanarama and BT Sport to help them find the wisdom to do so."
Read: The Athletic
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- MEDIA: The latest sports right deals will come at viewers' expense...literally.
- TECH: Serena Williams' opening night at the U.S. Open set a ratings record for ESPN, an increase of 279% over last year.
- CREATORS: The Pat McAfee Show is leaving SiriusXM and looking for a new home after the host claims the broadcaster never provided audience information and or made an offer to continue the partnership.
- RIGHTS: Opendorse and US bank are teaming up for college athlete financial literary education as NIL deals continue to rise.
- BETTING: FanDuel becomes the first sports betting company to launch its own broadcast network in the United States.
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- Athlete: Tom Brady
- Agency: The Rec League
- Brand: Autograph
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FaZe Clan announces partnership renewal with McDonald's
The Details
FaZe Clan and McDonald's will continue to create content activations that capture the diverse stories of FaZe Clan members while elevating voices of underrepresented groups in the gaming industry. The partnership will include exclusive new original content and IP featuring FaZe talent, building on successful campaigns from last year, such as the FaZe Clan x McDonald's "Spotlight" series, which drew over 2.4 million total views, and the "Friendsgaming" livestream event that drew in over 300,000 live viewers. In addition to the "Spotlight" series and "Friendsgaming" campaign, McDonald's also participated in FaZe Clan's "FaZe Member for a Day"' campaign by changing their Twitter account to "FaZe McDonalds," demonstrating McDonald's deep understanding of internet culture through an authentic online moment.
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Emily Black
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5 min read
