Cleveland tonight hosts the Knicks-Cavaliers NBA season opener and Cubs-Indians World Series Game 1. In a sports TV first, blimps will be in the air from two different brands providing aerial shots to two different nets. Beginning at around 6:00pm ET, Goodyear’s “Wingfoot Two” – christened last week by Savannah James (wife of LeBron) – will be providing live shots to TNT. Sharing the airspace will be DirecTV’s “Lefty” blimp, which will be covering World Series Game 1 for Fox.
For Goodyear, in exchange for the beauty shots, the brand will receive blimp “pops,” a once-per-hour on-screen graphic paired with an audio mention acknowledging the eye in the sky. TNT usually uses 3-4 aerial shots per hour. Meanwhile, the DirecTV blimp has a 2,100-square-foot full-color LED screen on its side, which will allow Fox to share replay footage, offer live interaction with fans and provide partners an additional medium to advertise. Fox will use an estimated 15 shots from Lefty (David Broughton, Research Director).
USA TODAY notes a "scintillating 90 minutes" tonight in Cleveland will include the Cavaliers celebrating their title and the start of the World Series before a "standing-room-only crowd" at Progressive Field (USA TODAY, 10/25). CLEVELAND.com goes with the header, "Cleveland Sports Fans On Tuesday Will Get To Enjoy A Problem We Never Thought We'd Have" (CLEVELAND.com, 10/24). The S.F. CHRONICLE goes with, "World Series Opens In Our New Sports Capital ... Cleveland" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 10/25).
In the latest SBD/SBJ podcast, Exec Editor Abe Madkour and Staff Writer Eric Fisher reflect on the start of the series and the relevant business issues in play.
