Turner Sports has "locked in a new multi-year, multi-million-dollar marketing deal with American Express" ahead of the beginning of the NBA season next week, according to Anthony Crupi of AD AGE. AmEx is "returning as the halftime sponsor for each matchup in TNT's expanded 67-game regular-season NBA coverage, marking the third year the financial services company will back up Turner's pro hoops showcase." As it has since '15, AmEx will also "continue to sponsor the halftime shows in TNT's telecast of the NBA All-Star Game and each of its playoff games." AmEx will "serve as the presenting sponsor of the NBA on TNT Road Show, a series of on-site events that includes interactive fan experiences, food trucks, pop-up stores and a musical performance by Snoop Dogg." The first TNT Road Show is in S.F. on Tuesday to preview the opening night Celtics-Cavaliers and Rockets-Warriors games. The various facets of "casting talent, developing creative and placing the resulting executions will be centralized under the recently-formed Turner Sports Ignite marketing unit." The first Ignite work for AmEx "will feature" TNT's Shaquille O'Neal in an "extension of AmEx's long-running 'Small Business Saturday' campaign." An official NBA sponsor in a separate deal, AmEx also "backs halftime on NBA TV's slate of 106 games" (ADAGE.com, 10/10).
