Sports Illustrated on Saturday night will air the inaugural SI Awards show, an expansion of its long-running Sportsperson of the Year ceremony. The digital event, to be broadcast across SI’s social channels, is being produced by Medium Rare, the production company founded in '17 by Adam Richman and Joe Silberzweig. The awards show, hosted by Lindsey Vonn, Cari Champion, Richard Jefferson and Chad Johnson, was recorded late last week. Awards include Play of the Year, Game of the Year and Best Dressed, and the event will feature musical performances by Gucci Mane, Steve Aoki and Shaquille O’Neal, performing as DJ Diesel. The SI Awards will be the third major broadcast event Medium Rare has produced in the last six months, as it pivots into high-quality livestreams. In June, it produced “Shaq’s Fun House vs. Gronk Beach,” then in October spearheaded production of Black Entrepreneurs Day, hosted by Daymond John. Silberzweig said seven million people tuned in throughout the five-hour event. “We felt like livestreaming had a really bad stigma," said Richman. "We really took a whole different approach and said we want to create something that looks like it belongs on cable and distribute it as a free livestream.” Richman added the focus on quality has led to platforms like Facebook, YouTube and Twitch throwing their full weight behind the events: “They’re not used to getting programs like that.”
PLAYING PARTNERS: The Medium Rare founders said a key goal for the business is to leverage high-profile platforms and personalities into new brand partnerships. “All of our events are 100% sponsorship-driven right now, and we’re out here creating these entertainment brands with the goal of being attractive to brand partners,” said Silberzweig, who noted that past event partners, like Shaq’s Fun House sponsor Papa John’s, have used the events to test the waters before diving into a bigger deal with O'Neal as a brand ambassador. Richman said about 80% of the brands sponsoring the SI Awards, which include JCPenney, Nautica and Brooks Brothers, were deals facilitated by Medium Rare. The duo has also been working alongside Authentic Brands Group, which recently acquired a stake in Medium Rare. Shaq’s Fun House was built as a joint venture with ABG, which controls O’Neal’s marketing rights, and last year ABG bought Sports Illustrated from Meredith; other ABG sports brands include Spyder, Tapout, Volcom and Prince Tennis. Richman and Silberzweig are anticipating live events will come back strong next summer, but they expect the digital production business will remain strong.
